Well I’m back after a short break away from exploring mainly due to Lockdown, was persuaded by a good friend / explorer of mine to visit Boughton Brake Tunnel on the Bevercotes Branch near Ollerton, Nottinghamshire.
History -
British Rail opened a four-mile single-track branch to the new Bevercotes Colliery in 1961, linking it to the network at Boughton Junction. It was closed temporarily between Jan 1962 and Aug 1965, seeing its last train on 18th June 1993.
The line featured a 350-yard bore known locally as Mummies Tunnel, but officially Boughton Brake. The portals are brick-built whilst the interior features near-vertical brick side walls incorporating regular refuges and a segmental arch concrete roof. Just over two miles of the Bevercotes branch, including the tunnel, were brought back into use as part of a Network Rail test track during the summer of 2012. The tunnel will be used as a training environment for on-track machines. But it is understood that reballasting needs to take place before the line is ready to take trains again. During 2017/18 Network Rail contracted a company called Trackwork to removed all the track and associated trackside equipment on the Bevercotes branch with the line being severed at Boughton Jn sealing its fate and now being left to decay and return to nature..
Explore - We accessed the trackbed off Brake Road bridge to the north of the tunnel, the track bed is now heavily overgrown and lots of evidence of fly tipping rather annoyingly! Making our way to the northern portal we made our way through, not much to note around 15 refuges painted white each with reflective plates fitted probably for ease of visibility for P Way lads, 3/4 milepost remains almost intact, there’s a huge crack running all the way down the centre crown of the tunnel lining and up the portals both ends probably subsidence due to underground mining, there’s a long line of brackets running down one side possibly cable related as I don’t think the branch was ever signalled(?) other than stopboards and local instructions, anyway we reached the southern end grabbed a couple pics then headed back through and finishing back on Brake Road.
I’m not massively impressed with the composure of the images I’m putting it down to first session in a couple months so maybe not quite focused enough, Still they hopefully show it off for what it is,
Hope you enjoy looking, Comments welcome!
Thanks!
History -
British Rail opened a four-mile single-track branch to the new Bevercotes Colliery in 1961, linking it to the network at Boughton Junction. It was closed temporarily between Jan 1962 and Aug 1965, seeing its last train on 18th June 1993.
The line featured a 350-yard bore known locally as Mummies Tunnel, but officially Boughton Brake. The portals are brick-built whilst the interior features near-vertical brick side walls incorporating regular refuges and a segmental arch concrete roof. Just over two miles of the Bevercotes branch, including the tunnel, were brought back into use as part of a Network Rail test track during the summer of 2012. The tunnel will be used as a training environment for on-track machines. But it is understood that reballasting needs to take place before the line is ready to take trains again. During 2017/18 Network Rail contracted a company called Trackwork to removed all the track and associated trackside equipment on the Bevercotes branch with the line being severed at Boughton Jn sealing its fate and now being left to decay and return to nature..
Explore - We accessed the trackbed off Brake Road bridge to the north of the tunnel, the track bed is now heavily overgrown and lots of evidence of fly tipping rather annoyingly! Making our way to the northern portal we made our way through, not much to note around 15 refuges painted white each with reflective plates fitted probably for ease of visibility for P Way lads, 3/4 milepost remains almost intact, there’s a huge crack running all the way down the centre crown of the tunnel lining and up the portals both ends probably subsidence due to underground mining, there’s a long line of brackets running down one side possibly cable related as I don’t think the branch was ever signalled(?) other than stopboards and local instructions, anyway we reached the southern end grabbed a couple pics then headed back through and finishing back on Brake Road.
I’m not massively impressed with the composure of the images I’m putting it down to first session in a couple months so maybe not quite focused enough, Still they hopefully show it off for what it is,
Hope you enjoy looking, Comments welcome!
Thanks!
: My hubby drives and we now have a sick family member. So everything on hold. But thank you. I may pm you if I get the chance to do some localish tunnels
