THE RAILWAY TUNNEL
When modelling a railway, how better way to disguise the transition of a train passing from the scenic area to the ‘rest of the world’ (storage sidings) than via a tunnel? Most of us have attempted this effective illusion, whether the model is set amongst hills and valleys or in a town centre.
Apart from travelling by rail during the era of the first-generation diesel multiple units (DMU) when passengers could sit in the front section of the leading carriage and observe the line ahead, tunnels usually come as a surprise to the traveller when, quite suddenly, the interior lights become brighter, the outside world disappears and the ambiance within the carriage changes.
Taking a trip during the late 1970s along the Conwy Valley line, sitting behind the driver in a Class 108 DMU, I was able to view the northern portal of Blaenau Ffestiniog Tunnel ahead of the train. Plunging into the complete darkness of this mountain of slate, I watched with fascination when eventually a tiny speck of bright light slowly grew into the shape of the southern portal as our passage progressed through the 2.5 mile long bore. Opened by the London and North & Western Railway (LNWR) in 1879, this tunnel took four years of physical effort to complete.
Before the Railway Era
The practice of mining and tunnelling can be traced back to circa 320 BC, if not earlier, when the extraction of salt began in an area that became the Punjab. By 200 BC, the Chinese were mining coal and selling it as a commodity. Following the Roman invasion of Britain, the mining of coal commenced and the product became the main source for energy and heating in mainland Britain until recent times.
Tunnels became a part of the transport network at the beginning of the canal era, when hills or high ground needed to be negotiated. The canal pioneer, James Brindley, was appointed engineer for the first Harecastle Tunnel; began 1772 and completed 1777, situated in Staffordshire between Kidsgrove and Tunstall on the Trent and Mersey Canal. This 1.6-mile long
