The Summit Tunnel and Hills Above.

The Summit Tunnel is a 1.6-mile-long railway tunnel through the Pennines in Northern England. Connecting the town of Littleborough, Greater Manchester, with the large village of Walsden, West Yorkshire.

 

Construction started on the tunnel in 1837, with George Stephenson in charge of the project, and it opened in 1841, providing a much-needed rail link between the major northern cities of Leeds and Manchester. The cost was said to be approx. £285,000, which was nearly £200,000 over the original budget of £97000. On completion, the tunnel was the longest in the world for about 4 weeks until Box Tunnel between Chippenham and Bath opened. Around a thousand men worked on the project, with nine killed during the construction and 23,000,000 bricks 8,000 tonnes of concrete were used during the build. Stephenson considered it his greatest piece of railway engineering.

 

The tunnel has pretty much remained in constant use since opening, with the exception of an 8-month period in 1985. On December 20th, 1984, a goods train was pulling petrol tankers through the tunnel when tanker number 4 derailed, causing the derailment of the tankers behind. One of the tanks began to leak, and the vapour from it ignited. Upon leaving the tunnel on foot, the train crew was persuaded to return and bring out the engine and remaining tanks that were not ablaze. It took two days to bring the fire under control, and the stop signal was not issued by the West Yorkshire Fire Brigade until 6.30 p.m. on Christmas Eve. The fire crew remained around the tunnel until January 7, 1985.

The builder, George Stephenson, said of the tunnel, "I stake my reputation and my head that the tunnel will never fail so as to injure any human life." The damage done by the fire was minimal; about half a mile of track had to be replaced, and all electrical services had to be replaced. The brick lining had stood up well to the fire, with a minimal amount of work needed to replace the damaged lining and air shafts 8 and 9 shored up at the bases. Before re-opening, locals were allowed the opportunity to walk through the tunnel, with train services starting again between Todmorden and Littleborough on August 19, 1985.

 

The pictures below, which can also be seen on Clickasnap, were taken with a Samsung Galaxy Tablet on November 14, 2013. The feature is the tunnel's eastern portal, a few of the tunnel's air shafts, and a number taken from the hills above the tunnel looking down into the valley and landscapes below.

The following 2 short films were taken at the tunnels Northern (Western) portal.

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This shows a Leeds bound train leaving the tunnel in the direction of Walsden. It was filmed in August 2017.

This was filmed in November 2013 and shows a Manchester bound pacer train entering the tunnel.

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All the pictures and video remain the copyright of Colin Green.