My guess of the small "refuges"spaces on each side of the pipe are so they can have room for the spanners to tighten joint bolts as thats were the spaces appear at each joint...update the joints used can also be tallow filled with Hemp and lead filler cauked in but i think the spaces are still to give them easy acsess to work on the joint but as i say a guess
Hi Martin.Ive been watching almost all your videos and they are truly great.I am a composer and studio /musician so I know how hard working in that field is.I can really appreciate the amount of graft you do in these vids to get them up to production status.I would be correct in saying that the filming and trekking is the easy part and most of the time consuming stuff is done at home.In my view the mainstream tv BBC .ITV etc are really losing out to you.They either dont know how you tube film makers of your calibre are attracting a lot of of people from all ages.I have learnt so much from your vids.I dont know much history about Lancashire and tbh ,I would have never cared that much to find out.But you have a rare gift of pulling people in to your world of exploring .I would love yto see you make films for the whole of the world to see .Good luck and ffs keep making them m8.
The first tunnel you were in was very likely just to carry the cast iron pipe which is very much still there. If you imagine building reservoirs on such a vast scale, as the victorians did, was in its infancy. A lot of new engineering was pioneered. It was not certain how the ironwork would survive underground. Water pipes were not driven through earth and rock, as newer concrete and plastic pipes are. The outer tunnel is so the pipes could be maintained and repaired.
Hi Martin, you’re on my my old patch ! The area where the water tunnel begins is called The Don Gorge & at the opposite end to the viaduct was a small village called Levitt Hagg. This was abandoned & demolished in the 1950’s but signs of it still remain. There are numerous lime kilns along the Gorge too, near to where the village was.
You haven’t got a river named after you then Martin 😉. Don’t know if you knew but the shafts are only for ventilation after the tunnel is complete. They are actually sunk as construction shafts which gives each shaft an additional two “headings”. This vastly improves the speed of tunnelling. That tunnel with four shafts plus the ends will have had ten headings. Furthermore, they measure the depth by using sight sticks laid out over the top and then they drop plumb bobs in to determine the direction. It’s all done by eye and when they meet, they are very accurate. Short tunnels like your rail tunnel didn’t justify the effort of building a construction shaft. Brilliant video but for goodness sake, think of a way of letting someone know where you’ve gone!
Martin I love it . The Smirks and Smiles on your faces at the start made me know it was going to be a Good Time . Ha ha ha The Music at the Shaft was Great . Can I request something by Semprini next time ? Yes I am impressed by the Victorian Workmanship , Be Proud . You have a Good crew with you . Thank you and please stay Healthy .
Apologies if this has been said before, I haven't read all the comments! Looking at the map, (10:42) the tunnel doesn't appear to follow your red line. I guess it follows the line of the shafts and terminates at the west end where it says Wr Twr (Water Tower) and Resr (Resevoir). I suspect the pipe is the outlet from the water tower. The cracks are probably due to mining subsidence.
@@MartinZero - the water tower was built in 1951. Thrybergh reservoir was built between 1874 and 1880, which is when the pipeline would be constructed.
Great video Martin spiders and tunnels the things you do for us Sunday night viewers I thought you was going to get stuck going it the other end of that pipe and your mates saying we will get the rescue out at midnight don't panic. Looking forward to your next video with a lunch break interval with flasks.
Well Martin that was just fantastic. That first tunnel was so long I’m surprised you lasted so long in there, having said that I thoroughly enjoyed it. Now that second tunnel was just beautiful. The stonework was fantastic it was a gem. Thanks so much for taking me along. Wishing you a Merry Christmas, please stay safe and take care
When you came to the "fault" crack around 13 minutes and you said that looks dodgy, a wave of concern came over me. Then I remembered that I wouldn't be seeing this if you were trapped. Stay safe Martin, many worry about you while you are providing an education to us.
Brilliant video Martin, one of your best I think, so glad you stopped when you did, I was there with you, all sorts of things start going round in your head, I was in an old canal tunnel a few years ago and we actually saw some small movement in the brickwork, so I love old tunnels but they can be frightening, well done.
Can you imagine lugging all that pipe into the tunnel and fitting it all together, can't imagine the man hours involved! Another awesome video thanks for sharing this Martin! 🔦💧👷🏻👍🏻🕷🕸
Amazing amount of work must have gone into that brickwork, carrying all the bricks and mortar. Don't think we will ever have workers like them again. Hats off to those workers.
So you creep into a claustrophobic tunnel, then pause and point out the crack in the ceiling. I love your videos, they are always very interesting as you show us the forgotten and un- loved buildings of previous engineering marvels ( largely forgotten ) i would pay good money to go on a guided tour with you, but no dingy, tiny tunnels please.👍👍
A new Martin Zero video. Tunnels! That's sunday night sorted, then. Much appreciated. And no, you can't make a good brew with skimmed milk - it's basically water that someone has rinsed some emulsion paint brushes in. Silver/blue top milk or nothing, for me, every time.
Hey Martin, glad to see you in my neck of the woods (on the right side of the pennines lol). Great vid as always, but didn't know about the tunnels etc. The viaduct is a great site, and pretty high when you are on it. Looking forward to future vids. Keep up the great work, and have a great Christmas.
That entrance would phase many people me included but Martin and our intrepid explorers are not phased. The places and lengths you go to pal to bring us these incredible videos is up and above the call. You and the team have a bloody good Christmas and look forward as always to the next one.
Wow. I lived in Doncaster for 25years but had never been to Consiborough, except through it on the train. The tunnel was very interesting. 11/10 for creepiness. And, for the record, skinned milk is just coloured water. :)
Another great adventure. I was very pleased when you didn't go beyond the shaft - it looked like very low headroom. The other features shown were also amazing. Best Wishes Pete.
Only just watched this but another amazing video, cheers Martin! Far too many massive spiders, my idea of a nightmare. Loved the Christmas Live last night too. Merry Christmas. 🎄 🤶 😁
Whenever I'm shown little brick tunnels, The Grand, ok small, thoughts of the River Tib makes me smile. When I'm dead. Can someone ditch my ashes in River Tib?
Another fascinating exploration guys, well done, I enjoyed it very much. Btw, I thought James was going to say soya milk for the tea! 😀. Yes, it has to be full fat!👍🏻
Thanks Martin. Another belter of a video. Thank you for the work you put into these videos for us to watch mate. I hope your christmas day is the best it can possibly be and hope you and your family stay safe. All the best buddy. Andy from Wigan
This took me back to over forty-five years ago when I last went through the tunnel, nice to see it in more detail as we had an old bike lamp which we avoided using to save the batteries and a couple of jam jars with candles in. Not surprised to see cracks though as you had Cadeby Colliery at one end and Yorkshire Main at the other, although Cadeby had a fault line running through it. I was quite surprised that you didn't have a search for the funicular railway that ran from a quarry. The track was made from L shaped slabs of limestone.
Those arches are for jacks to be put under the ends of pipe when pushing them together, and when a section has to be replaced they would jack numerous sections to make the pipe shorter so a mew section could be put in as they aren’t bolted joints they are slotted sections
To add to your point, when I read "jack" I immediately thought vertically. But like a tunnel boring machine, it jacks its way forward by pushing back against the lining rings installed as it progresses. Those archways would allow same: jack horizontally against their inner facing to force the pipe sections into the one before or after. Tight caulking would require the force of a jack for a pressure capable pipe.
Chocolate cake and Cherry soda, after eating leftovers from last night's family Christmas party here. That's a great exploration! You could leave a bottle of Bailey's the day before and see if it's gone the next day.😉😄
Shafted again, sorry bad pun love your adventurous spirit lads reminds me of my childhood days always exploring tunnels and no thought of safety, as ever lads superb engineering and brickwork on the tunnels even the small tunnel
I always love the content y’all make. So many Urbex videos I’ve seen are just people wandering around having no clue what they’re looking at, but y’all really seem to do your homework and know what y’all are talking about. Keep up the good work!
Martin, your arse was twitching towards the end of the first tunnel, can see why you didn’t want to go along the other end, your very brave or daft, another thrilling vlog Martin,thanks.
The amazing thing is that this was hand dug and hand laid at one point in time this was a valuable resource for people, goes to show how times have changed and how people had to transport resources from town to town awesome video like always
Great video. Been busy with Christmas! So just catching up 👊👊 we we're watching your live feed the other night, always a good giggle. Hope you've had a great Christmas, (hope James got some decent boot's! Rather than his trainer's) all the best for the new year ✌👊🤘🔥angi+marc
We only had candles available in the 80’s as kids, there was always some in cupboard at home for when the 50p used to run out in electric meter 🤣 Great videos really interesting cheers
Very interesting video thanks for making it. My mates and I went the full length of that water tunnel a few times back in the late 1960's. Back then you could just walk in the entrance and the bottom of the shafts did not have so much infill as now. The spiders were ignored but we once disturbed a bat that kept flying about us.
A "spanner" is only usable if there's nuts and headed bolts. No sign that I could see. It was the first thing I looked for. Pressure able piping, even cast iron, was certainly extant at the time of construction. As other commenters have pointed out, it appears caulking was used, and wisely so. In a tunnel that length, flexibility rather than rigidity would be needed to prevent fracturing, especially with cast iron. Note also that the sections *appear* to be held in place by (ostensibly) clay save for at the unions. Again, this would permit some flexibility in the 'seating' of the pipe along the hard floor.
@@MartinZero Hi martin , thanks for your fab vids, when i started my plumbing apprenticeship in 1969 we were still mainlaying with cast iron pipe and caulking joints with spun yarn and molten lead, the firm was mostly involved with industrial type work.I was in my absolute element as although the work was very heavy , we had a great team back then and they made sure that i learned the jointing method in order to stand the 200 lb pressure tests demanded by the then water and hospital authorities. The cut outs near the joints would be there so you could swing the hammer during yarning and "bumping up" during the jointing process .Very happy days i was still there 40 years later, now retired in Gran Canaria .
LOL, 38m20s the little crawley one, points at James and the short one points at Ant. Another great production fellah's, thank-you all, shortie, crawley and Martin!
Great one Martin, that tunnel was a weird one, beautifully constructed though . I wonder what all the micro arches were in the floor every few yards 🤔🧱👍🏼
The method you used to climb into and out of that tunnel is exactly the same as one uses to climb in and out of a steam locomotive firebox to do repairs,through the firehole door-when the fire has been out for a couple of days of course! Another cracking video Martin,you do it so we don't have to.
28:00 I knew it, the tunnel leads to the Barrow-Downs! 😱 It’s a good thing you guys turned back when you did, wouldn’t like to run into a Wheel-barrow-wight down there 😁
Many thanks Martin, James and Ant. Another couple of tunnels. Very interesting indeed. And..Definitely blue top milk in tea....Merry Christmas and thank you for all your wonderful videos Martin.
Nice explore. The entrance. Has changed somewhat over the years they must’ve re opened it for inspection The end you went in first. Was a squeeze down thru some thick mesh with only about 2ft between the floor and crown of the tunnel the opposing end was a upwards crawl On dirt. Again emerging with. 2ft gap to the crown The hatches into the concrete have been installed in the last 10 years I would guess and both ends are much lower on approach than before last time I looked about 7/8 years since was no access at all
If you think that walking through that tunnel was rough ,imagine dragging 500 lb of bell and spigot cast iron pipe and joining it ,whilst using oil lamps for light
Great video Martin lots of fun filming that made me laugh watching ya squeeze through the second entrance...also noticed the joint alcoves ..brilliant mate All the best keep the great content coming stay safe mate...regards to Ant a mutual friend...Frank & Lee ....
Another great video. Always interesting watching your stuff and also entertaining. I noticed the other end of the railway tunnel did have a fence but it was pulled away. And yes Semi-Skimmed milk is tea Yuk! Got to be Yorkshire tea too
That was surprisingly amusing and interesting. The repartee was worthy of Saturday Night at the Palladium. Thanks for having the gumption to go into that waterworks tunnel 😉
What an absolute gem mate!!! Just be grateful Martin that you don't have the nasty spiders like we do in Australia ;) A possible use for the small tunnels next to the pipe could be for the tools to tighten the bolts for the joins, given the amount of torque for the bolts, the wrenches would have been quite long.
So back in 2010 me and my friend stumbled across this tunnel, it at that time there was no spary paint and the entrance was more closed up we had to dig muck out to get in it also had bars over the entrance and one was missing so we got in, it could have been another 127 hours as we knew nothing about the tunnel and where it went we was young and stupid we walked the length they was no wheelbarrow then lol and I did notice spary paint in the tunnel that said U2 war tour been a U2 fan was thrilled to see, thank you for posting this as me and my friend still had no idea what the tunnel was used for until now 👍
Afraid of spiders? Suffer from claustrophobia? Like walking with a stoop? You do? Then join us in a tunnel trip to see some wildlife!!! 🕸🕷🐌🐀 Good to see you top RU-vidrs on another collab, always great viewing👍🏻
Great explore, martin. that tunnel went on forever, surprising how dry it has remained, great bit of underground engineering, must have been quite a job to get all those sections of pipe in there originally. Did you check the oxygen levels in there? Always whole milk for me!
Fantastic. You are all very brave. How did the frog live in the tunnel.? Must have water and food from somewhere. Tell James tea and skimmed milk is like drinking dish water. Thank you for sharing.great vlog.
Great intro song! Al Bowley with the Ray Noble Orchestra ! Al was killed during WW2 when a bomb bounced up the street, through his front door, up the stairs and hit his bedroom door! It did not explode! But...the door hit him and killed him! Its easily overlooked but is a Shinning example of 30's music haha! Oh and of course great explore! I like when you go with Ant and James!
