Dinmore Tunnel

Dinmore Tunnel is the name given to two railway tunnels located on the former Shrewsbury and Hereford Railway (S&HR) line between Hereford station and Leominster station. The first tunnel (currently the 'up' tunnel) was built in 1853, with the second tunnel (the 'down' tunnel) being added in 1891.[1] Both are still in use and are jointly the 15th longest tunnels on the former Great Western Railway. To the south of the tunnel was Dinmore railway station,[2] which closed in 1958.[3] They are located just south to the village of Hope Under Dinmore and tunnels under Queenswood Country Park & Arboretum.[4]

GWR 4900 Class 4930 Hagley Hall emerging from the tunnel on 26 February 1983 on the Welsh Marches Line.

Construction

When the S&HR was opened in November 1863, it was a single track throughout. However, all infrastructure was made wide enough to accommodate twin tracks throughout apart from the Dinmore Tunnel which, owing to the uncertain rock strata, was left as a single bore. The engineer, Mr Pollard, recommended that if the line were to be doubled, then a second tunnel should be constructed. When the S&HR became a joint line of the London & North Western and the Great Western and West Midland Railways, they pursued the second tunnel option.[5][6]

The tunnels are split-level - the track on the up line to Leominster being at a higher level than the down line to Hereford, both are 1,054 yards (964 m) long[7] and the line speed through both is 80 miles per hour (130 km/h).[1]

References
  1. "Dinmore Tunnel - Suck it and See". Rail Engineer UK. 29 August 2013. Retrieved 19 August 2016.
  2. Conolly, W. Philip (January 1976). British Railways Pre-Grouping Atlas and Gazetteer (5th ed.). Shepperton: Ian Allan. p. 9, section B1. ISBN 0-7110-0320-3. EX/0176.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  3. Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Ltd. p. 79. ISBN 1-85260-508-1. R508.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  4. "149" (Map). Hereford and Leominster. 1:50,000. Landranger. Ordnance Survey. 2014. ISBN 978-0-319-26247-4.
  5. "What and Wherefore - Dinmore Tunnels". Railway Magazine. Vol. 127 no. 959. March 1981. p. 159. ISSN 0033-8923.
  6. Simpson, Helen J (1997). The day the trains came; the Herefordshire railways, those who built them and those who rejoiced when they arrived. Leominster: Gracewing. p. 44. ISBN 0 85244 374 9.
  7. Bridge, Mike (2010). Railway Track Diagrams; Western (Fifth ed.). Bradford-On-Avon: Trackmaps. p. 27B. ISBN 978-0-9549866-6-7.


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