Oxendon railway tunnel northants feb2012

[alex76]

Myself and chris34 paid this peace of railway goodness a visit about two weeks ago.

Bit of history
Oxendon tunnel was designed and built by George Stephenson and was opened in 1859. It was built as a single track line to connect Northampton and Market Harborough and was used to transport ironstone that was found in Northamptonshire in the mid nineteenth century.
There are two tunnels one in nearby Kelmarsh and this one which is 462 yards long
The line had a staggered history, particularly in its final years. It was first closed to passenger traffic on 4th January 1960 but was reopened to through traffic on the 6th January 1969. It was closed again on 1st May 1969 and reopened on 10th July 1972. The passenger service was finally withdrawn on 26 August 1973.

On with pics

a bit of the old track

Thanks for looking

 

[nelly]

Nice stuff Alex

 

[UrbanX]

Nice one, beautifully built, wouldn't get that nowadays! Great job with the lightpainting too, love it!

 

[alex76]

Cheers Chaps

 

[Landsker]

Looks good!

 

[Pincheck]

very nice mate

 

[alex76]

Thank you lads yeah well happy with these ones

 

[Black Shuck]

Excellent work Alex... loving your lightpainting skills. People don't always realise how dark these old rail tunnel are and how bloody difficult they are to light. Very very well done Alex. Kelmarsh next?...!

 

[Chris34]

Nice one mate, one of mine

 

[robert99902]

Flat bottom rail? i thought that was fairly new.
Great pics, reminds me of the local tunnel.

 

[alex76]

Excellent work Alex... loving your lightpainting skills. People don't always realise how dark these old rail tunnel are and how bloody difficult they are to light. Very very well done Alex. Kelmarsh next?...!

Very true mate i had my canon set at a 30sec exposure and F stop at 4.4 ISo at 200 yeah very dark indeed..
yeah will be paying Kelmarsh a visit this one in Oxendon is closed to the public but the one in kelmarsh is open and used as a cycle route with many little bits still in situe including a old cast iron foot bridge which i really want to see which im planing soon as the weather warms up and i can spend the day there....cheers Black shuck



Chris loving that image how it look like the enterance looks like your touch very nice indeed get the rest up dude..



Alright rob not really sur about the rail last time it was used was in the early 70's so maybe been replaced at some point..

cheers chaps

 

[oldscrote]

Flat bottom rail? i thought that was fairly new.
Great pics, reminds me of the local tunnel.

The change from bull head to flat bottomed rail apparently started in the 1950s

 

[alex76]

The change from bull head to flat bottomed rail apparently started in the 1950s

cheers oldcrote very interesting indeed

 

[MD]

nice stuff mate

 

[smiler]

Good One Alex,I enjoyed it, Thanks

 

[godzilla73]

Railway goodness indeed. Thanks for sharing!

 

[a_little_feisty]

Very true mate i had my canon set at a 30sec exposure and F stop at 4.4 ISo at 200 yeah very dark indeed..
yeah will be paying Kelmarsh a visit this one in Oxendon is closed to the public but the one in kelmarsh is open and used as a cycle route with many little bits still in situe including a old cast iron foot bridge which i really want to see which im planing soon as the weather warms up and i can spend the day there....cheers Black shuck
:

Great tunnel pics!

We cycled from Spratton to the Kelmarsh Tunnel today . . . and saw the cast iron bridge, minus its steps . . . if you go and haven't already, you might want to check out check out Kelmarsh GPSS too which is not far from the tunnel

 

[Priority 7]

Nice job Alex we must get out again soon

 

[Black Shuck]

Very true mate i had my canon set at a 30sec exposure and F stop at 4.4 ISo at 200 yeah very dark indeed..
yeah will be paying Kelmarsh a visit this one in Oxendon is closed to the public but the one in kelmarsh is open and used as a cycle route with many little bits still in situe including a old cast iron foot bridge which i really want to see which im planing soon as the weather warms up and i can spend the day there....cheers Black shuck



Chris loving that image how it look like the enterance looks like your touch very nice indeed get the rest up dude..



Alright rob not really sur about the rail last time it was used was in the early 70's so maybe been replaced at some point..

cheers chaps

Abandoned Railway explores are about as good as it gets for me... bloody love an old rail tunnel.

 

[alex76]

Nice job Alex we must get out again soon

Yeah defo mate get most Sundays off now so jobs a good one