# Tidenham tunnel



## swanseamale47 (May 3, 2010)

Tidenham tunnel was built in 1876 and closed in 1981, the tunnel is 1,1080 yard long, and was built for the Wye vally railway. This tunnels unusual in that it still has the lines laid through it. 
We stumbled across the tunnel by accident while looking for something else simply by driving over the road bridge over the lines and spotting it, sadly we wern't really equipted for a proper explore and didn't have the "real" camera with us so the pics are of poorer quality.

The southern entrance which is pretty badly overgrowen along the trackbed







Inside the southern entrance





Some metal ring shaped bits, not too sure what they are for.





The single ventilation shaft





A boulder thats fallen from the roof at some time, slightly worrying





A not very good shot along the tunnel





Inside the northan entrance





outside the northan entrance


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## sheep2405 (May 3, 2010)

Nice photos, the metal shapped bits are park of the track fixings, at this moment in time the name is lost from my memory. Lol


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## fluffy5518 (May 3, 2010)

Hi mate !!
Love this tunnel (visited a while back).Glad you had a good visit !! The mystery items are track KEYS they fit between the chair and the side of the rail to hold the rail firmly in place !!


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## swanseamale47 (May 3, 2010)

Thanks for the replies. The tunnel was a fun visit with the track sstill being in place but the approach was very overgrown, theres some big size trees now growing in the lines on the south side, theres also an interesting looking quarryand pill box on the north side about a half mile or so along the lines and a few caves but we ran out of time and didn't have chance to explore there.


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## sqwasher (May 4, 2010)

Looks a good mooch this-real bonus having the track still in situ! Nice one.


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## Engineer (May 5, 2010)

*Tunnel.*



sheep2405 said:


> Nice photos, the metal shapped bits are park of the track fixings, at this moment in time the name is lost from my memory. Lol



Probably 'Pandrols' at a guess. Generic track worker term for clips for bullhead and flat bottom rails.
(Bullhead type in the pic).


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## UrbanX (May 5, 2010)

Great find! I would be very temped to back there with a tripod and a torch, and have some fun with light painting. Maybe also a train whistle to keep your fellow explorers on their toes!


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## swanseamale47 (May 15, 2010)

Thanks again for the replies.
I am planning to re-visit several of the tunnels I have done taking more kit (slave flashes tripods, lights etc) and doing the job properly, as usual though time is the problems, I will get around to it eventually though.
Thanks Wayne


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## smileysal (May 15, 2010)

I love to see railway tunnels, especially when they still have the tracks and sleepers still in place. This one looks great, good pics too.

Another one on my list for me and Mendo to go and have a look at. 

Cheers,

 Sal


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