The Penmanshiel Tragedy

Forty years ago, two railway workers sadly lost their lives when a tunnel being upgraded on the East Coast Main line collapsed. David Russell looks at how British Rail coped with the unexpected closure of one of its two main routes between England and Scotland, and managed to have the line reopened in just five months.

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The year 1979 was a year of majorchanges on the East Coast MainLine. The introduction of HSTs, which had begun the previous year, was due to be completed in May when the full 125mph timetable, using 32 new Class 254 sets, was planned to be effected from the timetable change.

On the freight side, the introduction of new 8ft 6in high containers on Freightliner workings meant that three tunnels on the route required upgrading to provide the necessary clearances. Effectively, this meant carrying out excavation work to lower the tracks by a few inches.

To prevent major disruption and full closure of the line, work on each track was carried out separately, enabling trains to continue to operate through the tunnels under a single line working arrangement.

The first to receive the necessary works was Stoke Tunnel, south of Grantham, the work being carried out between September 10 and October 22, 1978. The first stage to September 30 saw work take place on the down (northbound) line before switching to the up direction. Work then switched to Peascliffe, north of Grantham, from October 22 to December 2 and then it was the turn of Penmanshiel Tunnel, between Berwick-upon-Tweed and Dunbar, in early 1979.

Penmanshiel Tunnel was built by contractors Ross & Mitchell for the North British Railway in 1845/6, initially as a 267-yard (244 metre) single bore.

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