Arley Tunnel

Arley Tunnel was opened on 1st November 1864 by the Midland Railway on the Whitacre to Nuneaton line as part of the Birmingham to Leicester route. The tunnel was constructed on the highest point along the route between Arley and Stockingford and was subject to subsidence inside the tunnel. It was closed completely to passenger traffic on 14th December 1948 with single line working initiated for freight traffic. However as the situation within the tunnel deteriorated the line was closed to all traffic on 9th January 1949. The tunnel was initially reopened with single line working on a revised timetable on Monday 11th April 1949 but by 9th May 1949 the situation had again deteriorated so that running was confined to just a few hours each day. On the evening of the 11th May just after a return special to London, a wide crack appeared in the roof arch and the tunnel was immediately closed to traffic. The tunnel needed a considerable amount of work to be undertaken and some 300 yards of the 999 yard long tunnel was opened out by removing the roof and extending the cutting. The line did not reopen until 5th December 1949. Passenger traffic was handled by Midland Red buses running between Nuneaton and Arley calling at Stockingford when required. The reason for the problem was due to the clay soil, through which the tunnel had been constructed, holding considerable amounts of water and therefore becoming unstable. The tunnel had issues in 1993 when it was again closed on 19th March for engineering work and not re-opened until 3rd October 1993.

Richard Maund writes:

According to the Railway Magazine (January 1953, Pages 61-2), the first closure to passengers was from Friday 17th December 1948, then to all traffic from Monday 10th January 1949. The tunnel reopened on Saturday 9th April 1949 but was then closed again on Wednesday 11th May 1949 before finally being reopened on Monday 24th October 1949. According to the Branch Line News¹ (BLN), the 1993 closure was from Saturday 20th March 1993 (BLN 703 and 704) to Monday 1st November 1993 when it reopened for freight (BLN 720) and Monday 20th December 1993 when it reopened for passengers. (BLN 722).

¹ Branch Line News (BLN), is the newsletter of the Branch Line Society which is a twice-monthly publication. N.B Closure dates given in BLN 708 are incorrect.