About a mile long this tunnel (which carries the line through the ridge along which Grinkle Lane travels) I was told; and yes we used to go and play in it when the trains were running and scare ourselves silly. Dave tells us: “Actually the tunnel is some 993 yards long.” Ann Jackson tells the Archive: “My Great Grandad James Jackson worked on the Easington a Tunnel. He worked for the Midland Railway Co. As a stone mason. He moved to Easington from the Dales where he worked on the Ribblehead Viaduct also for the same company.” Whilst Christopher Colbeck advises: “I came to live in Loftus in 1958. Along with mates from the Loftus Rec [Micklow Lane] we had on several occasions walked/stumbled through the tunnel to the far end which gave us access to Twizziegill where in previous times the had been mine workings. There were old brick buildings [I think they were stables]. What made the tunnel a bit daunting was not the length but the fact that tunnel had a curve which meant that there was no ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ to be seen until we had walked a considerable distance. At that time the rails and sleepers were all in place. There were recesses let in the sides of the tunnel which we could step into; which I presumed provided a safe space for workmen when trains were running regularly. There was two vertical air/light shafts in the roof but years of steam trains had reduced the walls to a matt black surface which gave no reflected light and rendered a torch fairly useless.”
Thanks to Dave, Ann Jackson and Christopher Colbeck for the updates.
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