Evening all, Another Railway tunnel from me....
Keele Tunnel
The 321 yard long Keele Tunnel in Staffordshire was located on the North Staffordshire Railway’s Stoke to Market Drayton Line, Built in 1859 from red brick following a completely straight course with some masonry coping on each portal, it has several refuges on either side, the lining face exhibits six rings of brick, originally bored for twin track it’s now single with the line being slewed into the central position in October 1934, In 1962 a new chord was constructed at Madeley which provided a connection to the West Coast Mainline, this was used during the Harecastle realignment project due to the closure of Harecastle Tunnel! It continued to see use from freight traffic until 1966 when the Creamery at Pipe Gate closed, Passenger services finished during the Beeching Axe in 1964, Freight traffic kept the line open with traffic from Apedale & Sliverdale Collieries, However in 1998 once the collieries had ceased trading the line was finally closed. A lot of track lifting was carried out in 2009 although some still remains, there is plans to reopen this branch line although it is deemed low priority...
Having reccie’d the area previously, we accessed the trackbed from the bridge off Station Road, Keele and simply followed it south until we reached Keele Tunnel, there’s obviously been fences arrested although both sides and been ripped down, So access is easy, the track remains down throughout the tunnels entirety and continues south over the M6 motorway and beyond... Loads of new unused railway sleepers left behind in the tunnel probably from renewal jobs some nice colours too, A decent explore if your in the area with a few hours to kill could easily spend hours in there messing about with photography and the like... Obviously at 321 yards it’s not record breaking so I tried various angles and lightning techniques I think it’s worked out ok..
Hope you all enjoy, Thanks for looking!
^^Just inside the northern portal.
^^Inside the northern portal.
^^About mid way, shows the track height!
^^Looking South, mid way.
^^A central view south.
^^ Mid way looking South,
^^Refuge at 250yards.
^^ Same refuge.
^^Unwanted railway sleepers..
^^Looking South
^^Similar to a previous shot with more light.
^^Another refuge.
^^ Trackline.
^^South portal looking South
^^Trackbed looking South towards M6
^^3/4 Milepost.
^^ Another refuge
^^Southern portal.
^^
^^ tried to show the rusty rails..
^^100yds in.
^^ Northern portal.
Thanks all!!
Keele Tunnel
The 321 yard long Keele Tunnel in Staffordshire was located on the North Staffordshire Railway’s Stoke to Market Drayton Line, Built in 1859 from red brick following a completely straight course with some masonry coping on each portal, it has several refuges on either side, the lining face exhibits six rings of brick, originally bored for twin track it’s now single with the line being slewed into the central position in October 1934, In 1962 a new chord was constructed at Madeley which provided a connection to the West Coast Mainline, this was used during the Harecastle realignment project due to the closure of Harecastle Tunnel! It continued to see use from freight traffic until 1966 when the Creamery at Pipe Gate closed, Passenger services finished during the Beeching Axe in 1964, Freight traffic kept the line open with traffic from Apedale & Sliverdale Collieries, However in 1998 once the collieries had ceased trading the line was finally closed. A lot of track lifting was carried out in 2009 although some still remains, there is plans to reopen this branch line although it is deemed low priority...
Having reccie’d the area previously, we accessed the trackbed from the bridge off Station Road, Keele and simply followed it south until we reached Keele Tunnel, there’s obviously been fences arrested although both sides and been ripped down, So access is easy, the track remains down throughout the tunnels entirety and continues south over the M6 motorway and beyond... Loads of new unused railway sleepers left behind in the tunnel probably from renewal jobs some nice colours too, A decent explore if your in the area with a few hours to kill could easily spend hours in there messing about with photography and the like... Obviously at 321 yards it’s not record breaking so I tried various angles and lightning techniques I think it’s worked out ok..
Hope you all enjoy, Thanks for looking!
^^Just inside the northern portal.
^^Inside the northern portal.
^^About mid way, shows the track height!
^^Looking South, mid way.
^^A central view south.
^^ Mid way looking South,
^^Refuge at 250yards.
^^ Same refuge.
^^Unwanted railway sleepers..
^^Looking South
^^Similar to a previous shot with more light.
^^Another refuge.
^^ Trackline.
^^South portal looking South
^^Trackbed looking South towards M6
^^3/4 Milepost.
^^ Another refuge
^^Southern portal.
^^
^^ tried to show the rusty rails..
^^100yds in.
^^ Northern portal.
Thanks all!!
Last edited:
:
