Victoria Tunnel

The Victoria Tunnel is a former underground waggonway in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It was 2¼ miles long, under the heart of the city. The tunnel was pushed (by manual excavation) through the boulder clay (at a maximum depth of 85 feet), lined with a double brick lining and equipped with a single, standard gauge rail track. 

Opened in 1842, the tunnel is a notable feat of engineering and was constructed as a means of transporting coal from the Spital Tongues Colliery on the northern outskirts of Newcastle to the coal staithes on the Tyne quayside. The gradient to the river was slightly downhill and a train of 8 full wagons would travel downhill under gravity and be pulled back up empty by a rope pulled by a stationary steam engine.

It was in use for a mere eighteen years until the coal mine closed, but during that time it reduced the cost of transportation of coal to the river by over 80%.

The tunnel was then forgotten until part of it was brought back into use as an air raid shelter in World War II. As well as fitting seating for a huge number of people, internal blast walls and numerous extra entrances were constructed, but most of them were closed after WW2. In the Cold War, there were proposals to convert it to a nuclear bunker, but nothing came of it.Today the publicly accessible part of the tunnel is under the care of a charity called the Ouseburn Trust, and public tours are available, allowing one to visit about 750 yards of the tunnel. From time to time the tunnel is also used for musical events. The central part of the tunnel has been converted to a large storm drain.