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Long tunnels with no ventilation shafts/vice versa

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snowball

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Local area seems to have had various name changes over the years.

Has been Colborne (1620), Coldborne Moss (1640) and Coldbourne (1725) before reverting back to Colborne.
Typical of any placename or any ordinary word. Spelling was very fluid until the 19th century.
 
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Gloster

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Typical of any placename or any ordinary word. Spelling was very fluid until the 19th century.
And seems to be becoming fluid once more. However, one hopes that the need for clarity on the railway (along with other situations) will mean that it will not succumb. A particular word should be spelt one way and mean one thing.

(Written by someone who had it dinned into his head very early on that you never said ‘the line is not clear’. Always ‘the line is blocked’.)

(The Mods may feel that if this digression continues, they should start a new thread.)
 

EbbwJunction1

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My grandfather was a driver through the old Rhondda Tunnel in the 1940s. He told stories of having to wrap a wet towel around your head and getting down low on the footplate to breathe. The tunnel was single bore and 3443 yards long. Just one ventilation shaft close to one end!
The Rhondda Tunnel Society was formed in September 2014 with the long term aim of reopening the tunnel as a cycle path. If the project is successful, it will become the longest cycle tunnel in Europe and the second longest in the world after the 13,000 foot Snoqualmie Tunnel in Washington State, USA. See this link for more details: Home - Rhondda Tunnel Society Official Website.
 

Mikey C

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The Rhondda Tunnel Society was formed in September 2014 with the long term aim of reopening the tunnel as a cycle path. If the project is successful, it will become the longest cycle tunnel in Europe and the second longest in the world after the 13,000 foot Snoqualmie Tunnel in Washington State, USA. See this link for more details: Home - Rhondda Tunnel Society Official Website.
Not sure I'd fancy walking through a 2 mile tunnel, even cycling it would be a long journey!
 

matchmaker

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Most of the tunnels in both the LNER(NBR) and LMS(Caledonian) Glasgow suburban systems followed the line on the roads above and as a result there were few if any ventilation shafts directly above (or at all), indeed the LNER tunnels were closed for a couple of days prior to the introduction of the Blue Trains to allow the smoke to clear from the tunnels. On the main line, Queen Street Tunnel had frequent shafts, but given the gradient and frequency of trains it needed them even into diesel days to clear the acrid fumes .
The Caledonian had an elaborate system on the Argyle Street tunnel to clear smoke from the tunnel, some description and links here https://www.crassoc.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=140 given all accounts of the Stygian atmosphere at Glasgow Central Low Level and Glasgow Cross Stations it was not that efficient!
Thanks for these links. Absolutely fascinating!
 

DelW

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Not sure I'd fancy walking through a 2 mile tunnel, even cycling it would be a long journey!

I know what you mean, but the aim is that it'll be well ventilated and perfectly safe for walkers and cyclists.
There are several surviving canal tunnels that get close to that length (and one, Standedge, that's over 3 miles), and in those you're likely to be travelling at rather less than 4mph and be accompanied by a not-very-low-emission diesel engine.

Most do have ventilation shafts, though.
 

D6130

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There are several surviving canal tunnels that get close to that length (and one, Standedge, that's over 3 miles), and in those you're likely to be travelling at rather less than 4mph and be accompanied by a not-very-low-emission diesel engine.
You won't be accompanied by a not-very-low-emission diesel engine through Standedge canal tunnel as boats have to be towed through by a battery electric tug. However, there's a fairly strong chance of inhaling diesel fumes from the adjacent railway tunnel, by way of the connecting drainage shafts.
 

Gloster

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There are several surviving canal tunnels that get close to that length (and one, Standedge, that's over 3 miles), and in those you're likely to be travelling at rather less than 4mph and be accompanied by a not-very-low-emission diesel engine.

Most do have ventilation shafts, though.
Although when they were built there were no diesel engines. As power you either had a horse (emissions depending on diet) or walked the boat through.
 

DelW

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You won't be accompanied by a not-very-low-emission diesel engine through Standedge canal tunnel as boats have to be towed through by a battery electric tug.
No longer so, it seems ....

Boating through Standedge Tunnel​

You can steer your own boat through Standedge Tunnel, under your own power, as long as one of our tunnel chaperones is aboard. Find out everything you need to know before you visit.
 

D6130

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No longer so, it seems ....

Boating through Standedge Tunnel​

You can steer your own boat through Standedge Tunnel, under your own power, as long as one of our tunnel chaperones is aboard. Find out everything you need to know before you visit.
So much for saving the planet!......more like saving the Canal & River Trust's pitifully-low funds. (Sorry - getting a bit OT here!)
 

AndrewE

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Kilsby is famous for the size of its vent shafts, the full double track width and more. You are practically in the open for a moment as you pass under, or rather through, them. The shafts were refurbished a few years ago.

0-1.jpg
I have read that the wide shafts at Kilsby (or is it just 1 of them?) was so that the originall rails could be turned end-for-end to even up the wear. You would think it would have been easier to swap the 2 rails (of each line) over.
 

ac6000cw

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The Rhondda Tunnel Society was formed in September 2014 with the long term aim of reopening the tunnel as a cycle path. If the project is successful, it will become the longest cycle tunnel in Europe and the second longest in the world after the 13,000 foot Snoqualmie Tunnel in Washington State, USA. See this link for more details: Home - Rhondda Tunnel Society Official Website.
Off-topic, but the Snoqualmie Tunnel is interesting (for a US mainline rail tunnel) in that it had a short life as a rail tunnel - opened in 1914, abandoned in 1980 when the 'Milwaukee Road' closed its Pacific Extension - and it was electrically operated for about 57 years (steam at first, then electric, then diesel for the last six).

As it's 1500 ft under the Cascade Mountains (at an elevation of 2600 ft), I doubt it's got any ventilation shafts.

The relatively nearby 7.8 mile Cascade Tunnel (on the ex-Great Northern, now BNSF mainline) is forced ventilated by very powerful fans in conjunction with doors that close off the east end, in order to clear the diesel exhaust after each train. The time this takes is a major factor in limiting traffic to a maximum of about 28 trains per day. It was electrically operated from opening in 1929 (replacing an older, much shorter tunnel) until 1956.

Another non-electrified tunnel, the 9.1 mile Mount Macdonald Tunnel under Rogers Pass in western Canada (opened in 1988), has a single 350m deep mid-point ventilation shaft with tunnel doors and fans (I assume to enable the two halves of the tunnel to be ventilated separately and allow trains to follow more closely). This is the longest rail tunnel in North America.
 

EbbwJunction1

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Thanks; that's interesting.

I'd never heard of the Snoqualmie Tunnel before hearing about the Rhondda Tunnel, so it's interesting to find out a little more about it.
 
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