Clay Cross Tunnel is a

tunnel A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube cons ...

on the former

North Midland Railway The North Midland Railway was a British railway company, which opened its line from Derby to Rotherham (Masbrough) and Leeds in 1840. At Derby, it connected with the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway and the Midland Counties Railway at what ...

line near

Clay Cross Clay Cross is a town and a civil parish in the North East Derbyshire district of Derbyshire, England. It is a former industrial and mining town, about south of Chesterfield. It is directly on the A61. Surrounding settlements include North W ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, now part of the

Midland Main Line The Midland Main Line is a major railway line in England from London to Nottingham and Sheffield in the Midlands. It comprises the lines from London's St Pancras station via Leicester, Derby/Nottingham and Chesterfield in the East Midlands. ...

Construction

It was designed by

George Stephenson George Stephenson (9 June 1781 – 12 August 1848) was a British civil engineer and mechanical engineer. Renowned as the "Father of Railways", Stephenson was considered by the Victorians a great example of diligent application and thirst for ...

with an estimate of £96,000 for construction. The tenders for the work were issued by the North Midland Railway in December 1836. The contractors appointed were Messrs. Hardy, Copeland and Cropper of Watford for the sum of £105,400 (). The tunnel was to be wide and high with a bed of broken stone at the base deep to form the rail bed. The tunnel was to be arched completely round with brickwork laid in

Roman cement Roman cement is a substance developed by James Parker in the 1780s, being patented in 1796. The name is misleading, as it is nothing like any material used by the Romans, but was a "natural cement" made by burning septaria – nodules that are ...

deep in the roof and walls, and deep in the floor. Approximately 15 million bricks were required for the tunnel lining. The greatest depth below the surface was about . Construction began on 2 February 1837 when the first sod was turned for the sinking of the ventilation shaft in the centre of the tunnel. The boring of the tunnel was not straightforward, eventually costing £140,000 (equivalent to £ in ), instead of the expected £98,000 (equivalent to £ in ), with the loss of fifteen lives. It was reported in August 1839 that the tunnel excavation was completed, and the last brick was expected to be laid within a few days, but in fact was not completed until 18 December 1839.

Description

It begins at the former Derbyshire summit of the line, also the highest point of the whole line, just after the old

Stretton railway station Stretton railway station was a railway station at Stretton, Derbyshire, England built by the North Midland Railway. History Stretton station was first opened in 1841 as Smithy Moor, a year after the line opened, but renamed later in 1841. I ...

. Situated at the watershed of the rivers

Amber Amber is fossilized tree resin that has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times. Much valued from antiquity to the present as a gemstone, amber is made into a variety of decorative objects."Amber" (2004). In Ma ...

and

Rother Rother may refer to: General *Rother (surname) (also sometimes spelled Röther) *Rother District, a local government district in East Sussex, England *Rother FM, an independent local radio station for Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England *Rother Kup ...

is directly above it and there are ventilation shafts in Market Street (around which the council have placed seats) and High Street (some above the line). Until the building of the tunnel, no deep prospecting for minerals had been carried out. The discovery of coal and iron led to George Stephenson moving to Tapton House, near Chesterfield. With a group of others, he bought a tract of land north of the tunnel and set up a company, George Stephenson and Co., later renamed the Clay Cross Company. The northern portal is a magnificent Moorish design and is now

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

. The south portal is also

Clay Cross railway station Clay Cross railway station was a railway station built by the North Midland Railway in 1840. It served the town of Clay Cross in Derbyshire, England. It was originally planned to have been built within the Clay Cross Tunnel, however it was c ...

was at the northern end, where the line was met by that from the

Erewash Valley The Erewash Valley is the valley of the River Erewash (pronounced ) on the border of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire as far as the River Trent. It runs along the boundary of the southern end of the Derbyshire hills and the more rolling Nottinghamsh ...

. The tunnel saw one of the first uses of the

absolute block Absolute block signalling is a British signalling scheme designed to ensure the safe operation of a railway by allowing only one train to occupy a defined section of track (block) at a time. This system is used on double or multiple lines wher ...

signalling system, maybe after a narrow escape on the south bound inaugural run. The train was heavier than expected and a pilot engine was provided at the rear. This was detached at the entrance to the tunnel, but halfway through the train came to a halt, and someone had to walk back for the pilot, to the consternation of the passengers. Stephenson had been shown the system by its inventor

William Fothergill Cooke Sir William Fothergill Cooke (4 May 1806 – 25 June 1879) was an English inventor. He was, with Charles Wheatstone, the co-inventor of the Cooke-Wheatstone electrical telegraph, which was patented in May 1837. Together with John Ricardo he fo ...

supported by Wheatstone of the

Wheatstone bridge A Wheatstone bridge is an electrical circuit used to measure an unknown electrical resistance by balancing two legs of a bridge circuit, one leg of which includes the unknown component. The primary benefit of the circuit is its ability to provid ...

fame. This was the forerunner of the

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It am ...

's system.

References

Sources

* *

External links

*{{gbmaprim, SK392631, Maps of Clay Cross showing the tunnel
Extract for the Accident at Clay Cross Tunnel on 29 March 1844
Grade II listed buildings in Derbyshire Railway tunnels in England Rail transport in Derbyshire Tunnels in Derbyshire History of Derbyshire Tunnels completed in 1839 Midland Railway

Construction

Description

See also

References

Sources

External links