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

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 Queen's Wood Country Park & Arboretum.[4]

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. 1 2 "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.
  3. ↑ Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Ltd. p. 79. ISBN 1-85260-508-1. R508.
  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.

52°09′25″N 2°42′56″W / 52.15699°N 2.71555°W / 52.15699; -2.71555


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