The Longest & Deepest Canal & Railway Tunnels in Britain

[Music] you hello just before we start this video and he TV a little bit of background information we're about to explore the Standage railway tunnels these tunnels here okay this is the arrangement you've got two disused railway tunnels here okay over here and I'm going to show you now you've got a double ball currently live railway track okay so that's the later tunnel alright we're going to explore those two disused tunnels we're not going to go near that there's trains going through it we won't be going near that this is just an old building here that will just be part of the old station okay nothing new at all but the realities showing in here but it was part of the old Diggle station so you see the arrangement to disused tunnels okay a life tunnel over there with trains going through we won't be going near that below me where I'm stood now is a canal tunnel okay you can't see that at the moment I'll show you the entrance to that in a minute so we're a little bit further along now from the entrance that all's disused railway tunnels and that is the entrance to the canal tunnel it were a bit further this way all right three and a half miles long of deep dark water absolutely terrifying and it's at a lower level than the the railway tunnels as will become apparent commenced at about 1794 and the first box were going through in 1811 so it took about 16 17 years to build all right so if you'll permit me I'm just going to explain a few more things and then we'll crack on with the explore okay so there's a drawing of the arrangement that we're looking at that I've just basically shown you working from the left a not in chronological order that first tunnel on the left is the double bore railway tunnel that was commenced in 1890 and finished in 1894 so in the middle and at the lowest level you'll see the canal tunnel work commenced on that in 1794 and finished in 1811 above the canal tunnel you'll see a ventilation shaft now they stretched right up a bore through the rock and up to the hillside above the penang hills and some of those shafts are up to 500 feet deep and a little bit more to be honest with you now those shafts was sunk also to enable to lower men down and do the dig for the canal tunnel as well so not only did this now both ends of the hillside both ends of the tunnel this hunk shafts through the hillside and worked in the middle as well now the next tunnel along from the canal tunnel is the first railway tunnel that's called the nicholson tunnel it's called that after the engineer that built it it was the first of the railway tunnels to be built work commenced in 1843 and it was finished in 1865 and finally the final tunnel on the right that is the Nelson tunnel named after Thomas Nelson the contractor who built it work commenced in 1865 and finished in 1890 and then those two tunnels served as opened down tunnels now looking at the picture from the middle where it says ventilation shaft looking to the right you'll see it says airway and the airway is between the canal tunnel the first railway tunnel and the second railway tunnel those Airways are little tunnels they call them edits a di T edits and we can walk between the two disused railway tunnels and we can walk between the rail the railway tunnel and the canal tunnel so we can look at both railway tunnels and we can take a glimpse at the canal tunnel and this is what you'll see is doing so I just needed to explain all that to you so you know exactly what's going on when we walk down the railway tunnel but then take a side view at the canal and also we get to see those shafts let's crack on with the Explorer hello welcome back to another video we're about to do the mother of all explores what doesn't drain tools before well this is gonna be the biggest railway tunnel I ever done in my life you may not you may have heard of it it's called Standage tunnels or mopping subtle worth in Diggle just in West Yorkshire the team today is we've got all action hero Connor here and we've got Paul with us Paul was the guy that the chap that went and got us a shot of the one of the ventilation shafts for these tunnels no blinis up the rickety ladder so we've managed to get into one of the old disused tunnels and not locked up at all and all we're going to do is walk through take photographs leave footprints and try and get you some good footage because this is a really really interesting place to explore in fact I'm on a bit of an adrenaline rush of the minute it's that good so the road ahead is extremely long get extremely DAC this tunnel is three and a half miles long so it's going to be a bit of a long day today but let's go and see what we can find now for me this is a bit of a bit of an ambition to be honest with you because back in 1984 when I was about 17 years old we used up the occasional drink up of the I think the Diggle hotel thing called the junction of something just up on the side here and would come out and would walk down the embankment and would have a look at the Standish tunnels and would have about you know a walk in a couple of a couple yards and go yeah I'd love to come back here one day and we'll explore it that was 1984 and I've never been back since it's now 2018 I'm a lot older I'm a bit more creaky well finally today hopefully I get to walk through this thing so we're currently in the Nicholson tunnel okay so we're off on the way and really begins not quite sure how long it's going to take us to walk through this monster of a tunnel but like I say we have to do it we have to get all the way through and then it's going to be a really fast stomp back and so we're going to go through this little add it now it's a little side tunnel and we're going to show you canal [Music] okay so you can see that there's a nice that latch there that's probably important later I think that's probably a strengthen arch you can also see over there and you see the the grayness of the rock there well that's the spray creat and that is what they spray on the rock to strengthen it there's a stainless steel mesh under there apparently and it's designed to stabilize the rock but can you imagine being down there in 1817 95 96 I'm just chipping away at the bare rock being probably Connors age 20 odd years old I'm chipping away at the bare rock and you can see that was obviously built with old towpath they consider the towpath or decided it was going to be too expensive so it was built just as you see here now so we're going to head now back into the railway tunnels just this way as you can see you see this tunnel here this tunnel runs this little side tunnel runs underneath the first railway tunnel to the and that goes through to the second railway tunnel and they brought the spoil through there to the canal vajjis and basically the first tunnel was a working railway told the first one was basically working railway tunnel and so when they built the second tunnel they had to bring you underneath a versatile to the canal tall down there and set the spoil out on the barges and that goes back to the railway tolls and what you see what I mean when I said it's an entire infrastructure down here there's not just one long simple tunnel it's the side tunnels it's the canal tunnel and then a bit we'll get a view of the live railway line but obviously we're not going near there and this is another one of the sort of side tunnel audits and obviously this one is disused probably going to nowhere down there but you can see the rock so I'm not sure what this rock is obviously it's kind of layered but this is what they were obviously blasting through and digging through he seems pretty soft to be honest with you it seems quite flaky so maybe that was the easy stuff that they had to get through and all the a to total down through sandstone as well right so train there so this is a good example this is the side tunnels that I'm talking about so behind me oh let's go the other way so behind me you can see the entrance stairs to the main railway tunnel what we've got these side tunnels okay so what I'm going to do now I'm going to walk through there with my torch and show you and that goes through to the other railway tunnel okay so we'll go through there and then you'll know what I'm talking about [Music] [Music] [Music] so you can hear that water and that was the problem while they were building these tunnels the amount of water that ingress is from the Pennine hills of wolf and you can just hear unbelievable and this is the problem that they had with floods and having to pump the water out of these tunnels [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so we're currently in one of the disused railway tunnels this is what they call the Nicholson Nicholson tunnel I think it's called that after thee and one of the chief engineers that built it this tunnel was built in 1845 between 1845 and 1848 and this was the first of the railway tunnels obviously the canal toll had already been built and when they were building this first railway tunnel the amount of damage they did to the canal tunnel was unbelievable there was collapses and all sorts of stuff because of course in this first railway tunnel they were using dynamite and it did substantial damage to the canal tunnel apparently in the canal toll some of the workmanship wasn't the best anyway and all we tend to think of him the workmanship back in the day back all that time ago it has been absolutely pristine well some of it was a little bit questionable in the canal tunnel and there's been all sorts of the extra work done in there over the years where the port brick hatch is opened out to do all sorts of strengthening work but this building this tunnel the Nicholson tunnel played absolute absolute havoc with the canal tunnel [Music] [Music] [Music] okay so where I'm actually stood on top of the canal this is like a little bridge over the canal behind me behind that wooden thing there is the live railway track what a bug me is one of the shafts the gold to the hillside of all I'll just show you [Music] so as you saw him one of my videos we filmed over the top and look down we'll all shafts and it was absolutely terrifying and now we stood down on the Neath one you can see the great there but this is the first shaft that what was come across in from Diggle I have to look up what that shaft is called because there's numerous shots along the route of the tunnel [Music] what's down any coma [Music] so when this was obviously working real way there were some plate layers they call the plate layers I think that's maintenance guys in their tunnels they were based in there all the time worked in there all the time and this is a little hot where they hung out and the best thing about this place is obviously there's a connection through to the all the rare railway tools through there what the best thing ever is there's a little fireplace oh yeah yeah I got it so I must be what a smoke used to go you open the fire fastball see how this part the canal is brick lined and earlier when I showed you it wasn't brick lined at all and I just wonder if this was a damaged section from when they dug the first railway tunnel and this is repair work not quite sure that trace has sought on the roof there absolutely black where steam trains have hit it so when this was just the only railway tunnel obviously it was one way either way and what they did was the add a pilot locomotive and he either went one way or the other single track down here and obviously when they built the second tunnel just to my left at the moment obviously they could run the trains both ways but that's the way they did there the pilot locomotive back in the very very early days it just took either the carriages or the freight one way and then the other way so good way of solving it really saw there weren't any crashes in the tunnel [Music] [Music] the canal tunnel is is the the pioneer of all this the canal tool was started in 1794 and it was finished in 1811 so it took 16 17 years to build and the story is incredible to be honest with you Benjamin out from the one of the the original engineers when they were building the canal tell what he was he have limited knowledge of the rock that was round there and he seriously underestimated the rock that they were gonna dig through he thought it was millstone grit which he thought was quite workable turns out that when they got down into a down one of the shafts and they started to work at the face they hit a fault in the rock and they hit sandstone and that slowed the progress massively so while we're walking through the railway tunnel it's the canal tunnel that is the pioneer of all this lack have already said so you can see the rock there that the batter caught through don't know what rock is but looks different than before before it a lot more in layers but that looks more solid that one I will if that's the sandstone the encountered and just one second absolutely when there's no trains going through there's no water really absolutely silent in a incredibly silent a lot of the these little side tunnels are used for maintenance purposes for the railway as you'd expect and also they're also a are sort of the evacuation so if you're on a boat trip because they do boat trip from Marsden and you need to evacuate off the boat of some emergency they can stop at these satchels and evacuate you and you can also get you can actually drive an ambulance down there that's what they use them for for maintenance for emergencies or if the train broke down they could just evacuate the people into the side tools get an ambulance down here and drive them out basically [Music] [Music] [Music] you [Music] it's wrong I'm still there again my poor backs look at all that wrong this pollen this is the problem they had rockfalls in the tunnel I almost don't wanna go through there but I attempt to just go and take a look yeah it's like a bit of a fresh crop full well that is there looks like it's falling from the ceiling doesn't it because it's filmed from there well if this rock is in layers and there's the layers there on the floor and that goes through again down there to the canal tall down there where the torch is shining it's strange in it because although it's a modern railway tunnel and people fly through it on trains using mobile phones and texting people you just come literally a couple of feet away from it and you walk through and we're sort of back in 1817 ninety-four 1800 or the mid eighteen hundreds when this this place was built and this where we are now this sort of semi collapsed adit this lincoln tunnel really gives an impression of the way it would have been down there working the rock chipping away at the rock falls can you imagine imagine when they dynamited it what it was like absolutely incredible and the deaths and the lives and you know the industrial accident would have happened particularly in the canal toll when it was being built 1790 odd 70 94 95 96 unbelievable and this place sort of just takes you a little bit back to them then working rock faces that they had to hack a way out by hand and by candlelight s'alright were those with our electric lights isn't it but look at this incredible [Music] here you go no fair Connor [Music] okay so yeah babe join them I'm going to take a look and see what they can see down there at the canal and again you can see then it's brick lying there there's a bit of an axe there not if you can see it and but you've got raw rock there as well I'll just zoom in for you so looks like the rock on that side is raw it's not been spray treated and obviously certainly royal there look at that absolutely incredible Thank You magic to bring the stone down here that had to line these tunnels on horses and donkeys and things absolute testament to the men women and children that work down here and it would have been men women and children incredible honestly absolutely incredible place we have another shaft area here so this is another ventilation shaft I have a feeling this is the monster that is the Red Rock shaft and you can hear the water there this one I've stood above it's not the one that was on the video I've stood above this one it's going to be perhaps in another video but if this is red Brook this is the highest the tallest of the shafts I think this is 512 feet tall obviously we're at the bomb so we'll look at all five rooms of our fate let's go and take a look oh my god so they're ahead of us it's a railway tunnel jesus wept or barefoot their part oh my god it's incredible that my friends is red Brook 512 feet deep and you can see the water coming down 512 feet to the surface and what you can see the bare rock this is absolutely incredible [Music] with the L mehnat work now that could be our very old or not very old difficult to say so you can see the problem they have with water ingress into the tunnels I've stood underneath here now and it's almost like it's raining to be honest I'm a little bit nervous and I'm glad I've got the hard hat because above me likes a 504 what an incredible incredible place they cease gotta be the most amazing place I've ever been to in my entire life [Music] it's walking over it's an outlaw [Music] all right we have to go say that [Music] oh my god oh well problem with you I think I scared I'm getting wet through so I've been walking now for what feels like hours I mean we're really up in it what would be looking at a lot of the features you know the shafts and things like that but just we think we can smell sort of fresh air now think we can smell fresh air think we're getting near the end not sure what this is just come through now mile doesn't sound a lot when you're on a nice summer day walk but in the blackness of this tunnel it's just gone on and on and on it's abuzz with you I'm just itching to get to the end now really I'm just itching to get to the end and fascinating place probably never come back but I would come back but I what we come back in a hurry but like I say you know you're thinking it's near the end and you walk on and I'll and I'll know it's not the end and you can see behind me just absolute blackness so hopefully and the thing about it is as well when we get to the end I think it's gone dark outside so no shaft so which these popular one little ones near the end now [Music] if you see there where the greatest quality over there and I'm not going to stick the camera up there well that's one of the shafts so because the cameras with the out wet blue and I put the golf balls on before but you can see the amount of water that comes through [Music] absolutely incredible to see the apps there that possibly within goes over the canal the canal is just underneath all that debris there [Applause] so this is not a chef not sure which one this is now look at that and the shot goes up there obviously we can't go in there Chris it's not good print lining and then stole possibly the britons later and then raw rock there we'll help no wife so deep that I think it's the soup all of the end don't draw the water I'll sit we've done it at the end and guess what you cats over at the end cuz outside its Kahndaq we've been in this little that long right so that was unbelievable I'm knocking - you hungry as well he's sort of weary walking he's just - well that was just unbelievable completely weird feel like we've been in here for hours don't worry we're gonna walk back now if we find anything interesting on the way back we'll let you well show it to you but we're going to get spirt on get out of this place so when I was walking through those tunnels all the time I was just filled with admiration and horror admiration for the men women and children the dog dose shafts and that tunnel initial canal tunnel obviously later the railway tunnels one more saw the canal tunnel because I think it was so long ago and it was the first that horrifies me the most and like I say horrified at the conditions at the outer working dog shafts we lived them from down below but they would have worked in absolute darkness by candlelight with hand tools and you saw the water that were pouring in and they would have work year-round and it would have been freezing cold horrendous conditions so like I say nothing but aberration but nothing will horror for the conditions you have to work in and obviously the desta more than likely occurred so if you enjoy the video and I hope you did please don't thank me because I am merely standing on the shoulders of giants [Music] [Applause] [Applause] you you

Channel: Martin Zero

Views: 429,004

Keywords: Disused railway tunnels, underground tunnels, underground canal, the longest railway tunnel, the longest canal tunnel, railway architecture, huddersfield canal, pennine hills, standedge tunnel, standedge tunnel canal, abandoned railway tunnels, martin zero, deep shaft, rail transport (industry), urban exploring, industrial past, railway tunnel, longest tunnel

Id: 5xbtXYAlKhc

Length: 39min 38sec (2378 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 15 2018