Railway Structures
Southampton Tunnel
Southampton Tunnel was completed in 1847 by the Southampton
& Dorchester Railway. It is 528 yards long and east of the present
Southampton Central station, which is on the site of the S&D's
Blechynden station. There appears to have been some delay in completing the
tunnel, because trains did not start running between Blechynden and the
now-closed Southampton Terminus until two months after the rest of the line
opened.
The most noteworthy feature of the tunnel is the portal at the west end, which is semi circular.
The track was lowered through the tunnel in December 2009, in order to allow larger freight containers to pass through on standard wagons. This was done by replacing the ballasted track with concrete slab. |
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This page was created 23 January 2010
