Introduction
The notion of a high speed rail-link between Manchester and Paris; through a tunnel under the English Channel may seem like the dream of modern civil engineers, and something we will have to wait years for. However it was a dream shared by Sir Edward Watkins in 1897 when he started work on the Great Central Railway (GCR) between Sheffield and London Marylebone.
The line was built to a higher loading gauge, 1 in 180 ruling gradients and wide radius curves in order to allow larger trains and faster trains. Sadly Watkins dream has still not been realised, the GCR never went further than London and never really made a decent profit. It was finally closed in 1966 having only been open to passenger traffic for 67 years.
Catesby Tunnel
The tunnel was the longest on the GCR, and at 2997 yards is nearly 2.7km long! The tunnel was constructed because the wealthy landowner at Catesby Manor didn’t want his view obscured; a cutting could have just as easily been constructed. The tunnel was excavated at great expense to the company, which speaks volumes of Watkin’s determination and the depths of his pockets!
The notion of a high speed rail-link between Manchester and Paris; through a tunnel under the English Channel may seem like the dream of modern civil engineers, and something we will have to wait years for. However it was a dream shared by Sir Edward Watkins in 1897 when he started work on the Great Central Railway (GCR) between Sheffield and London Marylebone.
The line was built to a higher loading gauge, 1 in 180 ruling gradients and wide radius curves in order to allow larger trains and faster trains. Sadly Watkins dream has still not been realised, the GCR never went further than London and never really made a decent profit. It was finally closed in 1966 having only been open to passenger traffic for 67 years.
Catesby Tunnel
The tunnel was the longest on the GCR, and at 2997 yards is nearly 2.7km long! The tunnel was constructed because the wealthy landowner at Catesby Manor didn’t want his view obscured; a cutting could have just as easily been constructed. The tunnel was excavated at great expense to the company, which speaks volumes of Watkin’s determination and the depths of his pockets!
The South portal, with the date stone above
Regards,
