Haddon tunnel, Matlock to Buxton line

Hi chaps,
Haddon tunnel is 1058yrds long, Double bore & lies in the grounds of Haddon hall, Myself, Merlin & LeeLee investigated.......
In the 1840s, the Duke of Rutland amply showed the power he could wield. The railway from Rowsley to Buxton was originally proposed to go through the Wye Valley, which is where Haddon Hall is situated. This route was approved by parliament in 1846. His strong opposition at this time almost caused the route to be changed to go through the Derwent Valley, which would have taken it through Chatsworth. However, the Derwent route would have bypassed Bakewell. The citizens of Bakewell wished to have a station and approached the Duke for help. His opposition to the Wye Valley route soon changed and he became a champion of the route through the Wye Valley. This new route was debated in the House of Lords, and the Duke successfully ensured that the railway would pass through the Wye Valley. Powerful to the end, he did impose certain terms for the railway as it passed over his property. It goes through an unnecessary cut and cover tunnel for 1,000 metres.



You can see the top of the portal & the tunnel buttresses as errosion takes its toll on the hill side!!



















The water running in everywhere must of had a high level of limestone minerals in it, some areas & items were coated solid with it!









The growth from the bit of light that gets in from a vent!





This was the centre vent & it spanned the full width of the tunnel...











These sticks looked like bones!!!



Watch out for the large owl, It fly's at head height & when it fly's into the torch beam you'll fill your pants!!!

All the best, Rotax... Merlin..& LeeLee....

Excellent stuff Rotax. I was reading in that Disused Stations website the other day and it looks as though several of the landed gentry did similar things to hide the sight of trains near or on their land (cuttings, tunnels, etc).
Love the limestone coating. Weird!

Good work guys.

S

Very very interesting!

Liking the garden type fencing round the air vent!!
Good set of pics. How sooty are those walls?!! Looks like Mr. Bones has already been there and left some "deposits" behind!

Lb

King Al said:

......looks quite atmopheric like the entrance to draculars hide out or something wouldn't stop me though

Click to expand...

Sounds like you've got a plan here -perhaps throw in a bit of raw steak before entering as a decoy?!!

Lb

P.s. -happy new year. Hope it'll be a good one for ya!

Hi, excellent pictures. Some of your pictures in the tunnel seem to have a spooky ghostly fog. There may have been paranormal activity in there with you!

There is a shape of an angel to the upper left of the little boy in one of the pictures. Can u see?

Cant see it but cant stop looking for it!!!! I was on this trip and perhaps you are right there was a "Unusual breeze through the tunnel"




Regards
Merlin



------------------------------------------------
Rather be scared to death than bored to death

great pictures not sure about the white sticks
spooky ghost sticks

Great pics, i loving the limestoney sticks!

Love all the different colours of the brickwork, and the ferns growing out of the side of the walls. Those limestone covered sticks look great, creepy, but great lol. Didn't realise this was here.

Cheers,

Sal

lovin the build up of limestone.

mmmmmm limestooonee