Historic Railway Tunnels – Helensburgh and Otford – 5 November 2018

This was a very interesting day catching up with a group of old friends and visiting some old railway disused railway tunnels between Waterfall and Stanwell Park. In the party were Keith, Rose, Chris, Otto, Roger and myself. I had visited some of these tunnels a few years earlier.

Glow Worms in the Metropolitan Tunnel

We met up at Helensburgh, near the present railway station. The first tunnel we looked at was the old Helensburgh Tunnel. This is very close to the station and is quite short in length. It is also one that is fenced off – so we could not walk through it.

Nearby is the much longer and much more interesting Metropolitan Tunnel. This too is fenced off, but the gate is open. You first walk along the old Helensburgh Station, and then a short section of railway track that enters the first bit of the tunnel.

You cannot go right through the tunnel – as the far end is at the local coal mine and is also submerged. But we did go in several hundred metres – and this takes you into a realm of glow worms. I had brought a tripod and was able to get some long exposures.

The further you go into the tunnel – the muddier it gets. But the mud means the tunnel is damp – and that attracts the glow worms.

After this, we headed to the  Cawley Tunnel. This is also at Helensburgh, but in the Waterfall direction. We had to go by car a short distance, over a bridge on the railway line, then up a valley to a second railway bridge which takes you to the Cawley Fire Road. Here, the road was blocked by a locked barrier, so we parked and set off on foot.

The portal of the Cawley Tunnel was not far away. We followed the fire road over a hill. On the far side, the road traverses the top of an old cutting. A track into the cutting takes you to the tunnel.

It was an easy walk through the tunnel. It took us back close to the bridge where the cars were parked, and it was easy to walk back along the present railway line to the cars. A nice round trip.

We then went to Stanwell Park by car. After lunch at a nice cafe, we headed to the last tunnel – the long Otford – Stanwell Park Tunnel. This is about 1.8 km long, and takes you a fair while to walk through.

We walked up the tunnel to the top portal and then walked a short distance to near Otford Station. It is an easy trip from the station to the tunnel – if you know the way to go.

Back through tunnel, we looked for and found the old ventilation shaft. Just below it, is a bathtub – probably placed there to collect rain water coming through the shaft.

The trip finished with some very welcome ciders that appeared from an Esky in Roger’s boot. Thanks Roger!