Report - Queensbury Railway Tunnel. West Yorkshire :) July 2016

[Dan1701]

I'm not sure which tunnel reopening appeal is more bonkers....Queensbury or Rhondda?

£35 million for a cycle tunnel from nowhere to nowhere, on a tunnel that encountered continuous problems from the start of construction and ended up filled with 15 million litres of murky soup, with dangerously weakened shafts close to built up areas (that would need to somehow be repaired to prevent cyclists flopping off their bikes from low oxygen levels).

To be honest, I rather agree with all of this. The area around Queensbury is hilly, and a cycle path going from the middle of nowhere to nowhere else very much is a bit of a tall order. The local geology is coal measures capped with flagstone, so no real hope there of being able to cut out to anything stable. The whole lot is unstable shale interspersed with thin layers of coal, so all manner of problems arise from there.

Really, the best thing to do is back-fill the entire thing with as stable a rubble mix as can be found then pump in grout to try and further firm all of that up.

 

[stranton]

Really, the best thing to do is back-fill the entire thing with as stable a rubble mix as can be found then pump in grout to try and further firm all of that up.

no way the best option, but the most viable cost wise.

 

[Dan1701]

no way the best option, but the most viable cost wise.

I know, but the only way you'll even start to see anything like a general cycling culture round that part of the world is if you have part-electric bikes, and if these bikes are a heck of a lot cheaper than they are now.

Once that happens, then unfortunately the need for a tunnel goes as well, because the hills are no longer a problem.

 

[NevilleHill]

Infilling the COMPLETE tunnel would cost £21.2M according to Highways. Non-starter.

 

[Cjurbex]

anyone been here recently? whats it like now wouldent mind looking at it? whats the postcode for it ? cheers

 

[Lenston]

I believe it is full of water again at the moment

 

[Cjurbex]

do u have a postcode so i can at least have a look at the entrance?

 

[Lenston]

do u have a postcode so i can at least have a look at the entrance?

If you can't find this on Google your prob doing the wrong hobby

 

[Cjurbex]

i couldn't find one but ive found a postcode for a nearby farm so i can drive there and walk to the tunnel ive figured out lol, i just used google earth and route planner and finally found the location cheers

 

[Cjurbex]

ANyone been recently ? Wouldent mind checking this out

 

[stranton]

south portal 92% submerged, water 1/2 mile in tunnel

 

[Cjurbex]

i finally found it today, the tunnel wit the huge gate and barbed wire, shame its like this id love to get inside for a gander! you can still smell the trains from the past :P but im happy i managed to find the opening, apparently there is more tunnel but im not sure u can get inside today...

 

[stranton]

@Cjurbex
you went to the north portal, no way of accessing the south portal atm.

 

[Cjurbex]

DAmm id love to get in, i think the gates were smaller wen these pics were taken ?

 

[treehugger]

More interesting stuff! Not too far from me either.