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London North Western
Railway:
Midland
Railway:
Stratford
Midland Junction Railway
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Beechwood Tunnel
Beechwood tunnel (OS Map Reference SP 261 774), is 98½
miles from Euston station and passes through the Reaves Green Ridge near
Berkswell. It is 292 yards in length and cost £170,000. The tunnel was
driven through red sandstone and red marls. The tunnel required 193,766 cubic
yards of spoil to be removed. Beechwood bridge, which was located on the Tile
Hill side of the tunnel. carried Nailcote Lane over the railway was a single
span affair of some 76 feet span, embedded directly into the rock on eitherside
of the embankment and was made using the rock excavated from the cutting.
Robert Stephenson, who was commissioned to plan and build the London &
Birmingham Railway, employed as his sub-assistant engineer in charge of
constructing the tunnel, a gentleman by the name of Bernard L Dickinson. It is
recorded by Michael M Chrimes in his article in 'Robert Stephenson and planning
the construction of the London and Birmingham Railway' published as part of the
Proceedings of the First International Congress on Construction History,
Madrid, 20th-24th January 2003, ed. S. Huerta, Madrid: I. Juan de Herrera,
SEdHC, ETSAM, A. E. Benvenuto, COAM, F. Dragados, 2003. that he was
employed from September 1835 to 1837 as part of the Birmingham Division's
engineering staff.
EC & W Osbourne described the style of the tunnel as being
in 'the Eygptian style, the colossal proportions of which seem suited for
the work. Its termini are particularly interesting, on account of the
polychromic effect, produced by the employment of stone of different colours;
the string courses and copings being of a fine blueish stone, while the mass of
the building is of the red sand stone'. Osbourne's only reference to the
overbridge on the Birmingham side of the tunnel (carrying Hodgers Lane over the
railway) is to describe it as Berkswell bridge with no reference to size or
contruction.
Joseph W Wylde describes in his 'London and Birmingham railway
guide', published in 1838, the following description as part of the journey
from Euston to Birmingham, 'At a short distance from the termination of the
embankment, we cross, upon a level, the carriage road leading to Berkswell
village, and, a few yards onward, enter a short but deep cutting, in whose
course occur two bridges, the latter of which demands a passing glance at its
masonic beauty as we flit rapidly beneath the wonder striking arc, and enter
the visible gloominess of Beechwood Tunnel. This tunnel extending about 300
yards, is insignificant compared with those which have occurred in our journey,
and is not, therefore, calculated to excite that uneasiness which may have
possessed us when entering the yawning gullets of Watford and Kilsby. From our
temporary entombment we emerge into a cutting, in whose course occur two
bridges, at the latter of which commences a short embankment, finally
terminated by the turnpike road, running across the railway at right angles,
from Kenilworth to Coleshill. Passing on a level over this road, we enter a
deep cutting, slightly inclining to the right, and crossed successively by a
handsome bridge of one arch, three arches, and a skew arch, and, finally,
terminated by a handsome brick bridge, of small but beautiful
proportions.
James Drake in his guide 'Drake's road book of the London and
Birmingham railway', published in 1839, was not at all impressed by the tunnel
nor adjacent bridges. He describes his journey thus 'The prospect (from an
embankment passing what is now Torrington Avenue) however which it affords
possesses little interest; and after passing Ten Shilling Wood, and Beech Wood,
and crossing the Hockley road, we enter another cutting, which, after we have
been carried through Beechwood tunnel, past the tank which supplies the engines
with water, and under several bridges, comes to a conclusion, after having
extended for the space of a mile. We have scarcely time to regale our eyes with
the green fields and waving foliage or to distinguish the village of Berkswell
which lies at a short distance on the right before the sides of another
excavation exclude the rural prospect and drive us again to our own
reflections'.
The Penny Magazine published in 1838 describes the route north
of Coventry thus, 'By this time we have got rapidly on our way to
Birmingham. Kenilworth lies to our right; and about four miles from Coventry
(14 from Birmingham) we pass through an excavation, the sides of which are
steep, and over which a handsome bridge is thrown, connecting the high road
from Coleshill to Kenilworth. A few yards farther on is Beechwood Tunnel
tunnel, the only tunnel between Rugby and Birmingham. This is carried through
some high ground which interrupts the line of the Railroad at Reeves Green,
near the village of Berkswell'.
Of interest is the treatment of telephone cables which normally
ran alongside railway lines via telegraph poles. It was stated by an ex-BR
signalling engineer that at Beechwood Tunnel they were buried in the ground
over the top of the tunnel and that in about 1967-8 the phone circuits were
progressively failing. It was found that contractors laying a gas main across
the fields had snagged a lead covered paper insulated telecomm cable with a JCB
and damaged a joint, allowing the damp to get in and affect the circuits.
However in image 'lnwrbeech1293' telegraph
poles can be seen crossing the landscape on top of the tunnel so how accurate
this report is, is unknown. The route rises at 1 in 330 to Beechwood Tunnel
before falling at 1 in 330 to Hampton-in-Arden.
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