- Clayton Tunnel
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The northern portal of West Sussex Clayton Tunnel
Clayton Tunnel is a railway tunnel located near the village of Clayton, West Sussex between Hassocks and Preston Park railway stations on the Brighton Main Line. At 1 mile 499 yards (approximately 2066 metre) it is the longest tunnel on the route.
Another tunnel of the same name is found on The Queensbury Lines, a disused route between Queensbury and Bradford at 53°46′35″N 1°49′53″W / 53.7763°N 1.8314°W.
Accident
Main article: Clayton Tunnel rail crashThe West Sussex tunnel was the site of an early form of "automatic" signal invented by CF Whitworth. Far from being fully "automatic" in operation, this was merely a signal that was operated by the signalman on duty but returned to 'danger' once the train had passed, by means of a treadle. There was one of these at each end of Clayton Tunnel, and it was the failure of the signalman to ensure that the signal had returned to danger that led to the worst ever accident on that line on 25 August 1861.
Three trains left Brighton within a very short time. Having signalled one train correctly, a signalman at the southern portal manually returned the signal to danger too late for the second train, but was unaware that his attempts to alert its driver by waving a flag were successful. The second train stopped well inside the tunnel, and as it was slowly reversing towards him he misunderstood a 'tunnel clear' message from the north box as indicating the second train had cleared the tunnel when it in fact referred to the first. He then allowed a third to enter and collide with the reversing second train with the loss of 23 lives and 176 injured.
See also
External links
- Clayton Tunnel North Portal
- Clayton Tunnel on Trainspots
Coordinates: 50°54′46″N 0°09′14″W / 50.91278°N 0.15389°W
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