place

Kilsby Tunnel

Buildings and structures in NorthamptonshireLondon and Birmingham RailwayRail transport in NorthamptonshireRailway tunnels in EnglandTunnels completed in 1838
Tunnels in NorthamptonshireUse British English from January 2018
Kilsby tunnel shaft pencil drawing
Kilsby tunnel shaft pencil drawing

The Kilsby Tunnel is a railway tunnel on the West Coast Main Line in England, near the village of Kilsby in Northamptonshire, roughly 5 miles (8 km) southeast of Rugby. It is 2,423 yards (2,216 m) long. The Kilsby Tunnel was designed and engineered by Robert Stephenson for the London & Birmingham Railway (L&BR). It was constructed by contractors Joseph Nowell & Sons and later by the L&BR. It took much longer to construct and exceeded its estimated cost, attributed to a roof collapse and consequential flooding. At the time of its opening in 1838, it was the longest railway tunnel ever constructed.The tunnel had atypically large ventilation shafts, because of a lack of experience as to how much ventilation would be needed for steam locomotives to pass through. On opening in 1838, the tunnel was single track and in 1879, double-track was laid. In March 1987, Kilsby Tunnel portals and its two ventilation shafts were given listed status.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Kilsby Tunnel (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Kilsby Tunnel
Watling Street,

Geographical coordinates (GPS) Address Nearby Places
placeShow on map

Wikipedia: Kilsby TunnelContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 52.331 ° E -1.164 °
placeShow on map

Address

Watling Street

Watling Street
CV23 8UW , Kilsby
England, United Kingdom
mapOpen on Google Maps

Kilsby tunnel shaft pencil drawing
Kilsby tunnel shaft pencil drawing
Share experience

Nearby Places

Watford Locks
Watford Locks

Watford Locks (grid reference SP592688) is a group of seven locks on the Leicester Line of the Grand Union Canal, in Northamptonshire, England, famous for the Watford Gap service area. The locks are formed (looking from the south), of two single locks, a staircase of four, and a final single lock. Together they lift the canal 54 feet 1 inch (16.48 m) to the "Leicester Summit", which it maintains all the way to Foxton Locks. The four staircase locks are equipped with working side ponds which are used to save water. The locks were built to carry narrowboats, and the system was opened in 1814. In the early 20th century there were plans to build an inclined plane similar to that at Foxton as part of a scheme to allow the passage of barges, but the plan was abandoned when the inclined plane at Foxton proved uneconomic.When the Grand Union Canal was formed in 1929, there were further proposals to widen the flight as part of the modernisation going on elsewhere on the Grand Union's network, but these plans did not develop further. The locks are hemmed in by the Roman Watling Street (now the A5 road), the M1 motorway, and the West Coast Main Line railway, which all fit through the narrow Watford Gap, between two hill systems. The locks are usually supervised during the cruising season from Easter to October, with the locks padlocked outside permitted hours. This is done to prevent problems arising from misuse and to ensure that queues are kept to the minimum. Boaters operate the locks themselves under the lock keeper's supervision. On arrival at the top or bottom boaters should report to the lock keeper to register their arrival before attempting to operate the flight. At busy times there can often be a delay of two hours or more but transit of the flight takes approximately 45 minutes; it is made quicker by the fact that the locks are narrow beam and the gates are light.