Thirty Seven

5500 yards (5029 m) long, 638 feet (194 m) underground at the deepest point and 645 feet (197 m) above sea level, I find myself afloat on a rubber dingy sailing through Deepest. Darkest. Oldham.

Report - Standedge Canal Tunnel, Oldham.

Lets start with a bit of history from about the tunnels themselves...

To the left is a map of the Standedge Tunnels (click to view large) with the Canal Tunnel shown in blue. There are four paralell tunnels which go beneath the Penines from the two points of Diggle to Marsden. The tunnel was pierced through in 1809 after construction started in 1794. Gunpowder was used to blast the tunnel through, which led to a severe misalignment from each of the ends, resulting in a wider canal area towards the middle of the tunnel. Work was all by candle light during construction.

In 1811 the tunnel was finally open for use, and up to 1840, as many as 40 boats would on average travel though the waterway on a daily basis. The canal tunnel is only wide enough for one narrowboat, a crossway was made inside the tunnel for boats from other directions to pass.


The canal proved extremely beneficial for the making of the single track railway tunnel. it was used for correct alignment and also was an effective way to remove blasted rock from the tunnel. This was completed in 1848. A Second single track rail tunnel was later commisioned and construction was completed in 1871. These, along with the canal tunnel were linked through adits*. In 1894 a Third double track railway tunnel was opened. This is still in use today and crosses over the canal at the entrances.

____________________________________

We gathered everying we needes, repair kits, waterproofs, life jackets, dingys, oars, emergency roof rations, ciggarettes, energy drinks and an mp3 player with speakers. We met up with Snappel, packed the shit in the car, got the sat nav going, heading for Oldham, the Diggle Entrance.

We parked up at a nearby carpark. Brought all the relevant equipment dumped it in a nearby bush and all started inflating the Dingy's. Ducking everytime a train came passed, we lowered the vessels SS Explorer, which Scott and Snapple would be sailing in, and the HMS Debbie (Alley named it that, we can't go changing boats names, it's bad luck) into the canal, yards from the iron gates blocking entry.



We All jumped in our boats carefully, lied down, and pulled outselves in the dingy's through the 1 foot high gap between the rusted iron gate and the waters surface. 9.45pm. We were in.

The photo's just below shows the first Adit.

After our first break, only a few hundred metres into the tunnel we headed back into the dingys. The bricked tunnel in the first section had stopped, and the walls were now displaying bare rock forms. As well as being sharp and jagged, they also contained rock bolts. These stuck out of the wall by anything from 5 to 10cm. We couldnt't let our boats go anywhere near them. Whats worse are that some lie below the waters surface, and this canal water in the best of light is hard to see through...Being careful wasn't an option, it just had to be done.

The photos above shows us reaching the second Adit, much easier to dock, and more space to stretch out legs. At this point we experienced in small amounts the waterfalls. They were littered throughout the whole tunnel, but its only half the half way point we met the biggest one!

In every Adit, there was a radio with leads to a control centre of emergency run by British Waterways.

We continued on sailing. At Adit 2 we prepared the mp3 player and speakers, After a few hours on the canal we reached Adit 3 (photos below).

The photos below show us at Adit four, making stupid poses, Scott to the left, then Myself, and Snappel on the right.

At every Adit, there were lights controlled by PIR** Sensors that automatically light up when you approach them. This was great as it gave us enough light to photograph well with, without the use for flash.

After more sailing, we reached bricked tunnel areas. These were more safe than the rock and shotcrete walls, I seized the opportunity to get my camera out, Shots below:

We spotted the wall marking with the number 340 on it and the faint incandescant orange light at the end of the tunnel.

The boats gently bumped into the iron gate exit 5000 meters later from the start, it was 2.30am. Scotts boat slid under, and then it was my turn. We were through, I looked up, appreciating the nights sky and the street lamps, the smell of fresh air.

____________________________________

cheers to scott, snappel, and alley for the boat on this one, peace!

*The adits refer to horizontal passages between the BW tunnel and the Railway tunnels

**A PIR detector is a motion detector that senses the heat emitted by a living body. These are often fitted to security lights so that they will switch on automatically if approached. They are very effective in enhancing home security systems. PIR stands for Passive Infra-Red. The sensor is passive because, instead of emitting a beam of light or microwave energy that must be interrupted by a passing person in order to “sense” that person, the PIR is simply sensitive to the infrared energy emitted by every living thing. When an intruder walks into the detector’s field of vision, the detector “sees” a sharp increase in infrared energy.

ref. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standedge_Tunnels

ref.http://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=10426

ref. http://www.exploremanchester.co.uk/index.php?action=unread

ref. http://www.standedge.co.uk/about.htm



End...