feature
COLOUR PHOTOS: FOUR BY THREE
In the site compound,
workmen set about adjusting
the modular shutters.
foibles could simply be down to its between 1 and 5 metres wide.
turbulent construction. The invert was dug out first,
Two years on, the Haswells with an 'egg-box' cavity
recommendation - to install 38 concrete drainage membrane fitted to
supporting rings - was endorsed by Scott prevent water building up
Wilson Tunnelling. It surveyed the bore between ring and lining.
again and explored the shafts with CCTV, With such a variable profile,
after the council's City Highways team modular shutters had to be
had cleared them of debris. Like the fabricated and then adjusted for
portal, 12 of the 13 shafts are listed. each section. They evolved into
Above ground, the remaining one exists more substantial assemblies as
only as a drainpipe embedded within a work progressed. Last to be
boundary wall. The deepest plunges over tackled was the middle of the
80 feet whilst the narrowest has a tunnel, where the profile was
diminutive diameter of just 600mm. Quite tightest. It was a process which
how this was lined is anybody's guess. asked challenging questions of
Child labour perhaps? those involved, calling for One of the cast
continued refinement. Initially Handful of visionaries inverts.
No right of access whole rings were being shuttered and This outstanding piece of history, which
Looking after the surface structures is cast, using steel-fibre reinforced concrete. sharpened the cutting edge of railway
not devoid of difficulty. Many are in By the end, the rings had grown thicker engineering, will soon be locked up again.
private gardens and, although the council and were being formed in two parts, Sad really that the world won't see the
retains responsibility for them, it has no connected by dowel bars. Work on unique efforts made to secure its future. A
right of access. That said, landowners are structures is never straightforward - it handful of visionaries would like the
generally cooperative. Shaft 8 fell victim demands ingenuity, adaptability and eastern end to breathe once more and a
to a developer some years ago but has resolve. All came to the fore at Glenfield. footpath threaded through it. But with the
since been reinstated. An excavator It's unlikely that those living on the buried northern portal of Bath's
damaged another during landscaping manicured streets above the tunnel ever Devonshire Tunnel soon to see the light of
works, rendering it unstable; that one was lost much sleep about the air-gap far day for the same purpose, not even this
dismantled and still awaits a rebuild. beneath them. Many will be oblivious to would be a first for Glenfield.
The tunnel burrows beneath the its existence. They will however be Forever the bridesmaid, eh?
boundary of Leicester City and Blaby delighted to learn that their elderly and
District councils. Both were granted listed slightly eccentric neighbour has promised (Many thanks to Claire Bailey of Leicester City A section of
building consent although Leicester's had never to cause trouble, having benefited Council's Property Services Team for her shuttering still to
to be obtained from the Secretary of from intensive council care. considerable help with this story.) be completed.
State, the council being unable to grant
consent to itself. With the structure's
condition recorded photographically,
McNicholas Construction Services landed
on site in September 2007 to perform the
physical works. Hibernating bats forced a
six-month break before work started up
again in July.
Cavity drainage membrane
Attention was paid to the remaining
shafts' brickwork and all were fitted with
new grills. But it was below ground
where most of the action was played out.
Here, the 38 rings took shape, each
october 2008 | the rail engineer | 45
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