Harecastle Disused Railway Tunnel
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- čas přidán 7. 12. 2019
- In this video we explore the historical Harecastle disused railway tunnel. The tunnel is part of the former North Staffordshire railway which was actually the original west coast mainline in England. We explore Harecastle south railway tunnel. The tunnel was abandoned in 1966 due to it being unfit to be adapted for the electrification of the west coast mainline. The abandoned tunnel on the now disused railway line was built in 1848. This piece of Victorian railway architecture is stunning and has ventilation shafts that rise to Harecastle hill above. During this urban explore, urbex we also discovered some side tunnel adits that take water and drain it to The Canal tunnels that sit below the level of the disused railway tunnel. The canal tunnels were built respectively by James Brindley, Canal Engineer and Thomas Telford. We take a look at the two Canal tunnel portals.
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That drainage system in the tunnel built a couple of hundred years ago, still functioning perfectly today. Then there is the brickwork. A credit to the victorian engineers. 21st engineers must be awe inspired. Imagine what a victorian engineer could do with modern civil engineering equipment?
When things were built to last by people who cared about the work, rather than alot of projects today that are built as cheaply as possible from people just making the profit they can.
This is way before Victorian times.
Great video Martin, thank you so much.
I was born and raised in Kidsgrove and, as a kid, in the early 80’s, my mates and I walked through there a few times. It was really spooky to us, we only had cheap torches and it’s pitch black in the middle part due to the way the tunnel bends slightly. The relief of eventually seeing the light at the other end in the distance was tremendous.
There was a lot of that iron oxide laden water and muck in it back then too and we thought, the bit where you said it looked like a good curry, was animal blood seeping through from A J Greens farm, on the land above the tunnel, who had, and still have, a slaughter house attached, which made it even more scary to us kids. Im sure it wasn’t blood, but certainly looked like it and added to the spookiness.
The mud and water in the middle, back then was probably just as deep, but we were able to get through it as someone had made an improvised walkway through it using planks of wood balanced on old car tyres.
First time we did it for a dare and nobody thought we would go through with it, after we did we were everybody’s hero’s and they all wanted to know what it was like as they were too scared to go themselves.
We went straight after school, in our school uniforms !. We smuggled our cheap torches to school in our bags, knowing our parents would freak if the knew why. Needless to say, when we got home we had plenty of that orange muck on our uniforms and were all interrogated by our folks about it.
Fun and innocent times back then and I’m really grateful to you for filming your adventure down there. Thank you for bringing back the memories and for all of your videos, great stuff. Cheers.
Thanks Kevin. Great Memories 😃👍
It was double-tracked, I went through it several times as a child on a steam train, heading to my holidays.
Thank you 👍
Bloody hell how old r u ! 😆
Oh! My! Goodness! I live about a 5 minute walk from where you started out!! I wish I'd know as it is for lack of a companion that I have not ventured in as yet, BUT I have done so much research on this train tunnel! There have been a number of deaths in there, from suicides, to accidents and even, sadly, a newborn baby left in a paper bag back in the 19th century... You started at the opposite end to Kidsgrove, in a small area known as Peacock Haye/Hay/Hey (depending on the map you look at!) , but the other end (had it not been flooded) does come out in Kidsgrove. So thrilled to see you venture into my corner of the world - I hope you return! :) Come back any time, Martin! I loved seeing you pop up on the Silver Foxes video, and it's a joy to see you give this tunnel the Martin Zero treatment!
By the way - the technology advanced so much in the short time between Brindley's tunnel being completed in 1777, taking 7 years to construct, and Telford's being completed in 1827 it was possible to reduce the building time to just 3 years!
Also, when the Brindley Tunnel was dug they discovered deposits of coal and the local colliery, Golden Hill, actually mined it and actually built side canal tunnels to Brindley's in order to bring the coal directly to narrow boats rather than bring it to the surface, take it to the canal overground then put it on boats... I wonder whether you found some remnant of a similar arrangement, or whether it is, indeed, drainage...
@@Magdalena76h Thanks for the info Meredith
Happy to go exploring with you and GH Meredith....I'm among his friends on Facebook.
Hi, just added a comment to this video myself about going through this railway tunnel a few times, as a kid, growing up in Kidsgrove.
I would be very happy to revisit this tunnel, some 30 odd years later, and wouldn’t mind a companion or 2, let me know if you’re interested.
"I get these clothes dirty, me mam'll kill meh" ahh Lancashire lads. You should pay Nottingham a visit sometime Martin, loads of old urban railway architecture around here and the Mapperley tunnel is worth a visit.
I always figured the real reason those Factory Records fans wore so much black was so that the infamous Manchester coal and coal smoke didn't show up so much.
Quotes from famous explorers:
"Travelling - It leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller." - Ibn Battuta
"We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time." - T. S. Eliot
“Ambition leads me not only farther than any other man has been before me, but as far as I think it possible for man to go.” ― Captain James Cook
"If I get these clothes dirty, me Mam'll kill me." - Martin Zero
:-D
Always had a soft spot for Battuta, much better written and more honest than My Travels by the fantasist M.Polo, Esq
TS Elliot was referring to his conversion to Christianity.
Very interesting. Always nice to see old photographs showing how it once was.
Martin, I'm in almost the smack middle of the States, and since I found your videos I have wanted to go hunting disused railway tunnels, culverted rivers and canals with ya. Keep up the good work man! And also thanks to you, I sub to Foxes Afloat and love their coverage of the canals and everything they do.
We here in uk have some fantastic history.i live about 30 mins away from the oldest railway tunnel ever.1793.you guys in the states have history you cant even begin to imagine.keep it up dude.well done
Hi Martin. That line was not the WCML. it was, IIRC, the Manchester and Birminghham railway. There were as you say, problems with suitability to electrify, it was (is!) wet, clearances, and generally perhaps a little bit suspect geologically. Harecastle Hill is like a swiss cheese after all the mineral extraction that had taken place, so main line expresses tearing thru may have been seen as a liability. It is most interesting, and maybe a little telling, that it is deemed sensible to undertake maintenance still. The powers that be are not noted for such benvolence usually. Maybe there is some kind of risk to what lies above? BTW those cut outs in the brickwork are very recent, and likely for investigative purposes. The plot thickens!
There was also, at the Kidsgrove basin end, and underground incline plane (IIRC called the Dragon Incline) that let iron from Birchenwood down to the boats for shipment. That whole area between The south tunnel end and Stoke was riddled with railways down the years, both private and BR and its predecessors. There are remains still, if one knows where to look. Although I am not originally from that area, I now live not so far away, and find it deeply fascinating. If you can get hold of the book 'The Potteries Loop Line', - it's pretty rare now and out of print, so pricey- it has quite a lot of info about that area, and is a must read item.
This vid is another I found most interesting, and nicely done as ever. Thanks for uploading mate! Cheers.
I live in kidsgrove and we all played by the tunnel sometimes when we were little. Always wondered what was in that abandoned line, great video :)
"If I get these clothes dirty, me Mam ul kill me"....... that brought back so many memories Martin, lost count of the amount of time's me an ar kid said that back In the 60's / early 70's.
Loved this video mate, you and Colin make a great team, also had a good laugh when you said that orangy sludge looked like a good curry. Too bad you didnt have your wellies, fantastic video as always, very Informative, beat's anything on TV.
Nice to see someone is doing maintenance to the tunnel
I do like it when you get the moody lights and music out.
I walked all the disused railway tunnels at harecastle just after closing. There was opened drainage manholes then. I only had my pushbike with me and just the cycle light to see by. Very wet there four ventilation shafts. The long one now closed off all together from the public. I also walked Telford canal tunnel when it was closed for repair and the water drained and the new railway tunnel when railway workers were on strike. Nice to see the long tunnel again.
This old stuff has always fascinated me , its not just bricks and mortar , people have stood there and put them there while gabbing away to each other , each brick placed is from a second in someone`s life , i was a brickies labourer for years , a tough and thankless job , to those that fired the bricks to those horses that brought them there , at times conditions were brutal and poor wages for the skilled work done , my grandpa was a stonemason and he would walk around pointing out the state of modern brick work , i just love all the old railway buildings of time gone past , thanks for this
Brilliant! First time I’ve been able to catch a video when it goes live.
As I’ve said in other video comments, awesome and inspiring stuff!
Iconic picture at the end of the working boats. 👍
i now officially love Sunday evenings
Highlight of the week
Brilliant video, Martin, as ever. It's nice to see that even in death, these tunnels are still maintained - Did you notice the Dft markers on the wall? Where Dft refers to the Department For Transport, who now oversee these structures, in fact, I think you might already have pointed that out in the past? What was a bit disconcerting was to see the bottom of that air-shaft was no longer circular, more of a circle with a flat spot. As we all know, the strength of the circular shaft comes from the outside pressure squeezing the brickwork tightly together in a uniform circular shape. Once that pressure becomes unequal it can, as seems to have happened here, squeeze the shaft "out of round". Now we have a weak, flat, spot where the shaft could eventually fail with disastrous consequences, especially if there are buildings up above - a man made sinkhole! So now it fall to the Dft to keep that from happening. Of course, properly maintained, these tunnels can remain viable almost indefinitely, even to be repurposed as cable ducts, cycle paths or tramways etc. (dependant upon locale).
Now, electrification? I remember my dad, a railman at York, telling us about how the tunnels were adapted on the ECML. It was achieved by lowering the tunnel floors, and regrading the trackbed, in and out of the tunnels. The issue was that the overall shape of the tunnel had to be maintained in order to retain its structural integrity. Since many, if not most, early tunnels are 'ovoid' in shape, the walls get narrower as they get nearer to the floor. If you drop the floor by three or four feet, you must maintain the angle of the walls, which means as you go lower, you lose width at the floor. As you pointed out, this tunnel already was quite narrow, so to lower the floor, would make the tunnel even narrower, and as you surmised, too narrow for a double track. ironically, the UK eventually adopted the practice of "single line working" in which case, if electrification had occurred say, 20 years later, this line might just about have been able to survive? As was often the case though, not all tunnels could be adapted.
Thank you for the info.
There are 4 locations of shafts shown on the OS map, most of the tunnel passes under open ground, but at one of the shafts there is a caravan/static mobile home site, on Boathorse Road, about half the length of the tunnel along. The site itself is surrounded by open fields, you really have to ask, given the number of open spaces, WHY pick the one by a vent shaft, ie the most likely spot for any failure?
Re tunnels and electrification :- the Canonbury Curve in north London connects the North London Line to Finsbury Park, it had just the problem you describe, currently single track freight usage, big clamour to open it doubled for passengers - every few years it gets explained why its not possible, few years later a new pressure group appears, it gets explained again, etc Good luck with your expected repeated explanations!!
Thank you, why they couldn't adapt to electric makes much more sense now.
They couldn’t lower the tunnel due to the canal tunnels underneath.
Thanks again Martin another great video look forward to your next one.
The Brindley tunnel is lined with handmade blue bricks , in 1987 when we were on a canal holiday we were waiting for entrance to the Telford tunnel,they were repairing the south entrance to the 1777 tunnel ,the British waterways workmen let me have one as I used to collect bricks . These handmade blue bricks were probably the first time engineering bricks were used on this scale.
Where can I send a picture to.
Fascinating indeed , the old photos are very intriguing and brings the viewer right to date . Thank you again as always .
Excellent again Martin.
A lot of history in that area, a fascinating place to explore. 🙂👍
Another great journey. Love the abandoned building videos.
Hi Martin, great video, I live only one mile from these tunnels and go past the tunnel ventilation shafts in the fields close to where I work every day. Just above the entrance to the tunnel at the Kidsgrove end is a nice country park, Bathpool park with a large lake which is popular with people from the area. The new railway line {west coast mainline} runs to the side of the park with the new tunnel {entrance exit} at the northern end of the park but this tunnel is much shorter than the old disused tunnel. I hope you enjoyed your trip to the northern end of the potteries.
Another great video featuring two of my favourite, subscribed presenters. ... Foxes afloat for their interesting canal perspectives ... and yourself for your own explorations. ... Have now watched both reviews... very interesting ... and a thank you to you both.
Your Videos are a great way to blow through some spare time, informative, fun, and I like how into it you are...
Fantastic stiff Martin - everyday is a learn day! -Thank you.
Thank you Martin as always. You tell a great historical story.
Thanks Don
Welcome back to ... another great video . Thanks Martin for sharing your adventures . Thumbs up
A top explore! Really enjoyed that. And, posed lots of questions on connections to the canal tunnels. Fascinating stuff!
Just got in from Sunday service to another GREAT show. Sundays are so much better with Martin!!!
Brilliant Martin. What a strange mud !!. Good to see Colin
Watched it 3 times! Martin you make me laugh! Fun explore. Need wellies and a mask. Thank you for your adventurous spirit and excellent photography skills. The music was a bit scary this time. Love from Peru
Hi,Martin.Its Phil again I worked trains over that branch in the 60s when I was at edgeley shed as a fireman working trains to Stoke and London Regards.Phil.
Great stuff Phil
Looks to be excellent work again, keep it up.
Nice one again thank you for sharing this with us 👏❤️😁xx
Great to see one of the Foxes again. Great video as usual. Thank You Martin.
As always cheers thanks every time you do lights strobes while doing explores. Reminds me of my youth 90s raves clubs clubbing we are getting older but this structures lights do remind me of some clubs nocks crannies ambiance features of clubs no more. Been from Madchester Happy Mondays Heicanda etc happy memories keep been young doing wat doing it works. Cheers thanks season greetings from Ireland. 👍🇮🇪☘Godbless 🙏
Tantilising those off shoot small tunnels. The airvent engineering fantastic. Interesting some tunnel lined in brick other parts stone? Brinley and Telford tunnels fascinating. Great day out thanks Martin and Fox x
Thank you Valerie
So glad Colin is a scaredy cat: we get a Foxes Alfloat vid and a Martin Zero vid...double the joy!
Colin is passionate about history as well so many of Foxes Afloat videos aren't just about narrowboating plus their quality of videos are as good as Martin's.
SO COLIN AND MARTIN WOULD BE A VERY GOOD DUO TO PRODUCE SEVERAL SERIES OF EXCELLENT TELEVISION DOCUMENTARIES ON CANAL AND RAILWAY HISTORY !!!!!.
Another fantastic video thanks again Martin. 👍
Excellent, I will get watching... I like your underground videos!
I love your disused Tunnel Videos. You and Mr. Whitewick are the best in this Metier.
I like the way that you have put up photographs of them as they were back in the day 😀
Excellent video guys. Really interesting. Thank you
Hi Martin, I didn't throw anything at the screen just fascinated at the yellow ooze you were both brave, to try and attempt to get to the end especially as you said it was smelly in places too!!! Really interesting history.
Another great video. Thanks Martin. Your music team does a great job too - it always fits well with the video activity.
I live a couple of miles from this place .
I grew up with the scary story of poor Lesley whittle as my sister ( now passed on ) used to know Lesley and was friends with her.
My eldest brother used to play in that tunnel as a child and he and his friends would see how far they would walk in while saying " Lesley whittle"
Martin ,you're vids are great ...keep up the very interesting work mate .
Thanks very much Mike, much appreciated
Excellent video really enjoyed it you find it more and more places that's awesome keep up the good work my friend and thanks
These brickwork tunnels are supreme -great video martin -darkness rules!
I explored the other end from Kidsgrove in my teens and the iron sludge existed even then....maybe 1986? Looks worse now.
Great video thank you!
Thanks leigh
Amazing piece of engineering when you consider the available technology back in the day. Thanx for sharing.
Thank you John
Really enjoyed this. Thanks Martin xx
okay been watching you for last 3 weeks and you'v inspired me too go round my local area ... forest of dean we got dead railway thought out the woods ..
My mates and I used to bunk off school and explore in there. It was spooky as...
Great vid, as always. 👍
Awesome Martin , Love the Videos Thank You
Nice one guys, loved the old photos
Found it really interesting. Keep up the great work Martin
This show was fabulous!
Incredibly interesting video. As somebody else said, you are doing an extremely valuable service documenting our fantastic railway and industrial heritage. Keep it up !!
Superb as always, thank you Martin
Great video, Martin Zero, and Colin Fox! Thanks for taking us into it. It was fascinating.
Thank you Auntie
Brilliant as ever Martin. Thank you.
Thank you Michael
Just come across your channel Martin very interesting as I'm in to history can't believe how close the canal tunnel is close to the old train tunnel and the new tunnel as the old hardcastle tunnel is closed near the train station all so can't believe how many rail lines go to stoke frat video awsome work I've explored a couple of places myself well dinec5💯💯👍👍
Brilliant, and informative as always 👍
This is what Sundays are all about! 👌 Thanks Martin
Thanks Adam
When I walked in Scotland in 1985 there were also many abandoned railways.
It is a great piece of history, the maps from the past are so detailed.
That is clear iron on your shoes.
As usual.. damn good. Shame you couldn't complete it but hey.. it happens. Was surprised you didnt go to the other end and look in.. that's more you!! Lol the canal tunnels were awesome. All that fantastic brickwork is amazing. Thankyou again.!!
Another very interesting video Martin, thank you. The canal tunnels were full of iron oxide. I remember the kidnapping of Lesley Whittle in the 1970s who was kept in an inspection shaft in Bathpool Park, Kidsgrove (just above where you were) and she must have heard the trains rattling through the railway tunnel.
Nice one! You make a “Reet Pair” & Not wellies either. 🤣🤣. Very interesting history & explore with Colin, also follow the foxes as well. 👍👍😎
On my door step, I've explored this hundreds of times, nice to see you exploring it
Cheers Ed, great place
Very interesting Martin thanks for the video
Oh my god memories,I was 13 last time I was in that tunnel exploreing.aim 44 now.thanks for the memories.
Really special... looking at the comments you might need another look at this place Martin. Great vlog... that orange stuff is vile!
Martin, I love these collaborative explorations. You always seem to work well with these others vloggers. I’m a big fan of both you and the Foxes. Another brilliant video.
Thanks for your efforts!
We went in the 70s had a good go getting in the canal side tunnels but blocked in them days, but good video keep it coming 👍
Brilliant stuff! Well done lads!
Some serious brick laying gone on in there beautifully made .
Martin and Colin, a wonderful video. Thanks so much. The railway tunnel brings back so many happy childhood memories of train journeys to North Wales for our summer holidays. Regarding the canal tunnel, my grandad helped install the fans for the tunnel ventilation. Hope you enjoyed your visit to Stoke on Trent. Many thanks once again.
Thanks Mike, all due respect to your Grandad
Just enjoying your adventures. Thanks for sharing, love from USA, Austin,Tx ❤️
Thank you for watching in Austin Texas 👍
Martin Zero As I can see, there are so many cool places overseas to Adventure and explore. One day I would love to go explore Jerusalem exploring the tunnels underneath. I’ve been watching different videos on CZcams about castles, The tunnels underneath Bethlehem sorts of places overseas.
Great work lads,thanks
Hi Martin ! Watching your videos is a nice way to finish up the sunday evening.
As it looks: the water draining from Brindleys tunnel carries a lot of the iron mud to the outside as well. And I don't blame you for not carrying on in there. Thanks for sharing !
Thank you
Hello from Canada. I've enjoyed watching your video's for the better part of a year. Keep up the good work!
Thank you very much for watching. Greetings to Canada
i walked through the tunnel 40 odd years ago,its got a lot more decline now in appearance since then.its mind blowing when built in scale 1766 yards long -1 mile 6yards long.i have tried to estimate the number of bricks used per yard/smaller then per yard is 1550 x 1766= 28 million,however that just what you can see? double thickness maybe 56 million. based on height and curviture approx.thanks
I'm glad you are turning back. There is a huge risk of hidden drains.
Gutted you never went all the way through, but, I don’t blame you. I wouldn’t have walked through that. Very interesting. I’ve travelled on narrow boats through the Harecastle tunnel, I loved it as a kid, very spooky. Glad you met up with the Silverfox too.
Every tunnel just amazes me with how much work the laborers had to accomplish. I so hope to explore one of them when I make it to Manchester, preferably with a guide like you guys or hey bring Connor!!
Thank you Andrew
Another well executed vid professional done by you guys. Those tunnels are part of British history so to document them like you have done is magnificent. I don't blame you for turning back with all the iron ore mud deposit. It reminded me of Drewley railway tunnel on the now closed Hull to Barnsley route, which at the Western end is over run with mud deposits. Cracking video guys!👍👍👍
Blood sweat and tears building that structure....Good investigation dude.👍🧱☔️
Get your wellies on and get it done 👍🏻 great as always 😊
Really interesting exploration. The width of most bridges and tunnel archways were remodelled to fit the electric cable gantries during electrification. You can see the effects of this work at places like Alderley Edge station where the old A34 road bridge at the southern end of the platforms had its brick archway blown with explosives and a higher flatter arch made of concrete replaced it. This is probably why the tunnel archway didn''t seem wide enough for two trains to pass. At places like Stockport station (Edgeley) cut and cover tunnels were replaced by a cutting I remember it well. The brown water in the Brindley Canal reminds me of the water in the Bridgewater canal at Worsley.
Yeah very similar to the Bridgewater Kevin
Great spooky music you use. Perfect for this spot. Nicely done video editing and music choice
Thanks Adam
I've done the woodhead tunnel, which is very similar, quite an eerie feeling! Great video!
I would love to do Woodhead Antony
.....that was AWESOME thanks Martin. Thanks to you too, Colin! You two work well together, I can imagine Sunday evenings as ".....and now on Channel four, it's a new series of "Exploring with Martin and Colin" 😜
Ha 😆Brilliant
Hi Martin. Another great video. I drive trains, more or less daily, through the ‘new’ Harecastle Tunnel. I was always led to believe the line was rerouted due to ongoing flooding problems. You may be right about the leccy though.
Cheers Randy. I would love to drive a train
Loved the intro, thanks for making me smile.
Thanks very much
If there's an abandoned Victorian tunnel you'll find Martin another cracking video thanks mate keep em coming 👍
Thanks very much mate, first one was with you I think 👍
I wondered how long before your version come out after Colin's 'aka the Foxs' version came out nice video and I formative
Thanks lads that was brilliant....