Celebrate Leeds 2007
Statistics
65 users online
3043 users
56226 posts
Leeds City Council
The official site for business, leisure and education in Leeds
Features - Tunnels Under City Station
Help | Register | Login | Search | Active Threads | Register

You are here: Home > Highly Irregular Features > June 2007 - Tunnels Under City Station> Features - Tunnels Under City Station
 

Pages: 1 2 3 4
June 2007 - Tunnels Under City Station
Features - Tunnels Under City Station 		Page:1/4 

  Print all messages in this thread  
Poster Message
munki
Administrator



Location:
Leeds
Joined on:
25-Jan-2007 09:46:31
Posted:
877 posts
# Posted on: 14-Jun-2007 09:21:24. Goto attachments  



Welcome, Dear Readers, to the fourth of our ‘Highly Irregular Features’.

The fantastic photos on this feature are by Jonathan Turner. For more of Jonathan’s work, see http://www.jonathan-turner.com
Many thanks also to Ian from GNER (a true Tunnelologist & expert who should get posting on here. We need your expertise!), the staff of Leeds City Station for taking our request seriously, & thanks to Charlotte & Chris from the BBC for continuing coverage & interest.
Reclaim your City! http://www.pilotlightleeds.co.uk  Top
munki
Administrator



Location:
Leeds
Joined on:
25-Jan-2007 09:46:31
Posted:
877 posts
# Posted on: 14-Jun-2007 09:22:19. Goto attachments  



These features are falling into a bit of a pattern now… the long weeks of tentative phonecalls, silences, gentle persuasion, ending with a morning of hurried calls. “We’re on for today…”. The torches, the sensible shoes, the call to the Cllr’s office to make sure they don’t want to come with us, the rendez-vous point.

This is the first time, though, that we have been told in advance to bring hard-hats & high-vis jackets!
Reclaim your City! http://www.pilotlightleeds.co.uk  Top
munki
Administrator



Location:
Leeds
Joined on:
25-Jan-2007 09:46:31
Posted:
877 posts
# Posted on: 14-Jun-2007 09:29:19. Goto attachments  


The thread ‘Tunnels from City Station’ is one of the most popular on SecretLeeds with, at this moment, 8,148 views. But with more rumours than truth…
Tunnels for transporting dangerous animals to the zoo.
Tunnels for the Lord Mayor to travel from the Town Hall to the Queen’s Hotel.
Subterranean toilets.
The mill-goit.
Half finished subway stations…
For this feature, the SecretLeeds Team (this time, Ian, Jonathan, Chris, Charlotte & Munki) risk darkness, drowning (ha!) Weil’s disease, & giant rats to try & uncover more evidence of these tunnels.
Reclaim your City! http://www.pilotlightleeds.co.uk  Top
munki
Administrator



Location:
Leeds
Joined on:
25-Jan-2007 09:46:31
Posted:
877 posts
# Posted on: 14-Jun-2007 09:30:11. Goto attachments  



Noon on a bright sunny June day, we rendez-vous on the concourse of City Station, get our H&S briefing, walk down to the Dark Arches. Most of you will have walked across the bridge to where Granary Wharfe used to be & looked to your left where the Aire runs under the station. This time, we get the chance to climb over the railings, down a ladder on to the narrow walkway, & through the locked gate.

It was very, very dark down there! Jonathan has done a fantastic job with the pictures, which give the lie to how dark the Dark Arches really are. Ian produces a MILLION & A HALF CANDLEPOWER hand-held torch, the ultimate tool for any SecretLeeds-er. One of those is going on my Xmas list.
Reclaim your City! http://www.pilotlightleeds.co.uk  Top
munki
Administrator



Location:
Leeds
Joined on:
25-Jan-2007 09:46:31
Posted:
877 posts
# Posted on: 14-Jun-2007 09:31:44. Goto attachments  



The tunnels 80 yards beneath the current City Station, & about the same again underneath what used to be the old Wellington Street Station. The first section, brick-built, was completed in 1869. It was built very quickly, with only four years passing between the granting of parliamentary permission & the opening of the station.

Considering that something like 180,000,000 bricks went into the construction of the station will give you some idea of what an achievement this was.
Reclaim your City! http://www.pilotlightleeds.co.uk  Top
munki
Administrator



Location:
Leeds
Joined on:
25-Jan-2007 09:46:31
Posted:
877 posts
# Posted on: 14-Jun-2007 09:34:20. Goto attachments  



The walkway runs south to north along only one tunnel, but to either side of us we see three more of these huge tunnels stretching away into the darkness. These are truly huge constructions, & they give a very eerie feeling, like being in a cathedral underground.
Reclaim your City! http://www.pilotlightleeds.co.uk  Top
munki
Administrator



Location:
Leeds
Joined on:
25-Jan-2007 09:46:31
Posted:
877 posts
# Posted on: 14-Jun-2007 09:37:44. Goto attachments  



Half way into the darkness, the tunnels change from brick to masonry, marking the divide between the ‘new’ City Station, of 1869, & the older Wellington Street station in stone. Does anyone know when Wellington Street Station was completed???
Reclaim your City! http://www.pilotlightleeds.co.uk  Top
munki
Administrator



Location:
Leeds
Joined on:
25-Jan-2007 09:46:31
Posted:
877 posts
# Posted on: 14-Jun-2007 09:38:32. Goto attachments  



So, there are tunnels that run away from the Station which we cannot access. This one heads towards the west. In the nineteenth century, the arches were used as storerooms. One of these areas was used by Watson and Sons, soap manufacturers. In the early hours of the morning on 13th January 1892, a fire broke out in Watson's warehouse, igniting around 1,700 tons of highly flammable resin, tallow and oil, the raw materials of soap.

Reclaim your City! http://www.pilotlightleeds.co.uk  Top
munki
Administrator



Location:
Leeds
Joined on:
25-Jan-2007 09:46:31
Posted:
877 posts
# Posted on: 14-Jun-2007 09:39:17. Goto attachments  



The ferocity of the fire caused the supports holding up part of the station to give way. As this view (taken from www.leodis.net) shows, a significant amount of track and most of platforms 1, 2 and 3 collapsed. In the centre of the view are a number of burnt out waggons. These were attached to a long line of carriages when they caught on fire. The burning wagons were cut loose and shunted into the hole in a bid to halt the progress of the flames.
Reclaim your City! http://www.pilotlightleeds.co.uk  Top
munki
Administrator



Location:
Leeds
Joined on:
25-Jan-2007 09:46:31
Posted:
877 posts
# Posted on: 14-Jun-2007 09:40:14. Goto attachments  



This area, to the north of the tunnels, appears to have been used for part of the signalling system above. There are switching boxes all over the floor. They are cast iron & look like they might have said Leeds, with a date on them, but they have been covered in bitchumen to keep the electricity away from the water, so the date cannot be read.

The newer brick wall across the tunnel looks like it had benches along it, & possibly coat hooks set into the beam of wood across the wall. Would signalmen actually have had their offices down here in the dark? Come on railway enthusiasts, let us know the technical details!
Reclaim your City! http://www.pilotlightleeds.co.uk  Top
munki
Administrator



Location:
Leeds
Joined on:
25-Jan-2007 09:46:31
Posted:
877 posts
# Posted on: 14-Jun-2007 09:41:19. Goto attachments  



What is this mysterious mark on the wall..?
Reclaim your City! http://www.pilotlightleeds.co.uk  Top
munki
Administrator



Location:
Leeds
Joined on:
25-Jan-2007 09:46:31
Posted:
877 posts
# Posted on: 14-Jun-2007 09:42:32. Goto attachments  



At the northern end of the tunnels, where the Aire flows in, we are reminded that, in fact, in the outside world, it is still a bright sunny day!
Reclaim your City! http://www.pilotlightleeds.co.uk  Top
munki
Administrator



Location:
Leeds
Joined on:
25-Jan-2007 09:46:31
Posted:
877 posts
# Posted on: 14-Jun-2007 09:44:27. Goto attachments  



This is where the canal runs under the Queen’s Hotel, the source of many of the rumours about tunnels that run from the station north into the subterranean city… We can’t go any further, so a lot of those rumours are going to have to stay rumours for a while now…

The viewing platform is now blocked off. It was used to check the build up of debris against the tunnel supports.
Reclaim your City! http://www.pilotlightleeds.co.uk  Top
munki
Administrator



Location:
Leeds
Joined on:
25-Jan-2007 09:46:31
Posted:
877 posts
# Posted on: 14-Jun-2007 09:45:16. Goto attachments  



Does anyone know what purpose this serves..?
Reclaim your City! http://www.pilotlightleeds.co.uk  Top
munki
Administrator



Location:
Leeds
Joined on:
25-Jan-2007 09:46:31
Posted:
877 posts
# Posted on: 14-Jun-2007 09:47:48. Goto attachments  



Many thanks to Ian, Chris, Charlotte, & Jonathan, for hanging around in darkened tunnels for the surprisingly long time it takes to film, refilm, & refilm again the footage necessary to complete a Look North feature which lasts 2mins & 5 seconds (& prompts 1,200 new visits to our site in two hours!).
And special thanks to Christa Ackroyd for saying that there are ‘hundreds of miles of tunnels under Leeds’! Maybe it’s Christa we all need to be talking to!

I’m no expert at all on the architecture & history of railways, but I know that a lot of our Dear Readers are… Use this feature to educate us! Tell us all about what we are looking at!

Plans are already afoot for the next Highly Irregular Feature in July. Keep reading & Happy Hunting!

The Secret Leeds Team.
Reclaim your City! http://www.pilotlightleeds.co.uk  Top
munki
Administrator



Location:
Leeds
Joined on:
25-Jan-2007 09:46:31
Posted:
877 posts
# Posted on: 14-Jun-2007 09:49:41. Goto attachments  



The reason why Jonathan is a professional photographer & Munki is not…
Reclaim your City! http://www.pilotlightleeds.co.uk  Top
simonm
User



Location:
Republic of Armley
Joined on:
19-May-2007 22:04:49
Posted:
1295 posts
# Posted on: 14-Jun-2007 11:14:56.  


Wow, bleeding WOW!! Well done to all. Thanks.
http://www.motforum.com, friendliest Leeds forum on't t'interweb!!

I WANT TO BE IN THE "INCROWD" :)

"Those who sacrifice Liberty for security deserve neither!!"  		Top
Phill_d
User



Location:
Leeds
Joined on:
21-Feb-2007 10:52:59
Posted:
2638 posts
# Posted on: 14-Jun-2007 11:23:34.  


munki wrote:

What is this mysterious mark on the wall..?
There the stonemasons individual marks... When it comes to pay day he wants a few of those in place!!
A fool spends his entire life digging a hole for himself.
A wise man knows when it's time to stop!

(phill.d 2010)
http://flickr.com/photos/phill_dvsn/




  		Top
Phill_d
User



Location:
Leeds
Joined on:
21-Feb-2007 10:52:59
Posted:
2638 posts
# Posted on: 14-Jun-2007 11:30:16. Goto attachments  


Yeah great stuff there munki.. Nice shots too.. Did you notice the little drilled holes in the stonework as well? They were drilled by hand so they could be lifted into place by some sort of pulley they devised that wedged into the holes when there were lifted up. you can see them in this shot
A fool spends his entire life digging a hole for himself.
A wise man knows when it's time to stop!

(phill.d 2010)
http://flickr.com/photos/phill_dvsn/




  		Top
Squatch_11
User



Location:
Leeds
Joined on:
20-Mar-2007 12:09:40
Posted:
117 posts
# Posted on: 14-Jun-2007 14:07:12.  


Cool set of piccies Munki

Is that where we're off on the tour of the dark arches in October?

Is it, is it?

And why can't you get through that bricked up tunnel where the fire was? What's behind it? Have they not put it out yet???
  Top
munki
Administrator



Location:
Leeds
Joined on:
25-Jan-2007 09:46:31
Posted:
877 posts
# Posted on: 14-Jun-2007 14:13:09.  


Maybe for the tour in October... though that is a long way ahead yet.

You can't get through the bricked up arch because it is bricked up! I don't think the fire is still burning, it was too cold & wet down there!

I wonder if all that soap used to get in the river???
Reclaim your City! http://www.pilotlightleeds.co.uk  Top
Squatch_11
User



Location:
Leeds
Joined on:
20-Mar-2007 12:09:40
Posted:
117 posts
# Posted on: 14-Jun-2007 14:18:43.  


Excellent!!

Good point, but what if someone were to take a hammer and see what lay behind those bricks. After all, we have a tunnel explorer extrodinaire in our midst, don't we Phill_D.

Soap must've got everywhere, especially through all those weirs and stuff. Free bath if you didn't mind the cold I suppose.
  Top
JonT
User



Location:
Leeds
Joined on:
14-Jun-2007 14:36:23
Posted:
1 posts
# Posted on: 14-Jun-2007 14:44:24.  


munki wrote:

Does anyone know what purpose this serves..?


I think it is known as a 'water drop', and it's purpose was to slow the flow of the water down in order to take some of the power out of it, so that it wouldn't ware the stonework away. Seems to have done the trick anyway, as it's all still there. Clever, those Victorians.
  Top
munki
Administrator



Location:
Leeds
Joined on:
25-Jan-2007 09:46:31
Posted:
877 posts
# Posted on: 14-Jun-2007 14:51:24.  


Squatch_11 wrote:
Excellent!!

Good point, but what if someone were to take a hammer and see what lay behind those bricks. After all, we have a tunnel explorer extrodinaire in our midst, don't we Phill_D.

Soap must've got everywhere, especially through all those weirs and stuff. Free bath if you didn't mind the cold I suppose.


Clearly Secret Leeds does not endorse taking a hammer to anything!
Reclaim your City! http://www.pilotlightleeds.co.uk  Top
Squatch_11
User



Location:
Leeds
Joined on:
20-Mar-2007 12:09:40
Posted:
117 posts
# Posted on: 14-Jun-2007 15:37:25.  


It was a hypothetical hammer!!
  Top
Pages: 1 2 3 4