# Farleigh Down Sidings



## fluffy5518 (Jun 21, 2010)

WELCOME !!
Farleigh Down Sidings were located just to the West end of Box Tunnel in Wiltshire and were opened just before WWII.They consisted of a long platform/loading ramp which led to the underground storage facility at Monkton Farleigh by way of a narrow gauge railway and conveyor belt.This is what remains in 2010. !!
This is all that remains of the platform/loading ramp,this is the rear view of the access ramp to the underground storage facility.The platform was completely intact a few years back but all has now been completely raised to the ground and the area is now used as a dump by a local refuse disposal firm !!









Once at the bottom of the ramp this is the sight that greets you !! Although completely vandalised the basic infrastructure remains.The narrow gauge railway runs to commencement of the conveyor belt tunnel where the shells were off loaded for their trip up the mile long inclined tunnel.




This is the start of that tunnel......




After 70 yrs a lot of the conveyor belt plinths and rollers still remain.
The tunnel starts off level for the first few yards before climbing.This is part of the first section of tunnel.








After a short while the tunnel becomes brick lined...








At at least two positions along this section are original signage for spotters (i am assuming that this is where some poor sod was stationed for hours on end making sure that no problem occured with the belt) Around these areas are a large amount of pencil graffiti indicating that this was obviously a boring job....








Slightly further in and amazingly the original motors for the belt are still in situ,at this point there is a small recess on both sides of the tunnel presumably for motor maintenance and also where another operator was stationed.
















After a few more hundred yards the conveyor has been completely removed and the tunnel becomes just a tunnel-this is the view looking back to the start of the conveyor.




The tunnel eventually ends at a wall thru which was (is) the storage areas of Monkton Farleigh unfortunately no longer accessible from here.!!
Last One,is this absolutely stunning two level pillbox at the western end of the site unfortunately disfigued by the brain dead of society !!




PS As this was a visit with Newage i'm hoping that he will also be sharing his pixels with you ..........


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## night crawler (Jun 21, 2010)

Superb stuff as usual Fluffy great report. Seems local refuge contractors spoil all the old railway areas like Chilton for instance filling is a cutting. FInd any Spiders.


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## oldscrote (Jun 21, 2010)

Always nice to see shots of this.You say its being used as a dump?the planning application to demolish the sidings that I saw a year or more ago posted on the gate at the entrance applied for permission to demolish and return to agricultural use no mention of a dump at all.A bit sneaky I reckon .


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## bonecollector (Jun 21, 2010)

Nice report mate.
Its a bit of a trek up to the end.
Did you ride the steel sheet on the conveyor?


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## skeleton key (Jun 21, 2010)

fluffy
thanks for sharing this as its now on my list of things to do 
and as night crawler asked did you find any spiders ?.
Not that im bothered 

SK


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## godzilla73 (Jun 21, 2010)

Great pics Fluff - and there obviously weren't any spiders otherwise you wouldn't have been in there!


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## tommo (Jun 21, 2010)

some great pics fluff, and well worth the killer trip to the end to say u have done it,
like bonecollector said


> Did you ride the steel sheet on the conveyor?


 last time we where there a couple of lads did the last full sections at the bottom on the sheet steel that was there, shame we didnt get it on camcorder it was so funny and very loud


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## fluffy5518 (Jun 22, 2010)

Hi all
Thanx for the replies....NO NO NO !!! Newage and myself did not ride the tin sheets down the rollers WE'RE OLD MEN FOR GODS SAKE and more importantly we never thought about it BUT NEXT TIME............. !!:icon_evil
AND AS FOR SPIDERS !!! Wot is it with you lot-who said i was scared of spiders ??.Its true that i might not particulaly like them (Nothing personal you understand) but as for throwing my clothes off and screaming like a big girl at the merest site of one before doing the hippy hippy shake combined with the 100 meter freestyle dash !!!!!.COME ON I'M A GROWN MAN NOW !! -usual disclaimers apply - and anyway there wasnt an eight legged freeky in site !!!


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## Foxylady (Jun 22, 2010)

LOL!!!

That is such a great find, fluffy.  As a sensible someone who never slides down goods shed shutes, or runs around disused airfields with their arms outstretched and making plane noises, I don't think I'd be riding the conveyor either! 
I WANT A GO!!!


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## chris (Jun 22, 2010)

Tremendous photos - always nice to read about this site


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## woody65 (Jun 22, 2010)

great pics-has anyone done the narrow gauge railway tunnel at the east end of box tunnel?


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## krela (Jun 22, 2010)

woody65 said:


> great pics-has anyone done the narrow gauge railway tunnel at the east end of box tunnel?



Tunnel quarry you mean? I couldn't possibly say.


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## oldscrote (Jun 23, 2010)

woody65 said:


> great pics-has anyone done the narrow gauge railway tunnel at the east end of box tunnel?



Was not narrow gauge but standard gauge Leading to C.A.D. underground loading platforms relief siding and loco shed.


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## woody65 (Jun 24, 2010)

oldscrote said:


> Was not narrow gauge but Leading to C.A.D. underground loading platforms relief siding and loco shed.



i have a picture of the entrance but no pictures inside,i should of been clearer standard gauge which i under stand goods transferred to narrow gauge


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## oldscrote (Jun 24, 2010)

woody65 said:


> i have a picture of the entrance but no pictures inside,i should of been clearer standard gauge which i under stand goods transferred to narrow gauge



There was a small narrow gauge line in one haulage way for handling the heavier shells but nearly all the handling was done by miles of conveyor belt

http://www.monkton-farleigh.co.uk/s

c_tunnelquarry42.htm this link has pictures of tunnel quarry and lots more


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## cptpies (Jun 24, 2010)

Great find on that pillbox Fluffy. I've added it to the overlay. There are a couple of others around the mine site that I've discovered in GE with just a quick scan.


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## fluffy5518 (Jun 24, 2010)

Cpt Pies !!
For some reason there are hardly any pillboxes listed on D/O/B for the areas around Corsham,Box and Farleigh Down yet there seem to be loads (Obviously i suppose ).I have a feeling that one on this site may have been recently demo'd 'cos i thought that there were three here yet i only found two t'other day,this one and a type 24 in the treeline.


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## krela (Jun 24, 2010)

I'll locate them all on GE and sort out a list at some point in the near future. I know where they all are for the entire area


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## cptpies (Jun 24, 2010)

That would be great Krela, I can't positively I'd the ones I've spotted as they are somewhat obscured but there looks to be a couple of Type 22's close to the two 24's.


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## oldscrote (Jun 25, 2010)

fluffy5518 said:


> Cpt Pies !!
> .I have a feeling that one on this site may have been recently demo'd
> 
> There was a pill box in the field opposite the water tower that was blown up in the 80s the bits were still there last I looked


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## oldscrote (Jun 28, 2010)

oldscrote said:


> fluffy5518 said:
> 
> 
> > Cpt Pies !!
> ...




I went up to Farleigh the other day to look to see what was left.The WW2 water towers have been demo.d

This is where they were.





The field with the blown up pill box looks like this.Neck high in brambles and stingers,shame cos buried over the back are a pair of concrete tanks for fire fighting use.They are clearly visible on the satellite picture as strangely is the water tower

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&q=monkton+farleigh&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Monkton+Farleigh,+Wiltshire,+United+Kingdom&ll=51.391745,-2.287543&spn=0.001848,0.005407&t=h&z=18





On the plus point at the front of Main West building is this lovely pillbox,its on secure land so no close ups.The back and roof originally had an earth cover that was removed in the 80s









This photo shows a an original capped 50 ft pre conversion airshaft that we used ti use to gain access to the M.O.D. below Its very close to main east entrance and is now very secure





http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&q=monkton+farleigh&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Monkton+Farleigh,+Wiltshire,+United+Kingdom&ll=51.393725,-2.284435&spn=0.000924,0.001682&t=h&z=19


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## Newage (Jul 14, 2010)

*Pill boxes on top of Monkton Farleigh CAD*

Time to come out of the wood work.

Just a few more pictures from me.

On top of the CAD there is a small reservoir and this little baby stands to the south. Note the very thich blast wall and the steps leading down in to the pill box.










It's dry inside and still has the rail to hang a light cover over the gun ports.






Next up is this pill box in the hedgerow leading to the main gate.









Cheers Newage


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## Newage (Jul 14, 2010)

*End of the line*

Oh just so you know we did both get to the end of the entrance tunnel.






Cheers Newage & Fluffy


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## night crawler (Jul 14, 2010)

Nice one guy's


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## cptpies (Jul 14, 2010)

That's a classic VMG emplacement Newage, straight to the FW plan by the looks of it. Got a grid ref for it and the other one?


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