# Nothamtonshires disused railway tunnels



## alex76 (Mar 12, 2013)

Hay folks myself and chris34 give these sites a visit a couple of weeks ago.
Now unfortunately at some point I managed to delete most of the days explore photos when loading my camera into my bag taking with it all my images I had saved on my memory card so I will share with you the ones I did manage to get.

The first tunnel we visited was Catesby tunnel
bit of history
Originally planned as a cutting, its existance is due entirely to the owner of the Catesby Estate who did not want unsightly trains blotting his landscape.
The 2,997-yard structure was cut by T Oliver & Son of Horsham as part of the Great Central's 'London Extension' construction contract No.4. 
Its creation demanded round 290,000 cubic yards of mining. Work to sink the first shaft began on 18th February 1895 and the last length was keyed in on 22nd May 1897 - a remarkably quick average rate of 110 yards per month. Progress was greatly accelerated by the use of Ruston steam navvies (cranes).
The tunnel was mostly driven from nine construction shafts, each equipped with wooden headgear which was used to lower materials to the men working beneath. 

In 1906 there was a accident where a high speed train travelling at 60 mph was derailed due to a faulty rail which there was 2 injuries and no deaths.

Catesby Tunnel retired from operational service on 3rd September 1966 

































how she looked when under construction

























he second tunnel was the second bore of oxendon tunnels which is now used as a public footpath and cycle route 
bit of history
Oxendon tunnel which has two bores was designed and built by George Stephenson and was opened in 1859. It was built to connect Northampton and Market Harborough and was used to transport passengers and the huge amounts of ironstone that were found in Northamptonshire in the mid nineteenth century. It see its last train in 1981


























thanks for looking


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## Seahorse (Mar 13, 2013)

As long as you haven't overwritten anything, have a go with one of these...

http://www.snapfiles.com/freeware/system/fwdatarecovery.html


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## night crawler (Mar 13, 2013)

Brilliant love to visit some tunnels like that.


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## alex76 (Mar 13, 2013)

Thanks seahorse i will give that ago


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## flyboys90 (Mar 13, 2013)

Nice one,thanks for sharing.


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## steve2109 (Mar 15, 2013)

God I love railway stuff (I said that in public didn't I).. great report, will head there myself one day


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## alex76 (Mar 18, 2013)

Thanks for the comments guys


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## The Wombat (Mar 25, 2013)

Wow, really impressed you cracked Catesby. Still at the top of my list of unconquered tunnels.


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