Exploring Clawson disused railway tunnel

In this video we take a walk through Clawson (Hose) railway tunnel near Scalford in Leicestershire.

Proposal and counter-proposal from the Great Northern and Midland railways - some of which fell victim to opposition by local landowners - eventually resulted in the GN securing Parliamentary approval for a line from Newark to Melton Mowbray in 1872. The following year, a further section was authorised, extending the route southwards to meet the Rugby-Luffenham line, a product of the London & North Western. The upshot of this was that the GN and L&NW came together in the construction of a 34-mile north-south Joint Line between Welham and Bottesford, together with the associated connecting spurs and link lines.

Heading north from Melton, the section to Saxondale Junction on the Nottingham-Grantham line opened for business on 1st September 1879. Stathern to Newark through Bottesford, and Melton to Welham/Drayton junctions became operational on 15th December.

In places, the line demanded substantial structures, including viaducts at John O'Gaunt and East Norton. Responsible for their engineering was John Fraser, who was the Great Northern's chief engineer before setting up in partnership with his son in the late 1870s.

Two tunnels also had to be driven, the longer of which - at 834 yards - was located just to the south of Long Clawson Station, and officially went under the name of Hose; Clawson provided its pseudonym. From the north, the line approached via a curve to the east of 40 chains radius which extended a short distance into the tunnel. Thereafter it followed a straight course before another curve of an identical radius was introduced just inside its southern entrance. The gradient throughout was 1:120, climbing towards Melton.

Benton & Woodiwiss - regular servants of the Great Northern Railway - were appointed as construction conctractors. The heading, measuring 10 feet high and 9 feet wide, was driven from two shafts, the more northerly being the deepest at 106 feet. The other measured 86 feet. Both were sealed and backfilled once construction work was completed. Two other shafts were sunk just clear of the proposed entrances to expediate work on the approach cuttings, although it appears that the north portal was eventually erected about 40 yards north of the shaft at that end.