whitwell tunnel lies on the robin hood line between worksop and nottingham about half a mile from whitwell railway station built in 1848 this was a former midland railway route the whole line closing to passengers under the beeching cuts in the 1960,s and remained a single line freight only route untill the 1970,s when the route was closed completely and the remaining single line lifted with only the section between nottingham and newstead colliery remaining.
whitwell tunnel enjoyed a semi retired existance as a childrens play tunnel and walking route untill 1998 when double track was relaid through the tunnel to worksop thus reopening the whole route as the robin hood line which sees an hourly service between worksop and nottingham due to the nature of whitwell tunnel being in a very steep quarry cutting it made this one of my most challenging explores i have so far done so an early finish today prompted a visit to the tunnel which was the last on my list for the day.
my first attempt at trying to get to the tunnel was some 15 minutes of illegal hokey kokey much huffing and puffing and fierce trees and undergrowth
with much climbing up and down bankings on the former whitwell colliery site marked as private land owned by welbeck estates with an application to derbyshire council for development .
that failing i then decided to try further accross the tree line which was no further help as the trees and undergrowth were fierce here too however i did find a further hidden gem in the former disused railway link from the robin hood line to whitwell quarry which i shall come back and do someday.
so going back to my car and heading for the railway bridge i thought i was just going to have to take pictures from the railway bridge and was prepared to write the tunnel off for the time being and come back on a sunday when there are no trains on this section of the line trains on sundays run only as far as mansfield woodhouse ..i spotted an overbridge near the tunnel i thus decided on a quest to see if i could find it and the hunt was on...
back tracking on myself i turned into a housing estate nearby and a bridal path that led across the field and into the wood i met a nice gentleman origiinally from wales walking his two whippet dogs informed me the path led from whitwell over to cresswell and yes there was a bridge ( the one i,d seen ) and the path led right over the top of whitwell tunnel i identified myself as a urbexer a scruffy band of individuals who photographed the past and wrote about it on a forum
with the motto of take nothing but pictures and leave nothing but footprints which he agreed was very reasonable but had never heard of urbexing himself but led to a discussion about the lost past of wales arriving at the bridge after a further short chat my friend disappeared and it was time to get the camera out.
the first few shorts are a bit crap due to a low sun after making sure no one was about i decided to get down the side of the bridge for some better shots
i debated getting trackside but wasnt sure i,d be able to reclimb the embankment in the wet conditions and with an hourly service and that i,d seen a couple of freight trains decided to leave it untill another time when i,d do a revisit.
after taking my pictures on the whitwell side i wanted to see the other side of the tunnel and see if trackside was feasable there so after much tromping over the hill past the former quarry workings and a lad on a quad who looked like some sort of security i climbed over the fence and encountered the elmton side of the tunnel this is much steeper than the whitwell side with a sheer 20ft drop on to the railway below.
the side i was on i couldnt get a clear shot of the elmton portal so i tried around the othe side being well aware of the steep drop i had to tread very carefully to ensure i didnt fall over the edge i did slip at one point and grabbing a tree branch wondered whatever had driven me to endulge in this kind of lunacy.
having taken my pictures i crawled carefully up the bank climbed the fence and retraced my steps about 2 miles back to my car encourering the security guy made my way through the wood when i heard a motorbike unsure if i,d attracted any attention i ducked into a thickett of trees and watched him speed past
regaining the safety of my old jaloppy sat in the drivers seat rolled myself a fag and breathed a huge sigh of relief at least i,d learned something for next time
to make the revisit a little easier.
whitwell tunnel from the bridge the sun was in the wrong place so the picture is a bit crap
tried to get below the sun by going down the banking at the side of the bridge latern repeater E27 elmton 27 stands in the clear position i had debated going trackside at this point but wasnt sure i could get back up the embankment plus with regular trains running and no cover i decided to abandon the idea.
looking towards worksop with the former quarry link on the right another potential explore ???
bridge 63 i climbed down here using the side of the bridge for support as you can see the terrain is difficult
the elmton end of the tunnel as you can see from the other side the drop is sheer on both sides it was very risky taking this pic the tree in the foreground was the one i grabbed when i slipped the up nottingham line is in view the tunnel isnt that long but its a right old tromp to get to the other end.
whitwell tunnel enjoyed a semi retired existance as a childrens play tunnel and walking route untill 1998 when double track was relaid through the tunnel to worksop thus reopening the whole route as the robin hood line which sees an hourly service between worksop and nottingham due to the nature of whitwell tunnel being in a very steep quarry cutting it made this one of my most challenging explores i have so far done so an early finish today prompted a visit to the tunnel which was the last on my list for the day.
my first attempt at trying to get to the tunnel was some 15 minutes of illegal hokey kokey much huffing and puffing and fierce trees and undergrowth
with much climbing up and down bankings on the former whitwell colliery site marked as private land owned by welbeck estates with an application to derbyshire council for development .
that failing i then decided to try further accross the tree line which was no further help as the trees and undergrowth were fierce here too however i did find a further hidden gem in the former disused railway link from the robin hood line to whitwell quarry which i shall come back and do someday.
so going back to my car and heading for the railway bridge i thought i was just going to have to take pictures from the railway bridge and was prepared to write the tunnel off for the time being and come back on a sunday when there are no trains on this section of the line trains on sundays run only as far as mansfield woodhouse ..i spotted an overbridge near the tunnel i thus decided on a quest to see if i could find it and the hunt was on...
back tracking on myself i turned into a housing estate nearby and a bridal path that led across the field and into the wood i met a nice gentleman origiinally from wales walking his two whippet dogs informed me the path led from whitwell over to cresswell and yes there was a bridge ( the one i,d seen ) and the path led right over the top of whitwell tunnel i identified myself as a urbexer a scruffy band of individuals who photographed the past and wrote about it on a forum
with the motto of take nothing but pictures and leave nothing but footprints which he agreed was very reasonable but had never heard of urbexing himself but led to a discussion about the lost past of wales arriving at the bridge after a further short chat my friend disappeared and it was time to get the camera out.
the first few shorts are a bit crap due to a low sun after making sure no one was about i decided to get down the side of the bridge for some better shots
i debated getting trackside but wasnt sure i,d be able to reclimb the embankment in the wet conditions and with an hourly service and that i,d seen a couple of freight trains decided to leave it untill another time when i,d do a revisit.
after taking my pictures on the whitwell side i wanted to see the other side of the tunnel and see if trackside was feasable there so after much tromping over the hill past the former quarry workings and a lad on a quad who looked like some sort of security i climbed over the fence and encountered the elmton side of the tunnel this is much steeper than the whitwell side with a sheer 20ft drop on to the railway below.
the side i was on i couldnt get a clear shot of the elmton portal so i tried around the othe side being well aware of the steep drop i had to tread very carefully to ensure i didnt fall over the edge i did slip at one point and grabbing a tree branch wondered whatever had driven me to endulge in this kind of lunacy.
having taken my pictures i crawled carefully up the bank climbed the fence and retraced my steps about 2 miles back to my car encourering the security guy made my way through the wood when i heard a motorbike unsure if i,d attracted any attention i ducked into a thickett of trees and watched him speed past
regaining the safety of my old jaloppy sat in the drivers seat rolled myself a fag and breathed a huge sigh of relief at least i,d learned something for next time
to make the revisit a little easier.
looking towards worksop with the former quarry link on the right another potential explore ???
bridge 63 i climbed down here using the side of the bridge for support as you can see the terrain is difficult
the elmton end of the tunnel as you can see from the other side the drop is sheer on both sides it was very risky taking this pic the tree in the foreground was the one i grabbed when i slipped the up nottingham line is in view the tunnel isnt that long but its a right old tromp to get to the other end.
