Tiviot Dale Tunnel
Tiviot Dale Tunnel
![The fenced and partly-buried western portal.](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image1-205.jpg)
![Infill reaches to within four feet of the crown.](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image2-205.jpg)
![Three small girders are accommodated by slightly shallower infill.](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image3-205.jpg)
![The infill disappears to make way for 14 larger structures.](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image4-204.jpg)
![Supporting timbers are wedged between the steelwork and lining.](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image5-203.jpg)
![Entry to one of the remaining refuges is rather obstructed.](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image6-198.jpg)
![Corroded relics of the tunnel's former life.](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image7-188.jpg)
![Deterioration of the girders - now more than a generation old - means that they will eventually have to be renewed.](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image8-167.jpg)
![A concrete bridge carries the B6167 over the old trackbed, adjoining the eastern portal which is now obscured.](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image9-143.jpg)
![40035, VTG Ferrywagon and a brake, enters Tiviot Dale Tunnel at its west end on 8th February 1979.](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image10-109.jpg)
![The eastern end is obscured by a road bridge but a name board confirmed the tunnel to be structure No.80 and 225 yards in length.](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image11-90.jpg)
![40129 emerges from the west portal on 12th March 1978, entering the cutting that leads to Wellington Road Tunnel.](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image12-65.jpg)
![An intriguing picture showing the vertical face of the western approach cutting and church perched above the tunnel's alignment.](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image13-50.jpg)
![](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image1-205.jpg)
![](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image2-205.jpg)
![](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image3-205.jpg)
![](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image4-204.jpg)
![](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image5-203.jpg)
![](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image6-198.jpg)
![](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image7-188.jpg)
![](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image8-167.jpg)
![](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image9-143.jpg)
![](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image10-109.jpg)
![](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image11-90.jpg)
![](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image12-65.jpg)
![](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image13-50.jpg)
Formerly a vital part of the North’s freight network shouldering much of the burden delivered via Woodhead, the Cheshire Lines Committee opened its route around the south side of Manchester in 1865.
To the west of Tiviot Dale Station, the line passed through two short tunnels lined in red brick, the first of them sharing the station’s name.
In September 1980, during construction of the adjacent M63 (now M60), contractors caused damage to the tunnel. The line was closed temporarily but never reopened. Officially closed in 1984, track lifting took place in 1986.
The tunnel is now largely infilled except for a 75-yard central section in which a series of supporting girders has been installed. A church is built on Dodge Hill, above the bore.