Chemical Weapons & Railway Tunnels - Australia

Geoff Plunkett · 28th August 2008, 11:28

I draw the readers attention to an article I recently wrote for Australian Railway History, Chemical Warfare & Railway Tunnels. Surely one of the strangest uses for a railway tunnel was for the storage of chemical weapons. This occured west and south of Sydney, Australia during World War II and hundreds of thousands of weapons went through the four tunnels. The article is available in PDF format here;

Chemical Weapons & Railway Tunnels

See also Railway Historians Join Chemical Warfare Issue

and Chemical Warfare in Australia

Best
Geoff
geoff.plunkett@gmail.com

**Mojo** · 31st August 2008, 19:01

Hi Geoff

That was a great article and I'm still amazed by the number of things that took place during the War that are only coming to light today!

Metroland · 31st August 2008, 20:14

All sorts of things were done in the UK during the war too. Decoy yards were common, one existed near March, Cambridgeshire at Benwick for Whitemoor. They locals didn't know about it until well after the war!

In cold war days there was also 'The strategic reserves', a bunch of steam locos kept for a post nuclear attack - nuclear weapons destroy electronics in cars, planes, modern trains etc

Bill EWS · 4th September 2008, 17:39

Another ploy was when the military took over a number of large country houses and gave them names like HMS something or other and entered the names into the list of battleships. This was a ploy to fool the enemy into wasting time searching for a battleship that didn't exist. There is a couple in Berkshire and Wiltshire but they were probably all over the place. You can see one just south of Southcote Jct. on the Basingstoke branch.

Geoff Plunkett · 30th January 2009, 10:11

For those interested two of the chemical warfare armourers, Geoff Burn and Arthur Lewis will feature on an upcoming episode of 'Cities of the Underworld' on the History Channel called Alcatraz Down Under. Their sequence was entirely shot in Glenbrook tunnel in the Blue Mountains of Australia. It will appear on Australia TV on Monday March 9th at 8.30pm (with an encore screening on Saturday 15th of March at 6.30pm). For US times see;

http://www.history.com/shows.do?epis...&action=detail

Geoff Plunkett · 5th June 2009, 12:39

Here it is;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kp1EFlngjKQ

peterinsurrey · 6th June 2009, 22:59

very interesting about the glenbrook tunnel. I visited the tunnel as a kid a number of times. The only thing there was the mushroom farm.

28th August 2008, 11:28	#1
Geoff Plunkett New Member Join Date: 28 Aug 2008 Posts: 3	Chemical Weapons & Railway Tunnels - Australia I draw the readers attention to an article I recently wrote for Australian Railway History, Chemical Warfare & Railway Tunnels. Surely one of the strangest uses for a railway tunnel was for the storage of chemical weapons. This occured west and south of Sydney, Australia during World War II and hundreds of thousands of weapons went through the four tunnels. The article is available in PDF format here; Chemical Weapons & Railway Tunnels See also Railway Historians Join Chemical Warfare Issue and Chemical Warfare in Australia Best Geoff geoff.plunkett@gmail.com Last edited by Geoff Plunkett; 28th January 2009 at 09:47.

31st August 2008, 19:01	#2
Mojo Not on the Bicester Link Administrator Join Date: 7 Aug 2005 Location: Bristol Posts: 7,371	Hi Geoff That was a great article and I'm still amazed by the number of things that took place during the War that are only coming to light today! __________________ Join RailUKforums on Facebook!

30th January 2009, 10:11	#5
Geoff Plunkett New Member Join Date: 28 Aug 2008 Posts: 3	Glenbrook Tunnel to feature on the History Channel For those interested two of the chemical warfare armourers, Geoff Burn and Arthur Lewis will feature on an upcoming episode of 'Cities of the Underworld' on the History Channel called Alcatraz Down Under. Their sequence was entirely shot in Glenbrook tunnel in the Blue Mountains of Australia. It will appear on Australia TV on Monday March 9th at 8.30pm (with an encore screening on Saturday 15th of March at 6.30pm). For US times see; http://www.history.com/shows.do?epis...&action=detail

5th June 2009, 12:39	#6
Geoff Plunkett New Member Join Date: 28 Aug 2008 Posts: 3	History Channel Segment Here it is; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kp1EFlngjKQ

6th June 2009, 22:59	#7
peterinsurrey Passenger Join Date: 31 Mar 2009 Posts: 9	glenbrook very interesting about the glenbrook tunnel. I visited the tunnel as a kid a number of times. The only thing there was the mushroom farm.

31st August 2008, 20:14	#3
Metroland Transport Minister Join Date: 20 Jul 2005 Location: South Posts: 2,423	All sorts of things were done in the UK during the war too. Decoy yards were common, one existed near March, Cambridgeshire at Benwick for Whitemoor. They locals didn't know about it until well after the war! In cold war days there was also 'The strategic reserves', a bunch of steam locos kept for a post nuclear attack - nuclear weapons destroy electronics in cars, planes, modern trains etc

4th September 2008, 17:39	#4
Bill EWS Station Supervisor Join Date: 10 Feb 2006 Location: Didcot Posts: 302	Another ploy was when the military took over a number of large country houses and gave them names like HMS something or other and entered the names into the list of battleships. This was a ploy to fool the enemy into wasting time searching for a battleship that didn't exist. There is a couple in Berkshire and Wiltshire but they were probably all over the place. You can see one just south of Southcote Jct. on the Basingstoke branch.