Darnall Railway Tunnel

[Odd-jobs]

I've just been looking through the refernce libraries photo archive and come across a reference to the Waverley or Darnall railway tunnel demolished by being blown up in 1912.

I'm guessing it was what is now the deep cutting behind the White Rose. But does anyone have any factual info as to the location and why it was demolished.

[hillsbro]

Hi Odd-jobs - here's a scan from the map in Cobb's railway atlas, showing the location of "Handsworth Tunnel" about ¾ mile east of Darnall station, adjacent to Willow Drive. Shallow-depth tunnels were sometimes opened out to avoid expensive tunnel maintenance, but in this case the tunnel originally had only two tracks, and by 1912 traffic (especially coal traffic) had increased to the point at which four tracks were needed. The two-track tunnel therefore was a serious bottleneck, and rather widen the tunnel they just removed it. See for example the Wikipedia article on Darnall station here. This web page (scroll down to the second picture) shows the "bottleneck" before the tunnel was removed.

Edited July 15, 2011 by hillsbro

[Alanbris]

Brand new to this forum Hillsbro so don’t know if you are still around but great info thanks. My family folklore ascribes my Great grandfather’s property portfolio to the demolition of Darnall tunnel - he was licensee of the Rose and Crown in Darnall 1913-1919 which apparently benefited significantly from the line reconstruction via the workers’ pay packets. Any more info gratefully received