This has to be the best rail tunnel portal in the country. The Victorians definitely knew how to build big and impressive. This is the Clayton railway tunnel portal that adorns the northern entrance/exit. The tunnel is on the Brighton to London railway line and the tunnel was completed in 1841 after three years of construction by the accomplished tunnel builder William Hoof.
On the 25th of August 1861 there was the lines worst accident with the loss of 23 lives and 176 injured. Three trains left Brighton within a very short time. Having signalled one train correctly, the signalman at the southern portal manually returned the signal to danger too late for the second train, but was unaware that his attempts to alert its driver by waving a flag had been successful. The second train stopped well inside the tunnel, and as it was slowly reversing towards him the signaller misunderstood a 'tunnel clear' message from the north box as indicating that the second train had cleared the tunnel when it in fact referred to the first. The signaller then allowed the third train to enter the tunnel, colliding with the reversing second train at high speed.
I enjoyed flying this site. I took off from the public park on the oposite side of the road that runs alongside the tracks. So as not to fly over the tracks (which is not allowed without permission), I flew a little way up the hill and crossed above the tunnel itself. I then flew back down to be on the opposite side so that I could get the small village in the frame. I then did the same in reverse to return.
