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London North Western
Railway:
Midland
Railway:
Stratford
Midland Junction Railway
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LMS Route: Evesham to Birmingham
Cofton Tunnel: mrcof1666
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The demolition and widening of Cofton Tunnel can be seen to
be in progressing well in April 1928. The remains of the walls, including a
refuge, can be seen. In the distance a section of the remaining roof is still
visible. The new concrete wall of the cutting, which had to be built prior to
the demolition work on the tunnel, can be seen on the right. On the left are
the steam cranes of the contractor, Logan & Hemingway of Doncaster,
standing on temporary track. The rubble in the 'ditch' is in fact lying on the
former tunnel's trackbed with on the right, half way along, a platelayers
refuge can be seen in the remains of the tunnel wall. When the work was still
its the early stages, on 11th May 1928, preparations were being made for
demolition of the first part of the tunnel roof. It collapsed without warning,
killing four workmen (see the accident report
here). The last section
of tunnel was removed in January 1929. By then the cutting was wide enough to
take the four tracks, bur it was still too shallow in part. A shelf of
exceptionally hard rock some 25 feet wide, 12 feet thick and half a mile long
had to be removed before the new tracks could be placed alongside the old
taking a further fifteen months.
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