How NOT to Build a Tunnel to France (Or a Bridge!)
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- Опубліковано 26 чер 2024
- #Channel #Tunnel #abandoned
Welcome to this weeks little production in which we try and look at the crazy attempts the Victorians dreamt up to cross the English channel. With a particular emphasis on Railways, roads, tunnels and bridges of course!
A few notes:
1) We have changed the Title from "How not to Cross the English Channel" on account of the recent events.
2) When I keep saying, "Built in 1994", clearly this took a couple of decades, and I mean "Opened in 1994".
3) Credits below unless otherwise mentioned within the film. But special mention to Paul Isles of Locations Photography: www.flickr.com/photos/wedding...
4) Also significant special mention to Graeme Bickerdike, his website credited below has some amazing detail on the subject.
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Sources as follows:
www.forgottenrelics.co.uk/tunn...
www.google.co.uk/books/editio...
www.bbc.com/future/article/20...
www.dover.freeuk.com/port/chun... - really good
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aim%C3%...
www.google.co.uk/books/editio...
Link: www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...
www.quora.com/Has-there-ever-...
www.strangehistory.net/2015/04...
Credit:
Pictures: As stated within the video.
If not stated: Public Domain.
Music: All EpidemicSound.com - Paid license.
Maps: Google Maps
Maps: Google Maps within Graphics.
All other footage and Pictures: own Work. - Розваги
0:21 "One thing that struck me as odd was why it took until as recently as 1994 to cross the body of water between England and France."
Hmm I can think of two reasons:
1. England
2. France
I still remember the "Asterix" comic, where Asterix and Obelix sail through the English Channel from Roman Gaul to Roman Britannia, but they end up in a thunderstorm. An annoyed Obelix remarks that they should build a tunnel underneath to avoid all of this, and Asterix responds with "Yes, I've heard they already started digging! But I guess it's going to take a while..." lol
I remember this too
And if you dug underneath the Sphinx you will find the nose that Obelix buried after he broke it off.
asterix in britain was written in 1966, and the project was being worked on since 1957. makes sense lmao, sadly Goscinny never got to see it built.
IF you look - Asterix & Obleix is a ... re-print from a french author from the 1860's .. so the " JOKE " Asterix is referring to - is MORE than 150 years old .
Digging with spades!? That Would take a while, yes.
🤣
A floating railway has to be the *most* steampunk thing I've ever seen.
And the most Victorian British thing ever.
and the most Studio Ghibli thing ever
@@KX36 more like Production I.G, One Piece has floating trains called Sea Trains
It's not something you've ever seen. It wasn't built.
@@McGuyveracity Yeah, that drawing/painting/art of a floating railway by hot air balloons is something I, and everyone else who watched the video, 100% seen.
Kinda how drawings/doodles/art works. Brings unruly unrealistic things to life.
*duh*
Shame about the boring machine being left encased in the tunnel - it would make a superb display piece in a museum. That would have been amazing to see.
Or , the tunnel could become the museum .
Go and grab it should still be there
Go and grab it should still be there
Probably a bit boring.... 🤣🤣
I agree with you, such a device is a perfect showcase of the engineering spirit of the time. I do think it has something quite mystical and beautiful as well, knowing that somewhere out there, under the channel, lies a centuries old tunnel boring machine. The second is definitely the more peculiar of these...
I like how at 1:32 Paul carefully opens the gate to walk through rather than just walks round it like lots of other people obviously do. Very well behaved boy. :-)
I thought the same, I had to rewind I thought my eyesight was going and I somehow missed the fence
Haha.... I didn't even notice that until Rebecca asked why I didn't walk around it.
@@pwhitewick Even more so, given the fact that he obviously came through the gate to place the camera and setup the shot, before going BACK through the gate before we actualy see him using the gate ... so that THREE times through the gate rather than around it !!
Photographer Steve O'Nions plays similar games with stiles and gates on his expeditions. Spotting the joke is popular with viewers.
So what is the gate for??!!
In the 1910’s when German invasion was feared, the minister responsible said that such a scenario was impossible “As they would never get past the ticket barrier at Charing Cross.”
That’s exactly right. The rail company would simply void their tickets, and the Germans, being very rule-abiding, would have no choice but to turn back.
@@albertbatfinder5240 As a german I have to say that during such lawless times a second line of defense would be necessary. A perpetually red traffic light should do the trick.
@@user-hv6wb5gk8p Desperate times call for desperate measures, and do believe that the British would be so dastardly as to employ such a mechanism as the Perpetual Red Light. In spite of the Road Rules Act of 1930 and the Road Traffic Act of 1934, both of which were in contravention of earlier legislation, Bletchley Park were already working on a scheme code-named “M25”, the implications of which would not be felt for 7 decades..
British humor never fails to deliver ☠️😅
If France was intrested trolling gems, they just lay rail tracks over hill and add some grease, and that will took time to hitler gonna die to figure thing that can handle that railroad. He liked trains and only recorded normal voice of his in railroad caddy. Other times he screamed like a hitler.
Anyone else notice the skillfully reversing trucks @1:03 ...
In perfect rhythm.
That's some very good reversing into the Roundabout below as well. Or it's just reversed Footage of the Ferries unloading.
0:58 that's some very good coordinated reversing of the vehicles on the ramp.
Can't believe I caught it on camera
@@pwhitewick I know right! Amazing catch!
I had to watch that about 7 times until I noticed!
@@newbarker523 I noticed that on the first run.
That's some very good reversing into the Roundabout below as well. Or it's just reversed Footage of the Ferries unloading.
There was an anecdote (hope no-one has shared it already) about a father and his son offering to dig the tunnel. The father would start digging from England and the son from France.
- But what if you miss each other?
- well, then you get to tunnels at the price of one ….
In Denmark, on the coast of the island of Lolland, we have just started building the "Fehmarn Belt Tunnel" from Denmark to Germany: 18 kilometer consisting of 200 m land-built concrete elements, to be sailed out and sunk and connected to each other and for both cars and trains to transport themselves in the tunnel tubes! This will be the last part of a European transport route connecting Germany with Denmark and Scandinavia, and not having to go up Jutland and crossing the Storebælt Bridge, as this is a much longer distance. We now have a bridge and tunnel, going up from the under the sea to enter the Øresundsbridge, from Denmark to Sweden. The built of the new tunnel may be followed on UA-cam, as they have several cameras constantly following the building area in real time. A little like watching paint to dry ;-)
Oh, that's the big island with Copenhagen on it.
@@ravenouself4181 Copenhagen is on Sjælland. Lolland is the 4th largest Island (I think) in Denmark after Sjælland and Fyn, and I guess technically Nørrejyske Ø which is only barely an island
The Problem is that Germany hasn't decided yet where to build the Railway and Highway going to that Tunnel, not even whether to build them at all. Given how German Infrastructure Projects usually go, epsecially the Rail Line probably still is a good 20-50 Years away, rendering the Tunnel useless for at least a few Years after Completion. Just look at the Brenner Base Tunnel in Austria; it is nearing Completion and Germany still is in that Phase of debating. Or the Gotthard Base Tunnel in Switzerland, where Germany promised in the 80s to upgrade the Karlsruhe Basel Line to four Tracks to accomodate the increased Traffic. The NIMBYs managed to slow that down so much, it is now estimated to be completed in the 2050s. That's a dumbfunding 70 Years to add two Tracks to about 150 km of already existing Rail Line.
@@Genius_at_Work Don't worry - it took the UK another 13 years to build our high-speed line from the UK Chunnel entrance up to London. Step by step...
Denmark is already connected to Germany by land. Why the waste of money??
I’m born and raised in Dover, currently work within the Port of Dover (I could see my office in the video which was quite cool). I loved this little history lesson. Keep them coming!
A bridge held up by balloons. Just wait till Boris gets hold of that Idea! Interesting video.
They will be his special magic balloons
@@robinjones6999 it's literally"levelling up".
Well, he could keep the balloons filled up with all of his hot air.
It is almost as stupid as Johnson's garden bridge, NI-Scotland bridge, Thames airport, and berxit nonsense.
@@robinjones6999 If he'd ever used one of those special baloons he might know how many children he has sired.
Bridge suspended from balloons - love it! Just what we need for Boris's NI Bridge!
But where could we possibly get enough hot air from for Boris' bridge I wonder ?!?
@@prest0lee Sit a bunch of conservative politicians under the balloons, simple!
I am quite sure that the SNP was also looking into the idea of a crossing to N.I, up till the point that Boris thought it was a good idea. A floating tunnel as has been built elsewhere would have been a better idea. It would also bring a boost to the economy of the southwest of Scotland, which is a pretty forgotten part of the UK.
floating customs control would also be needed
Still your leader
Another brilliant video! I never knew there was an attempt to build a channel tunnel in the 1800s I thought that the 1994 one was the only attempt at building a channel tunnel. You always deliver Paul and Rebecca. I’ll look forward to seeing next week’s video.👍🏼
Samphire Hoe, the reclaimed land has access to the 1970's Tunnel which in turn has an access to the 1800's Tunnel. The 1970's Tunnel was to become an access point for the Service Tunnel.
Always amazed at how something with so much boring about it could be so interesting.
The video would be much better without that sickening British accent.
You'd have to take a ferry or a plane of course. Someone forgot about the Hovercraft.
Ah, the hovercraft, never got to go on it when it was operating. I can remember that it was generally reckoned that a bumpy ride on the hovercraft would put tens of thousands of miles of wear on a car's suspension. And any attempt at a drink would result in a need to change clothing...
When the sea was like a mill pond it was the only way to travel, I used it about half a dozen times. If you took it to Boulogne you could board a train at the hoverport straight on a train to Paris.
@@andycooke6231 I'm very jealous! We look at today's Eurostar time to Paris as being fairly good, but it's easy to forget how good prior setups (like the hovercraft arriving at a train station) were for their day.
Brunel built the GW Railway to cut a few days off the transatlantic crossing time, which was pretty advanced as a concept in its day.
I'm sure Brunel would be amazed at today's air travel, though I doubt I could give him a good answer if he asked why we waste the speed with countless hours stuck in the airport doing baggage reclaim, etc.
I've often thought that the only proper transatlantic air service was Concorde, not because it went Mach 2 but because it had checkin times of 10 minutes and zero queues at either end. Even JFK ATC staff got in on it, often giving Concorde a priority approach because it was just so cool to see it land. Sure, expensive, but delay-free travel actually achieved.
And despite the advances of Zoom calls, etc, Concorde's time is still quicker than it takes everyone to get mics, cameras on and their Internet connection up and their cat out of the room, before they even begin to hunt for the meeting invite code.
The Hovercraft was a ferry.
@@abarratt8869 ha ha that was funny. Not much better on the Seacat catamaran. Started off well but ended up with 80% of all passengers being sick. What fun! 🤣
Very impressed by the attention to detail of your production. For a UA-cam video feels like a BBC documentary. Well done 👏
Really nicely put together. Editing, sound , script. All professional level stuff
Much appreciated!
Very interesting story about the 1880's tunnel thanks Paul.
Loved the electrostatic bridge, (how do the balloons stay up?) and the Captain English rotary boring machine.
It could cut about half a mile a month, keeping to a 1 in 80 gradient, what bit of engineering and digging and faster than Beaumont's machine which somehow took the credit for the dig when in fact it was English's machine that had done the work. Despite English's letters of protest the editor refused to change the story and Beaumont did nothing about it either.
It seems a pity that they left the machine behind, which one was it?
During WW1 another great tunneling device was built and shipped out to the trenches where I think it was to be used to bore a tunnel out to and under the entrenched German position on the Salient. It managed about 50 yards and packed in, never to work again.
Sounds like something Boris Johnson would propose.
Hello Paul and Rebecca, my husbands choice of TV tonight on 23 December 2021 is this clip, his words... "Ive been meaning to watch this for ages" - Team Parish.
You did a better job than most BBC documentary's, well done
Thank you Paul. brought back memories of my father showing me his early Channel Tunnel Share Certificate and hoping it was going to be worth something when the "1994" tunnel was built. - sadly not to be the case,
It's probably worth even more that nobody will use it
@@RandomPerson-ob1hk I wouldn't think so, if it was successful it would still be much more profitable, but his could probably really only sell as a bit of a novelty at a pawn shop somewhere
Just excellent. Lovely camera work. Clearly presented. Well researched. Everything a documentary should be.
There was a window in time where “balloons” were all we had, and we darn well we’re going to use them
Fascinating stuff, as always! Love this mini-documentary format and love how you dig up these amazing old schemes👍
Another BRILLIANT vid Paul. VERY interesting and informative as ALWAYS! 👍
I think there was also a tunnelling attempt in the 70s, which was then stopped. Going out from Shakespeare Cliff. I believe it was picked up again when they built the current tunnel
Correct, if you go to Samphire Hoe (where Paul is wandering about in some of this vid) the Channel Tunnel service entrance there is where the 70’s attempt started.
Yes. The project was stopped by the Labour government who decided that they could afford Concorde or the Tunnel but not both. It was stopped just as boring was about to commence but the government allowed 400metres to be dug after cancellation to prove that the machine would work as designed. This 400m section is 4.5m diameter even though the rest of the Service Tunnel is 4.8m dia and was a great help in the 1994 project as it allowed the new tunneling machine to be fully built underground.
This is one reason why the UK side was able to start tunnelling about a year earlier than the French.
@@HarryJMac It was billed as the "Chunnel". I remember it on the news. I am old.
@@HarryJMac I drink in the pub with a bloke who worked on it..and also on the final Channel Tunnel Project.
Although the 70's tunnel was officially abandoned, pumps were still kept in use to keep it dry. I think somebody was hedging their bets !
Thank you for this of course-well done too!!
What a fascinating video - thanks, Paul. I was so delighted when the Channel Tunnel opened, that I just HAD to travel through it! Far the best way of getting to Europe.
A super production , it seems some tunnel somewhere around the world has a boring machine left behind as a permanent resident .
Pretty much standard practice, they steer the TBM into the side of the tunnel until it is completely out of the way. Probably salvage a lot of parts from the carcass before walling it in.
Erm...am I missing a see through fence or did Paul literally just open a gate when he could walk around 😂😂
Extremely clear barrier/fence. I did well to avoid it.
@@pwhitewick You could have done yourself a right injury. Lucky that gate was there!
Rumour has it this man is still walking the cliffs of southern England to this day
Rumour.... is true
Nothing beats the old British Rail Hovercraft. Beach to beach in 25 minutes.
Very true!
Done a lot of research on the original channel tunnel efforts but even I picked up a few new nuggets of info there :)
🙏👍
This is a brilliant video. :) Very fascinating the history of the attempts to link Britain to France is.
Another brilliant film, thanks guy's. 👍🤗
The production value of the videos alone demands more subscribers.
Thank you for a wonderful documentary, I use to go to Folkstone once many years age, look for fossils in the Gault Clay, and chalk cliffs, use park up at below little Switzerland, walked from Folkstone to Dover and Dover to Deal, such wonderful part of world, and so well shown by your film, I spent many happy days just walking there,
I did enjoy the history. I just kinda think using a picture of the interior of the tunnel as the video thumbnail suggests that at some point we will be going in there, not just displaying still photos from other sources while walking around outside 🙂
We looked... we think we found the entrance, but you'd need a) a strong nerve in a one way tunnel and b) a set of wrenches.
@@pwhitewick that doesn't stop it from being clickbait though.
@@flynnhunter3795 I think there are actual video of people going in, I forgot the name of the channel though
Great compilation of history. Thanks for sharing.
That was brilliant. Thank you.
Maybe do a combination of the late 19th century tunnel attempts strictly RELATED TO Sir Edward Watkin's rôles (him wearing a number of different hats) and the overall idea of the "North of England" being connected to Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam .......... etc.?? (you could combine this with a token, symbolic reccie of a 'lost station' along one of Sir Edward's abandoned rlys). P.S. Love your series - INSPIRING and positive. Please keep 'em rollin'!
My 'Punch' for the time depicts Linley Sambourne's cartoon of Sir Edward saying "Oh Mersea, why can't I have a tunnel?" (mercy/recent Mersea tunnel). He did control what became the Great Central, and via the Metroplitan, the South Eastern and indeed, when the MSLR became the GCR in 1899, it was built to the continental loading gauge (which pearl, BR and our Government cast away in 1967).
I did like the end of your video as it shows my old caravan site across from the Royal Ork pub at Capel Le Ferne and you can still see the old foot path down the cliff its a nice walk down and across the old bridge that goes across the railway line . Going back up the path is a killer !! but it is a nice walk along the cliffs to Dover or Folkstone .
Really excellent video Paul, very fascinating 🙏🏻🤩
Good video. Nice to see Rebecca has found work as an Extra! 😁😁
Not too off topic, I hope; there are numerous railway tunnels between Folkestone and Dover. As a conductor needing to learn the route, we were taught the acronym MASH to help us memorise them. Martello, Abbotscliffe, Shakespeare and Harbour.
Crossing pre-tunnel had to be done in a plane or ferry? Sounds like somebody hasn't experienced the channel hovercrafts!
hi paul and rebecca , great video as alyways , you both brighten up my sundays , well done and thank you guys :)
Brilliant. Thanks for doing this.
Thanks Simon. A pleasure.
Very interesting. I didn't know about the 1880s attempt being plugged by the modern tunnel. I read somewhere that coal was discovered during the 1880s attempt,which was the origin of the Kent coalfields.
What is now Samphire Hoe was originally a coal mine,just not a very good 1 so it closed not long after it was founded.
The productive mines were at Chislet, Tilmanstone, Snowdown and Betteshanger.
You wouldn't find me walking a bridge with balloons holding it, that is bonkers! Alexandre Lavalley look like someone who was mad in the painting but the video was really epic listening to these proposals which were rejected!
When I found his picture I though I must have the wrong person!
Even if they bundled together all the balloons stretching from from Dover to France, I really doubt that they could keep a locomotive aloft!
Actually Alexandre Lavalley was quite mad to think his Panama Canal dug at sea-level could succeed!
If that bridge had been made I’m sure we’d have referred to it as the Heath Robinson bridge haha
Thome De Gammond has to be the *most* giga-chad of oceanography I've ever seen.
Extremely nicely presented with great local historical information. Thanks!
Did Paul miss out the 1970s start at a tunnel which is now part of the service road/tunnel of the current tunnel?
In 2000 the owners of the channel tunnel company put in a "white paper" to the government about building a replacement/enhancement of the channel tunnel (seeing it was only designed to last to X date) and add in a road only tunnel (from doing some more reading this was part of the original lience of the project) Also part of this plain was a possible second rail link groups of tunnels (I am thinking another 3) which let Eurostar and international freight trains use one set of tunnels while the existing tunnel could be used by freight and car shuttle services.
I recognise QA library, you must have heaps of photos of the TML project and the old machine that was excavated in Folkestone too.
Yes, I was going to say the same thing, a tunnel was started in the early 1970s & got several hundred yards out before abandonment.
That "white paper" was the result of a clause in the Channel Tunnel Act which was put there to placate Maggie Thatcher who always wanted a bridge.
Convince Europeans to build infrastructure for cars? nice joke that is
@@tippyc2 I think there is plenty of road infrastructure built for cars in europe. World's longest road tunnel: Norway. Bridge between Denmark and Sweden: road + rail. The bridges linking Denmark together: road + rail.
I'd love to see a balloon supported bridge, but I wouldn't actually go across one
Likewise!!
Another gem of a video Paul.
Very insightful thanks for uploading
The hovercraft was and still is the fastest way to cross the channel….as zippy said…it’s a lot less bovver with a hover!
But not economically viable given the cost of the aviation fuel it burned. We just need someone to invent an electric version!
@@pj100565 only burnt 2.5 tonnes per crossing at 70mph! Guess you could put new engines in and make out of carbon reinforced plastic!
@@pj100565 The SRN4 turbines could have been converted to burn methane
but the tunnel,and end of duty free killed it
It needed calm weather and actually the transit of the tunnel takes 20 minutes, faster than the hovercraft. There are two drivers on the train, one at each end. The train can be split in the middle in the event of a fire and the non-burning end driven out of the tunnel. This is why there are no standing passengers on the train. Any passengers beyond the fire that cannot get to the other half of the train are evacuated into the service tunnel.
@@hairyairey The srn4 can travel weathers up to sea state 7 which I believe is 2m high waves so doesn’t need calm waters.
Travel time for the train is 35 mins not 20.
One of my ancestors was an engineer involved in the project, I have some of the blueprints. He also engineered the east and west India docks that now are called canary warf.
Would love to see those
cool story, narcicist.
@@ollllj Yes, your comment is FAR more interesting. Please continue to not share any information about yourself. The aura of silent mystery suits you.
Don't ever stop doing what you're doing! I love your videos.
That was great ...I really enjoyed it ...thank you
Lots of info there I didn’t know about. Thanks. When The Chunnel was being constructed there were regular recruitment days for new staff. The working conditions were so alarming that a large proportion of new staff never returned to work after their first day.
I was involved in the construction of the new road to Dover, part of which has a short tunnel just the other side of the hill you stood on which was built two years after ‘The Chunnel’. There were lots of stories of motorist that drove in and then out 300 yards later thinking they were in France!
Did you enjoy the cliff-top cafe. You must have tried it, surely!😍
I’ve spent many, many ‘working hours’ there in the summer sunshine.😁
That would explain the dozen deaths on our side, far more than the French side. The English were more interested in beating the French than their colleagues going home at night.
Yet another totally absorbing and fascinating video! Thank you. Dover- based IKS Exploration made a couple of videos a few years back, where they try to see just how far they can get along one of the underwater bores. Not a comfortable watch if you are claustrophobic, as the water starts to meet the ceiling, but fascinating nonetheless.
They did it so that you don't have to.
Haha... yes watched them both. Completely mad. Enjoy the channel though.
@@pwhitewick Yes the last IKS explorer of this tunnel was one of the best videos I’ve seen on YT Ian and Chris were extremely brave to go in so far into it Ian said it would probably be the last time they would go in as it was becoming so unstable
@@pwhitewick I grew up in Capel-le-ferne, the village on top of the cliffs. Back in the 1970s and 80s, the 1880 workings were easily accessible with the aid of a large spanner. Some friends and I got about 100 yards in before the water got too deep. No such thing as LED torches in those days, so it was really spooky. You can hear the trains running above you on the mainline railway. The modern Channel Tunnel doesn't go anywhere near the 1880 tunnel, so Paul has that bit wrong. He is probably referring to the 1970s effort, which intersects the modern tunnel at what used to be pit bottom at Shakespeare. I helped build the new one. ;o)
Edit to add: At the start of the video, he is at Caesars Camp, the remains of a Roman fort. There's a lot of history in these here parts.
@@sarkybugger5009 Odd because the source I read suggest ".....both recent tunnel efforts of 1974 and 1988 required remedial works to be carried out!"
@@pwhitewick Which have nothing to do with the 1880 tunnel, as I said, which doesn't go anywhere near the new one. Look at a map, and see for yourself. Heading 20, which is the entrance to the 1880 tunnel, is almost *two miles* from the top of the adit at Shakespeare.
I loved this video. Thanks for your excellent work 👍👍👍
Another great informative vid.many thanks guys.👍😁
I would love to see the inside of the pictured failed tunnel attempt, my father was a civil engineer and over the years I have read much about the various attempts. If you search elsewhere on here the IKS boys have been down there a couple of times, I guess I’ll have to settle for watching that, certainly considerably safer.
There's video on youtube of some guys exploring it.
Thank you both for making this wonderful investigation ! Personally I like the balloon railroad .
Hi Paul, Great video many thanks, good to see you literally in my back garden!
My area and some of information I wasn't aware. Good research and well produced. Thank you 😊
It's been over 27 years and the French still haven't sent their soldiers through yet
Any day now...
The smell of fish and chips is putting them off...
Fascinating. I knew a gent who was an engineer on the current tunnel, and was there when they breached the 1880s tunnel. Surprised was putting it mildly. Once they’d pumped out the 1880s tunnel, they did see the boring machine, but couldn’t save it. They had to cap it off, as the old tunnel was compromised, and slowly filling up with water.
Sorry but not so.
I was one of those engineers. We knew it was there and had a well prepared plan on how to deal with it.
It was a very interesting exercise as we had to remove the timber and steel lagging used to support the walls before backfilling a section with foam concrete for the two running tunnels to pass through without being damaged by the timber and steel.
Quite a scary process.
@@davidsalisbury50 Thanks for the feedback. I’m only going on what he told me. Maybe he missed the briefing, as they say. Please tell me you saw the machine though. Hate to think I fell for an exaggeration….
@@chrisb012 Dear Christopher.
Its a a long time back and I was a young engineer. As I recall the central service tunnel TBM (or possibly the original 1970's workings had passed through the 1880's tunnel. The main segmental lining of the new tunnels was reinforced concrete segments. but the crossing of the "Beaumont" tunnel (That was the name we used for it) has cast iron sets as a lining that could be dismantled and allow access to the old workings on both sides. When we opened them there was a lot of dirty black water that flooded in. A bit of a sight but not unexpected. We then pumped out the old tunnel until we could access. The tunnel was about 6 foot diameter (it was a pilot test tunnel), lines with circular 3 piece 4'' x 2'' channel sections every 12 feet or so. between the steel rings were rough timbers, simple tree slices still with bark on them. these were to stop any loose rock falling on the miners, not really for support as the chalk marl can support itself for quite a long time.
We didn't get as far as the old TBM as it was in the still flooded section. We removed a section of the steel and timber about 50m along the tunnel, built a blockwork and sandbag wall and then worked our way backwards, removing the steel and timber, letting the loose rock fall, then backfilling with foamed concrete/grout. The aim of this was to provide a stable solid material that the larger running tunnel TBM's, either side of the service tunnel, could excavate through without stopping or presenting any problem.
Once we backfilled back to the service tunnel we closed the openings and left grout tubes into the crown of the old tunnel that we could pressure grout and fill the final void up.
As I recall it was a great success.
Another similar TBM from the 1920's was left in the hillside near Folkstone (Whittaker machine). This was excavated and removed by a group of volunteers. Taken to Costain's (I think) plant workshops and given a clean and partial refit so it could be put on display.
I believe it ended up in the possession of the Science Museum in storage but I could be wrong.
@@davidsalisbury50 wow, that’s a brilliant write up of what happened, and more detail than I was told at the time. Thank you so much for your account, really appreciated.
Another great video,
Some interesting facts and figures about the numerous Channel Tunnel attempts...😀👍
Excellent!
What you didn't mention was the big mistake made when planning the whole project. They dug it so that other end of the tunnel comes up in France, when any sane design team would have ensured it came up a few miles further up the coast, in Belgium.
Haha.
Nah, it's not to keep the french out, it's to get stuff to france
It still beats me how British engineers using imperial measurement met up with French engineers using the metric system!
Possibly because imperial units are derived from metric standards for the kg, meter, etc...
@@abarratt8869 Precision is the result of care and craftsmanship. Not the use of any standard. All standards can be equally precise.
@@firesurfer Sure, but it's very difficult to say whether two parts made by engineers using different physical standards will fit together. The reason the world decided to go with one system of physical standards ("metric"), and define local units as fixed ratios of metric (e.g. 1inch = 25.4mm, thank you Mr Johansson), was to solve that interchangeability problem and make things like Concorde possible.
All the channel tunnel was built using metric
Fascinating Paul and Rebecca, your vids are just not long enough, could listen to you all day.
Thank you
Very interesting and well presented.
Thanks.
Fascinating but also slightly sad to think there’s an early boring machine a hundred or so years old buried out at sea.
Yup indeed. That would be great to see in a musuem
@@pwhitewick maybe in 100 years time someone will say the same about the TBM the British left upon completion of the chunnel.
And we are getting invaded by plastic blow up dinghy now that the French ferry across and the RNLI pick up for the other half. Astonishing they can’t stop this invasion.
- They could quite easily if they set up a visa station in France.
@@danensis considered they have zero right to come here I doubt it would work. Sending them to Rwanda is a better solution. You can’t reward criminal behaviour.
@@PibrochPonder - do you work with asylum seekers? The vast majority of them have every right to refugee status, and have legally settled here.
@@danensis rubbish they are coming from France a safe country. They are economic illegal immigrants end of. They have zero right to be in this country.
Outstanding! Thanks!
Love that match-fade of you with the fearsome poulet Francais
I can't imagine anything more boring than a UA-cam video on the longest under-sea tunnel.
Back to over 12 minutes... Good man! (and as usual, great video)
This was an amazing video. I really enjoyed this look at the Channel Tunnel! Great Video!
Great walk to try out.. Great history and great narrative...
Thanks very much...
Thank you Mark.
Fantastic thanks
Thanks for video. I knew they wanted to build a tunnel years before the channel tunnel, but never realised so many attempts had been planned.
You were brave walking across the tops. I was always scared stiff because of the snakes.
Thanks for the content!
Nicely presented
Another very interesting video! Love some of those early ideas even if they are a bit mad!
Brilliant viewing as always 👍
Thank you!
What a wonderful video, loved the camera work and the history. Really lovely!
Well done!
Great video, thank you.
Cheers Dave.
Great video, very well researched and edited
So interesting. Never knew any of this. ThAnk you for all your research. Much appreciated.
Excellent Video..
Your videos are great. Thanks.
Excellent production values! 👍
Loving all the videos Paul and Rebecca. Keep them coming. I real enjoy the disused stations videos.