Rowthorn Tunnel is a former railway tunnel between and stations southeast of

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, England. Some sources refer to the tunnel as "Rowthorne".

Context

The tunnel was built by 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 ...

on the circuitous Barrow Hill to Pleasley West line known as "The Doe Lea Branch", because it ran for much of its length along the valley of the River Doe Lea.

Structure

The tunnel was

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and long. The line from the north approached on a

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of 1 in 50 which continued through the tunnel, making it very difficult to work coal trains southwards.

History

The line was opened without ceremony on 1 September 1890. It initially provided a service of three trains each way between and , taking about an hour from end to end. Normal passenger traffic along the branch dwindled over the years and finally ceased on 28 July 1930. Glapwell Colliery, to the north of the tunnel was still going strong at this time. As its sidings left the passenger line to the north of Glapwell station and all coal went out northwards, Glapwell station was abandoned along with the track through the tunnel almost to Pleasley Colliery West Junction which was a short distance south of . After closure the tunnel found two new uses, first as a mushroom farm then, during the

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, as an ammunition store. It has since been filled in.Rowthorn Tunnel: via ''oldminer''
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References

Sources

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External links