Moseley Green Tunnel
Moseley Green Tunnel
![The northern portal, hiding behind vegetation.](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image1-168.jpg)
![Masonry-lined throughout, the tunnel does not appear to have deteriorated significantly in the years since closure.](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image2-168.jpg)
![The view up the northernmost of Moseley Green's three shafts.](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image3-168.jpg)
![Lumps of brickwork were pushed down it prior to capping.](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image4-167.jpg)
![The tunnel is strengthened at a point beneath the main road.](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image5-167.jpg)
![A stack of sleepers awaits anyone preparing a garden feature.](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image6-162.jpg)
![Invading light shows the uneven nature of the south shaft.](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image7-153.jpg)
![In time, vegetation will completely consume the southern portal which overlooks two small buildings.](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image8-137.jpg)
![Back in 1983, the south portal was not so blighted by greenery.](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image9-118.jpg)
![](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image1-168.jpg)
![](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image2-168.jpg)
![](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image3-168.jpg)
![](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image4-167.jpg)
![](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image5-167.jpg)
![](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image6-162.jpg)
![](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image7-153.jpg)
![](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image8-137.jpg)
![](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image9-118.jpg)
The Severn & Wye Railway was authorised by an Act of Parliament in 1809 and opened the following year as a horse-drawn tramway. In 1865, five locomotives were bought and the route was largely converted to broad gauge in 1868-9. Standard gauge arrived in 1872.
That year, a Mineral Loop was added to avoid the need for reversing movements at Cinderford. The section between New Fancy Colliery and Pillowell Siding incorporated a 503-yard single track tunnel at Moseley Green – masonry lined throughout with substantial masonry portals. It benefited from three ventilation shafts, one of which is now capped.
The tunnel was requisitioned as an ammunition store between April 1942 and December 1943 before completely closing to traffic on 13th March 1951. In the Seventies, a short section of the tunnel near its centre was strengthened with rail and timber bracing to help it withstand the forces from traffic passing on the road above. This has though been recently fire-damaged so its effectiveness might have been somewhat compromised.
(Bill Blair’s photo is used under this Creative Commons licence.)