The Merstham and Quarry tunnels are two neighbouring railway tunnels on the

Brighton Main Line The Brighton Main Line (also known as the South Central Main Line) is a major railway line in the United Kingdom that links Brighton, on the south coast of England, with central London. In London the line has two branches, out of and station ...

between

Merstham Merstham is a town in the borough of Reigate and Banstead in Surrey, England. It lies 25 miles south of Charing Cross and 2 miles south of the Greater London border. Part of the North Downs Way runs along the northern boundary of the town. Mers ...

and

Coulsdon Coulsdon (, traditionally pronounced ) is a town in south London, England, within the London Borough of Croydon, in the ceremonial county of Greater London since 1965. Prior to this it was part of the historic county of Surrey. History The loc ...

(formerly Stoats Nest) in Surrey, Great Britain. The Merstham Tunnel was the first to be built, with construction commencing in 1838 and being opened on 12 July 1841. Built by the

London and Brighton Railway The London and Brighton Railway (L&BR) was a railway company in England which was incorporated in 1837 and survived until 1846. Its railway ran from a junction with the London and Croydon Railway (L&CR) at Norwood – which gives it access fro ...

(L&BR), it formed a key element of the original route between

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and Brighton. Nearly sixty years after the Merstham Tunnel's completion, the Quarry Tunnel was built amid tensions between the South Eastern Railway (SER) and the

London Brighton and South Coast Railway The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR; known also as the Brighton line, the Brighton Railway or the Brighton) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1846 to 1922. Its territory formed a rough triangle, with London at its ...

(LB&SCR). The Quarry Tunnel bypasses the SER stations of Coulsdon South, Merstham and Redhill, and thus has been mostly used by fast trains, while the Merstham Tunnel is used by stopping services instead. On 24 September 1905, the Merstham Tunnel was the location of the first murder on Britain's railways, that being of Mary Sophia Money. Both tunnels were

electrified Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source. The broad meaning of the term, such as in the history of technology, economic history ...

via the installation of a

third rail A third rail, also known as a live rail, electric rail or conductor rail, is a method of providing electric power to a railway locomotive or train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a railway ...

system by the Southern Railway during 1932, after which the route has been largely used by electric traction. Both tunnels have continued to be used through to the present day.

Merstham Tunnel

The original tunnel through the

North Downs The North Downs are a ridge of chalk hills in south east England that stretch from Farnham in Surrey to the White Cliffs of Dover in Kent. Much of the North Downs comprises two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs): the Surrey Hills a ...

was constructed for the

(L&BR), forming a key element for conveying rail traffic between

and Brighton. Prior to construction commencing, a total of six routes, including two via the Merstham Gap, was considered; the selected route, chosen after an formal

Parliamentary enquiry In parliamentary procedure, requests and inquiries are motions used by members of a deliberative assembly to obtain information or to do or have something done that requires permission of the assembly. Except for a request to be excused from a dut ...

, was reportedly unexpected to be successful. Even still, the route was modified somewhat allegedly on the account of objections raised by of local landowners. A surveying platform was completed in August 1838 to assist the construction; it remains in-situ to the present day. During 1838, work on Merstham Tunnel commenced under the supervision of the engineer

John Urpeth Rastrick John Urpeth Rastrick (26 January 1780 – 1 November 1856) was one of the first English steam locomotive builders. In partnership with James Foster, he formed Foster, Rastrick and Company, the locomotive construction company that built the '' ...

, and was completed within two years. It was bored through

chalk Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Ch ...

, and featured a total of twelve vertical shafts, up which the

spoil Spoil or spoils: *Plunder taken from an enemy or victim *Material (such as rock, earth or other overburden) removed during: **excavation **mining **dredging Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons f ...

was raised to the surface in skips by means of horse-drawn winches. Originally, the tunnel had been intended to have a length of 2,013 yards (1,841 metres, or 1.14 miles), but it was realigned midway though construction, shortening it to 1,830 yards (1,673 metres or 1.04 miles) long. The two-mile railway

cutting Cutting is the separation or opening of a physical object, into two or more portions, through the application of an acutely directed force. Implements commonly used for wikt:cut, cutting are the knife and saw, or in medicine and science the scal ...

to the north of the tunnel is reportedly one of the largest in Europe having a depth of 100 feet (30 metres) at the northern entrance to the tunnel. Its construction involved the removal of more than a million cubic yards (800,000 cubic metres) of chalk. Brick-lined portals were built at each end of the tunnel. An unusual measure, which was intended to boost the travelling public's perception of its safety, the interior of the tunnel was whitewashed and lit by

gas lamp Gas lighting is the production of artificial light from combustion of a gaseous fuel, such as hydrogen, methane, carbon monoxide, propane, butane, acetylene, ethylene, coal gas (town gas) or natural gas. The light is produced either directly ...

s, the latter being supplied from a small gas works south of Merstham station. However, this practice was soon abandoned as the large quantities of

soot Soot ( ) is a mass of impure carbon particles resulting from the incomplete combustion of hydrocarbons. It is more properly restricted to the product of the gas-phase combustion process but is commonly extended to include the residual pyrolysed ...

emitted by steam locomotives prevented effective illumination of the tunnel anyway. On 12 July 1841, the Merstham Tunnel was officially opened to traffic. At the time of its completion, it was considered to be an engineering marvel of the era. Although the tunnel was built by the L&BR, it was located on a section of line between

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...

and Redhill that was to be shared with the South Eastern Railway (SER), when they commenced services on their route to Dover in 1842. On 16 July 1844, the SER refunded half of the construction cost of the joint line and took ownership of the section between Purley and Redhill, including the Merstham Tunnel. On 24 September 1905, the Merstham Tunnel was the site of the unsolved murder of Mary Sophia Money; the incident is believed to be the first murder on a train anywhere in Britain. Shortly after the incident, marks were discovered on the tunnel wall, indicating that Miss Money had been involved in a violent struggle and had been thrown to her death from a moving train. On 29 January 1989, a passenger train collided with an out-of-gauge engineering train travelling on the opposite line inside Merstham Tunnel; damage was sustained to the passenger train's traction equipment along with several smashed windows.

Quarry Tunnel

The sharing of the main line caused a great deal of friction between the SER and the

(LB&SCR), the successor of the L&BR, throughout the 19th century. Eventually, the LB&SCR gained Parliamentary approval to build its own independent line between Coulsdon North and Earlswood, which bypassed the SER stations of Coulsdon South, Merstham and Redhill. This involved the construction of a second tunnel to the east of the original, and 25 feet (7.6 metres) above the level of the original. Since both routes form part of the

, in order to differentiate them the former was called the "Redhill Line", whilst the new line became known as the "Quarry Line". Quarry Tunnel is 2,113 yards (1,932 metres, or about 1.2 miles or 1 mile 1.6 chains) in length. It was constructed between 1896 and 1899, being formally opened on 8 November 1899. The contractors were Messrs Firbank, and the estimated cost was £85,000. The new tunnel was approached by a 100 ft deep cutting on the north side. Both Quarry Tunnel and the original Merstham Tunnel have been operated through to the twenty-first century; while the former is predominantly used by fast trains, services that stop at Redhill and Merstham have instead continued to use the older Merstham Tunnel.

Electrification

During 1932, the lines through both tunnels, along with the wider route, were

via the installation of a

system by the Southern Railway.Bonavia 1987, pp. 87-89.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* Bonavia, Michael R. ''The history of the Southern Railway.'' London:Unwin Hyman, 1987. . {{refend

External links

Detail on the Merstham Railway Tunnel via surreyarchaeology.org.uk

Railway tunnels in England Buildings and structures in Surrey Tunnels completed in 1841 Tunnels completed in 1899 Tunnels in Surrey