General Urbex Photos Thread! - 2

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Down the coal pit:
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Up the coal pit:
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One of my favourite photos from this year. Haddon Tunnel at the opening halfway through.
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This photo - showing a short gap between two sections of tunnel - reminds me of the railway in Mexico that goes close to the Copper Canyon. It runs from Los Mochis to Chihuahua, is 656km long, contains 37 bridges, 86 tunnels and took 60 years to build. There is a spiral tunnel - to gain/lose height - and at one point it comes out, immediately crosses a deep gorge and immediately plunges back into tunnel again. Impressive, just as is this photo. There seems to be another short gap at the far end here.
 
This photo - showing a short gap between two sections of tunnel - reminds me of the railway in Mexico that goes close to the Copper Canyon. It runs from Los Mochis to Chihuahua, is 656km long, contains 37 bridges, 86 tunnels and took 60 years to build. There is a spiral tunnel - to gain/lose height - and at one point it comes out, immediately crosses a deep gorge and immediately plunges back into tunnel again. Impressive, just as is this photo. There seems to be another short gap at the far end here.
Thanks! That railway sounds really interesting. This is the only gap in the tunnel, the light you see through the photo is an air shaft, there are a few behind where the photo was taken too.
 
Thanks! That railway sounds really interesting. This is the only gap in the tunnel, the light you see through the photo is an air shaft, there are a few behind where the photo was taken too.
In that case, it is a very wide air shaft. Do you know if it is visible above ground, in the form of a round wall about ten feet high? Too high for anyone to see over, or easily climb. There are many railway tunnels with a series of such shafts in a line. Often they were used to speed the excavation on several faces at a time; then left for the smoke from steam locomotives to escape.
 
In that case, it is a very wide air shaft. Do you know if it is visible above ground, in the form of a round wall about ten feet high? Too high for anyone to see over, or easily climb. There are many railway tunnels with a series of such shafts in a line. Often they were used to speed the excavation on several faces at a time; then left for the smoke from steam locomotives to escape.
The smaller air shafts are circular and are visible above ground, I believe there are bars around them from above so people don't fall into them. Here's a pic of one of the air shafts from inside the tunnel:
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The smaller air shafts are circular and are visible above ground, I believe there are bars around them from above so people don't fall into them. Here's a pic of one of the air shafts from inside the tunnel:
View attachment 520564
The small diameter of this shaft marks it out as probably only to allow smoke from steam locos to escape, rather than one used for the extraction of material during the tunnel's excavation. Although one should not forget that what we are seeing is the
brick-lined size of the shaft - not the bare-rock size it was when dug, which would have been somewhat greater and thus possibly used for removing material from intermediate rock faces.
 
The smaller air shafts are circular and are visible above ground, I believe there are bars around them from above so people don't fall into them. Here's a pic of one of the air shafts from inside the tunnel:
View attachment 520564

Yeah there is 3 grated shafts I believe & the one central opening
 
The small diameter of this shaft marks it out as probably only to allow smoke from steam locos to escape, rather than one used for the extraction of material during the tunnel's excavation. Although one should not forget that what we are seeing is the
brick-lined size of the shaft - not the bare-rock size it was when dug, which would have been somewhat greater and thus possibly used for removing material from intermediate rock faces.
Yeah there is 3 grated shafts I believe & the one central opening
Very interesting information!
 
Very interesting information!
I've just found this on Wikipedia:

"The tunnel was constructed to hide the railway from the view of the Duke of Rutland where the line passed Haddon Hall. The tunnel rises towards Bakewell on a gradient of 1:102, is 1,058 yards (967 m) long and was mostly built by the cut and cover method. It was built with five ventilation shafts, one was the full width of the double-track tunnel, the deepest was 12 feet (3.7 m)."

So much for my speculation about the reasons for the air shafts. It seems that the shaft described here as "one was the full width of the double-track tunnel" is what looks more like a gap between two sections of the tunnel. Many land owners forced such needless expense on railway companies in the 19th century. Middle Hill Tunnel just west of Box Tunnel is another example. Today we have the ongoing farrago over what to do with the road skirting Stonehenge.
 

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