Without the invention of the tunnel, many of the most critical pieces of transport infrastructure in the world would simply not exist.

From the London Underground to the Channel Tunnel, tunnel boring and construction technology has evolved rapidly from the hypothetical to the widely utilised.

Much of this can be credited not only to improved drilling methodologies but the development, maintenance and repair of vast networks of conveyor belts to take rubble and dirt away from the site efficiently and safely.

To understand how far we have come when it comes to tunnel building, it is important to know where we came from, but whilst the invention of the railway tunnel is often credited to Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s controversial Box Tunnel, this is not the full story.

Nearly half a century before that, and before the railway network as we know it even began construction, a railway tunnel had already been constructed.

The Lost Fritchley Tunnel

Long before the development of the steam engine that made the modern railway network possible, there were a number of early horse-drawn railways and tramways designed to make the transportation of iron, coal and limestone easier.

One of the very first examples of this was the Butterley Gangroad, a very early tramway developed in the 1790s by the innovative civil engineer Benjamin Outram.

Mr Outram had designed an innovative type of tram known as a plateway, which featured L-shaped tracks to guide carts and carriages along a route.

It was horse-drawn, so economy of motion was key to ensure that the limestone could be easily transported from Hilt’s Quarry to the Cromford Canal.

This meant digging under an existing road, which led to the creation of the first railway tunnel, built from sandstone blocks.

Fritchley Tunnel was completed in 1793 but was extensively updated to carry steam trains instead of horse-drawn ones across the limited industrial line in the 1840s.

It was an early source of pioneering engineering as well. Eight years after Mr Outram died, William Brunton used the route as a testing ground for the innovative but fundamentally flawed Steam Horse locomotive.

It worked up to a point, but any chances of it becoming the norm for steam locomotives were ended by a tragic accident in Philadelphia, County Durham. The Steam Horse’s boiler exploded, killing 13 spectators and causing the first railway accident in history.

Following its conversion to work with standard locomotives, Fritchley Tunnel stopped being used in 1933, during which time road lorries became the most common way to transport goods from place to place. 

It was used as an air raid shelter during the Second World War before it was sealed and buried entirely by 1989. Its rediscovery was a major moment in the history of the railways as it became the oldest surviving railway and potentially the first ever built.

Stodhart Tunnel

Before the Fritchley Tunnel was rediscovered, the first ever railway tunnel was believed to have also been made by Benjamin Outram.

Whilst primarily known for designing canals throughout his life, he was an outspoken advocate and early pioneer of the development of tramways, albeit using his unusual L-shaped railway track rather than having the guide on the wheels themselves.

During his work on the Peak Forest Canal, he would develop an accompanying tramway which included what is believed to be the second railway tunnel ever developed.

The Peak Forest Tramway was similarly used to help transport limestone using a mix of general gravity inclines and horse-drawn carts, but to complete it, a 91m tunnel needed to be constructed at Chapel Milton.

It was initially a single-track tunnel designed to look like a canal tunnel, which whilst it avoided disturbing the owners of Stodhart Lodge, this change, unfortunately, led to it becoming the site of the first-ever railway accident.

Whilst a train of six laden wagons was being carried uphill, the ropes securing them to the horses broke. This caused the wagons to roll down the hill and into another pair of horses, killing them and causing injuries to a nearby apprentice in the process.

This tunnel and tramway would be the breakthrough, and he would become a railways specialist from then on, consulting on other works and advocating for standardised railways of a width suitable for all forms of trade that might need them.

Unfortunately, he died suddenly in 1805 of a brain fever, which meant that it would take quite some time for the field of railway tunnels to evolve.
Eventually, the development of standardised rails of a different design to Mr Outram, as well as the work of Mr Brunel led to the astonishing Box Tunnel in 1841.