The Kilsby Tunnel is a railway tunnel on the West Coast Main Line in England, near the village of Kilsby in Northamptonshire, roughly 5 miles (8 km) southeast of Rugby. It is long.
The Kilsby Tunnel was designed and engineered by Robert Stephenson for the London & Birmingham Railway (L&BR). It was constructed by contractors Joseph Nowell & Sons and later by the L&BR. It took much longer to construct and exceeded its estimated cost, attributed to a roof collapse and consequential flooding. At the time of its opening in 1838, it was the longest railway tunnel ever constructed.
The tunnel had atypically large ventilation shafts, because of a lack of experience as to how much ventilation would be needed for steam locomotives to pass through. Seven more shafts were sunk to install timber cylinders to hold back the sand. During the tunnel's service life, there have been no major problems or difficulties with the structure. During a survey conducted during the 2010s, it was found to be in a largely good condition.
See also
Other L&BR tunnels:
- Primrose Hill Tunnel, London
- Watford Tunnels, Hertfordshire
References
External links
- Kilsby Tunnel includes the classic image of the tunnel under construction.
- A short video of an air shaft by Si Horton using data collected by Colin Humphreys using a Faro Focus X330 laser scanner (on YouTube)