# Oxendon railway tunnel northants feb2012



## alex76 (Feb 23, 2012)

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 The passenger service was finally withdrawn on 26 August 1973.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


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## nelly (Feb 23, 2012)

Nice stuff Alex


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## UrbanX (Feb 23, 2012)

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


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## alex76 (Feb 23, 2012)

Cheers Chaps


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## Landsker (Feb 23, 2012)

Looks good!


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## Pincheck (Feb 23, 2012)

very nice mate


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## alex76 (Feb 23, 2012)

Thank you lads yeah well happy with these ones


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## Black Shuck (Feb 23, 2012)

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?...!


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## Chris34 (Feb 23, 2012)

Nice one mate, one of mine


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## robert99902 (Feb 24, 2012)

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


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## alex76 (Feb 24, 2012)

Black Shuck said:


> 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


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## oldscrote (Feb 24, 2012)

robert99902 said:


> 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


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## alex76 (Feb 24, 2012)

oldscrote said:


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



cheers oldcrote very interesting indeed


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## MD (Feb 24, 2012)

nice stuff mate


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## smiler (Feb 24, 2012)

Good One Alex,I enjoyed it, Thanks


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## godzilla73 (Feb 24, 2012)

Railway goodness indeed. Thanks for sharing!


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## a_little_feisty (Feb 25, 2012)

alex76 said:


> 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


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## Priority 7 (Feb 25, 2012)

Nice job Alex we must get out again soon


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## Black Shuck (Feb 25, 2012)

alex76 said:


> 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
> 
> 
> ...



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


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## alex76 (Feb 27, 2012)

Priority 7 said:


> Nice job Alex we must get out again soon



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


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## Black Shuck (Feb 27, 2012)

alex76 said:


> 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
> 
> 
> ...


Would this be the iron footbridge that you want to see next?







If so.. that's really nice!!


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## alex76 (Feb 27, 2012)

Yes mate that's the one fantastic see a few photos of it and really want a bash of my own think is well nice railway porn at its best cheers bud


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## MD (Feb 27, 2012)

that is nice


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## alex76 (Feb 28, 2012)

well should be popping up back that way tomorrow so with any luck more railway goodness will be on its way.... shit just noticed i am turning into a urban train spotter lol but i love it:goofy:


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## Black Shuck (Feb 28, 2012)

alex76 said:


> well should be popping up back that way tomorrow so with any luck more railway goodness will be on its way.... shit just noticed i am turning into a urban train spotter lol but i love it:goofy:



That's quite alright by me.... you keep it coming Alex boy!! I should be able to help you along with some stuff of my own very soon.


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## alex76 (Mar 1, 2012)

Black Shuck said:


> That's quite alright by me.... you keep it coming Alex boy!! I should be able to help you along with some stuff of my own very soon.



look forward to it mate


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