# Catesby Tunnel, Northamptonshire - July '13



## KM Punk (May 5, 2015)

Catesby Tunnel is a disused railway tunnel on the route of the former Great Central Main Line. It passes about 250 yards (230 m) west of Upper Catesby and about 100 yards (91 m) east of Catesby House. The tunnel's north portal is about 400 yards (370 m) northwest of the hamlet, and its south portal is about 0.6 miles (1 km) north of Charwelton, just inside the southern boundary of Catesby parish. The Great Central Railway intended its Southern Extension to pass through Catesby parish in a cutting. However, the occupant of Catesby House, Henry Attenborough, owned much of the land in the parish and insisted that the line pass beneath it in a tunnel. T Oliver and Son of Horsham, the contractor to build the Rugby Central — Woodford Halse section of the line, started the tunnel by sinking nine construction shafts in 1895, and completed the tunnel in 1897. The first Great Central services to use the tunnel were coal trains, which started running on 25 July 1898. The line opened fully on 15 March 1899. The tunnel is 27 feet (8.2 m) wide, 25 feet 6 inches (7.8 m) high, 2,997 yards (2.7 km) long and has five air shafts. Four of the shafts are in Catesby parish and each has a diameter of 10 feet (3 m). The fifth is in the neighbouring parish of Hellidon, and has a diameter of 15 feet (4.6 m) for greater airflow. About 2,900,000 cubic yards (2,200,000 m3) of material was dug out to make the tunnel. The tunnel, its portals and air shafts are all lined and faced with Staffordshire blue brick and a total of about 30 million bricks was used. On 4 January 1906 a rail on the Down track broke and derailed an afternoon express from London Marylebone to Manchester Piccadilly with about 50 passengers aboard. The train was travelling at about 60 mph (97 km/h) and tore up about 440 yards (400 m) of track before it came to a halt. All five coaches were derailed and the last coach fouled the Up track, on which a goods train was due. The crew of the express acted to protect their train: the driver placed a detonator on one rail of the Up track and the guard sounded the train whistle, both of which gave the crew of the approaching Up goods enough warning to stop short of the wreckage. British Railways closed the Great Central Main Line through the tunnel on 5 September 1966, and the track was lifted shortly thereafter. In recent years the tunnel has featured in numerous reopening proposals, one of which was as a possible (though rejected) route for HS2. Chiltern Railways have expressed an interest in reopening the route as far as Rugby or even Leicester. However, a proposal to convert it into a wind tunnel for testing Formula One cars was publicised in October 2014.
This had been on our hitlist for a long time. It is colossal and the day itself was very eventful. First we went to the South portal to find is gated and flooded and our hearts sank. We decided to go to the North portal to get a few snaps and got on our way home. When we arrived I found a small gap at the bottom of the gate, Bargain!!! We went forth and when we were roughly 1/3 in, Wombat said someone was at the North portal, torches off and absolute silence. Then the two people shout “Oi!”, so we headed back to face the music, only to find that the two guys were passing by and wanted to take a look. We invited them in and had a good laugh. When in there I found torch batteries, a flash and other urbex materials. Turns out someone else had been in earlier that day and had a fall, all equipment have been returned.

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Cheers for Looking​


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## fluffy5518 (May 5, 2015)

Some good pics there !! I see you managed to see the HALF WAY marker - which I missed !! Got to go back again now !! 
Thanx for the post !!


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## KM Punk (May 5, 2015)

fluffy5518 said:


> Some good pics there !! I see you managed to see the HALF WAY marker - which I missed !! Got to go back again now !!
> Thanx for the post !!



I'm afraid it's sealed. Apparently metal sheets covered in vandal paint on each portal now


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## nobbyn (Jun 8, 2015)

Great pics, I managed it last year. There had been some work on the drains carried out.
I could not get as far as the North portal due to flooding, but it is interesting to see the PW office almost half way in the tunnel.


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## urbexdevil (Jun 9, 2015)

Stunning pictures! Certainly one on the list for myself if there's a way around the above comments.


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## HughieD (Jun 9, 2015)

Remember loving these pix first time around! Nice to see them again.


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## sYnc_below (Jun 17, 2015)

Planning Permission is being sought after to turn this into a Wind Tunnel test Site for F1

Google for more info


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## krela (Jun 17, 2015)

sYnc_below said:


> Planning Permission is being sought after to turn this into a Wind Tunnel test Site for F1



There's proposals by a commercial aerodynamics company to turn it into a vehicle aerodynamics testing tunnel which MAY include testing F1 cars, it is not being developed FOR F1. Definitely an interesting idea though.


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