| Sowan P W (2001). Oxted tunnel conclusions confirmed! Bull Croydon Nat Hist Sci Soc, 112: 7-8. |
Oxted tunnel conclusions confirmed!In an article in Bulletin 103 (September 1997), 'Who made the Oxted tunnel' I reported that a study of the geological and hydrological literature for east Surrey, the Ordnance Survey's first six-inches to the mile maps of the 1860s, and the biography of Joseph Firbank led me to the conclusion that the Oxted railway tunnel, although work on it commenced in 1865, was not holed-through until 1881. Previous historians of the line have claimed the tunnel was all but completed for the Surrey and Sussex Junction Railway by 1869. Through the courtesy of John King, Records Manager for Railtrack (Southern), I have been able to look at the engineering drawings for the Riddlesdown and Oxted tunnels. These confirm my conclusions. Much of the Oxted tunnel, when Joseph Firbank resumed work on the line in 1880 for the Croydon, Oxted and East Grinstead Railway, existed only as pilot headings, some had not been excavated at all and only a part had been opened up to full final tunnel dimensions. Baldwin Latham (Engineer and Surveyor to Croydon's local Board of Health, 1863-1871) had been well aware of the implications for the North Downs chalk aquifer of completing such a tunnel, which when operational effectively transferred two square miles of the river Wandle catchment to the river Eden basin. As soon as opportunity arose, in or around March 1881, he commenced gauging the water running southwards out of the North Downs at Oxted … it was at that date that at least a pilot heading was completed right through to the southern portal. Paul W Sowan |
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