- Penmanshiel Tunnel
Infobox tunnel
name = Penmanshiel Tunnel
caption =
line =
location =Scottish Borders
coordinates =
system =
status = Disused (abandoned)
start =
end =
stations =
open = 1846
close =17 March 1979
owner =North British Railway
London & North Eastern Railway British Rail
operator =
character =
linelength = 244 metres
tracklength =
notrack = 2
gauge =Standard Gauge
el = No
speed = 50Miles per hour
hielevation =
lowelevation=Penmanshiel Tunnel is a now-disused railway
tunnel nearGrantshouse ,Berwickshire , in theScottish Borders region ofScotland . It was formerly used as part of theEast Coast Main Line betweenBerwick-upon-Tweed andDunbar .The tunnel was constructed during 1845-46 by the contractors Ross and Mitchell, to a design by John Miller, who was the Engineer to theNorth British Railway ."Report on the Collapse of Penmanshiel Tunnel that occurred on 17th March 1979" by Lt. Col. I.K.A. McNaughton, 2nd August 1983,Her Majesty's Stationery Office , London, England.] Upon completion, the tunnel was inspected by the Inspector-General of Railways, Major-General Charles Pasley, on behalf of theBoard of Trade .The tunnel consisted of a single bore, 244 metres long, containing two running lines.
During its 134-year existence, the tunnel was the location for two incident investigations by
HM Railway Inspectorate . The first of these was in 1949, when a serious fire destroyed two carriages of a south-bound express from Edinburgh. Seven passengers were injured, but there were no fatalities.cite web
last =Col. R. J. Walker
authorlink =
title =Report on the Fire which occurred in an Express Passenger Train on 14th July 1951 near Huntingdon in the Eastern Region British Railways
work =
publisher =Ministry of Transport /HMSO
date =1952
url =http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/documents/MoT_Huntingdon1951.pdf?PHPSESSID=4d5ac8e21721c7505d55d86905f64762
format =PDF
accessdate = 2007-07-12 ]The second incident occurred on
17 March 1979 when, during improvement works, a length of the tunnel collapsed. Two workmen were killed, although 13 others managed to escape. Later it was determined that the ground was not stable enough to excavate and rebuild the tunnel, so it was sealed-up and a new alignment was made for the railway, in a deep cutting to the west of the hill.The tunnel was also affected by the August 1948 floods. The damage caused by these floods led to the abandonment of much of the railway network in the south east of Scotland. Thomas, John (1971). "A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain". Volume 6. "Scotland: The Lowlands and the Borders". Newton Abbott:
David & Charles . ISBN 0 -7153-5408-6.]August 1948 floods
On
12 August 1948 , some 6.25inch es (160 mm) of rain fell in the area; the total for the week being 10.5 inches (265 mm). Rain falling on theLammermuir Hills surged into the Eye Water towards Reston but this channel could not accommodate all of the water. The flood water then backed up the tunnel and flowed to sea in the opposite direction, towardsCockburnspath . The tunnel was flooded to within two feet of the crown of the portal.Nock, O. S. and Cross, Derek (1982). "Main Lines Across the Border". Revised Edition. Shepperton: Ian Allan Ltd. ISBN 0-71110-1118-4. Pages 87 - 88.]Train fire (1949)
On the evening of
23 June 1949 a fire broke out in the tenth coach of an express passenger train from Edinburgh to King's Cross, about two and a half miles beyondCockburnspath . The train was stopped somewhere near the tunnel, within one and a quarter minutes of the fire starting, but the fire spread rapidly and with such extreme ferocity that, within seconds, the brake-composite carriage was engulfed and the fire had spread to the coach in front. Most passengers escaped by running to the guard's compartment or forwards along the corridor, but some were compelled to break the windows and jump down onto the track. One lady was seriously injured by doing this.cite book
last =Rolt
first =L.T.C.
authorlink =L.T.C. Rolt
title =Red for Danger
publisher =Pan Books Ltd
date =1966 (2nd edit.)
pages =pp264-268
isbn = ]The train crew reacted quickly to the incident. The four coaches behind the two ablaze were uncoupled and pushed back, leaving them isolated up the line. Having drawn forward and uncoupled the two burning vehicles, the driver proceeded with the front eight coaches to Grantshouse station.
The cause of the fire was thought to be a cigarette end or lighted
match dropped against a partition in the corridor. However this did not explain the reason for its rapid spread...Despite the severity of the blaze, which reduced the two carriages to their underframes, only seven passengers were injured, with no fatalities.
Tunnel collapse (1979)
The next significant event to occur at the tunnel was also the last, as it led to its abandonment.
Upgrading work
Work was being carried out to increase the internal dimension of the tunnel to allow convert|8|ft|6|in|m|abbr=on high containers to travel through it on freightliner wagons. This was done by lowering the track, in a process involving removing the existing track and ballast, digging out the floor of the tunnel and then laying new track set on a concrete base.
As the tunnel was on a very busy main line, and in order to minimise the disruption to passenger and freight services, it was decided that each of the two tracks through the tunnel would be renewed separately, with trains continuing to run on the adjacent open track.
Work was completed on the "Up" (southbound) track by
10 March 1979 , and trains were then transferred to this track by the following day, to allow the "Down" (northbound) track to be modified.Tunnel collapse
At the time the tunnel collapsed there were a total of 15 people and 5 items of plant inside. According to the Railway Inspectorate report, shortly before 3:45am the duty Railway Works Inspector noticed some small pieces of rock flaking away from the tunnel wall, approximately 90 metres from the southern portal. He decided that it would be wise to shore up the affected piece of the tunnel and was making his way towards the site office to make the appropriate arrangements when he heard the sound of the tunnel collapsing behind him.
It is estimated that approximately 20 metres of the tunnel arch collapsed, with the resultant rock fall filling 30 metres of the tunnel from floor to roof, totally enveloping a dumper truck and a JCB. Thirteen of the people inside the tunnel at the time of the collapse escaped successfully, but the dumper truck and JCB operators could not be accounted for, and were determined to have been killed in the accident.
Official report
An official
HM Railway Inspectorate report was written by Lieutenant Colonel I.K.A. McNaughton, on2 August 1983 . The report concluded that it was impossible to be certain as to the cause of the collapse as access could not be gained to the collapsed portion of the tunnel.The report did however suggest that the collapse was likely to be the result of over-stressing of the natural rock on which the brick arch rings were founded.
Finally the report stated that there were no grounds for finding any individual responsible for the accident. British Rail was however charged in the High Court, in
Edinburgh , with health and safety offences; found guilty; and was fined £10,000.Replacement works
After the collapse, it was originally the intention of
British Rail to re-open the tunnel by removing the collapsed material and repairing the structure of the tunnel. However once the extent of the collapse became apparent, it was decided that this operation would be too difficult and dangerous, and that a more expedient and cost effective option would be to construct a new alignment for the railway.This decision resulted in around one kilometre (1,100 yards) of existing railway (including the tunnel itself) being abandoned and replaced by a new section of line constructed in a deep cutting, somewhat to the west of the original course. Biddle, Gordon (1990). "The Railway Surveyors". London: Ian Allan Ltd. and British Rail Property Board. ISBN 0-7110-1954-1.] The operation to reopen the railway took five months of round-the-clock working. The portals of the collapsed tunnel were sealed to prevent unauthorised access.
The contractor Sir Robert McAlpine & Sons Ltd started work on the new alignment on
7 May 1979 , and it was completed on20 August of that year.Nock, O. S. and Cross, Derek (1982). "Main Lines Across the Border". Revised Edition. Shepperton: Ian Allan Ltd. ISBN 0-71110-1118-4. Pages 192 - 193.]During the closure, some trains from King's Cross terminated at Berwick, with onward services being provided by a fleet of buses, some towing trailers for luggage. The bus service went as far as Dunbar, where a railway shuttle took over between Dunbar and Edinburgh. Other East Coast Mainline
Intercity 125 services to Edinburgh were diverted via Newcastle, Carlisle and Carstairs.Road diversion
As a result of the work to re-align the railway line, it was also necessary to alter the course of the A1 trunk road. A map of the area, clearly showing both the railway and the road diverting to the west is available [http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?ie=UTF8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&q=&ll=55.88417,-2.305584&spn=0.044481,0.159645&z=13&iwloc=addr&om=1 here] .
Visible remains
Since the tunnel was closed, the landscape has gradually 'returned to nature'. The southern portal has been covered by the hillside, and the only clues to the route of the old line are a
dry-stone wall marking the railway boundary, and a disused bridge that used to carry the A1 main road over the line.Memorial
As the collapsed portion of the tunnel was never excavated, the site essentially became the final resting place of Gordon Turnbull from the nearby town of Gordon and Peter Fowler from Eyemouth, who were killed when the tunnel collapsed. A three-sided
obelisk was erected over the point where the tunnel collapsed to act as a memorial. One face of the obelisk displays a cross, while each of the other two faces commemorates one of the men killed.The memorial is adjacent to a road running over the hill and is clearly marked on 1:50,000 and 1:25,000 scale OS maps, at grid ref: NT 797670 [http://leisure.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/leisure/products.jsp?xvalue=380500&yvalue=667500&q=penmanshiel&zoomindex=3®ionkey=GB&minx=0&maxx=0&miny=0&maxy=0&placename=Penmanshiel&publisher=null] . From the maps it is also possible to determine the abandoned section of the A1 road, but the original course of the railway is not visible.
Gallery
ee also
*
*London and North Eastern Railway – operated the rail services between 1923 and 1948
*British Rail – operated the rail services between 1948 and abandonment of the tunnelReferences
Further reading
* "Report on the Accident which occurred on 23rd June 1949 at Penmanshiel in the Scottish Region British Railways" (HMSO, 1949)
External links
* [http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/documents/MoT_Penmanshiel1979.pdf Report on the Collapse of Penmanshiel Tunnel] from Her Majesty's Stationery Office
* [http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/widesearch.php?PHPSESSID=b821276f7f16afc3386bf5fcf45ed069&text=penmanshiel&submit=Go Report on the 1949 Accident at Penmanshiel] from Her Majesty's Stationery Office "(document not yet available, July 2007)"
* [http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/documents/MoT_Huntingdon1951.pdf?PHPSESSID=4d5ac8e21721c7505d55d86905f64762 Report on the Fire which occurred in an Express Passenger Train on 14th July 1951 near Huntingdon in the Eastern Region British Railways] (HMSO, 1952) – "This fire shared many similarities with the Penmanshiel fire of 1949, and the report makes frequent references to it. Section 27 and later are particularly relevant."Photographic resources
*Pre-collapse: [http://www.gotopcs.net/60004.htm A4 60004 "William Whitelaw" emerging from Penmanshiel Tunnel] (
22 June 1959 )
*:– "clearly shows relationship between railway, tunnel and road bridge, at southern portal."
*During re-instatement: [http://www.napierchronicles.co.uk/21_27-7-79.htm BR Class 55 'Deltics' at Dunbar on the shuttle service to Edinburgh.] (27 July 1979 )
*The new alignment, pre-electrification: [http://monkeysnaps3.fotopic.net/p15610996.html BR Class 40 on an ammonia tanker train.] (10 August 1984 )
*Visible remains: [http://merlinsphotos.fotopic.net/c432690.html The abandoned railway. The memorial.] (14 February 2005 )
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