Wapping Tunnel

Wapping or Edge Hill Tunnel in Liverpool, England, was constructed to enable goods services to operate between Liverpool docks and Manchester, as part of the planned Liverpool and Manchester Railway. It was the first tunnel in the world to be bored under a city. The tunnel is 2, 030 metres long, running downhill from Edge Hill cutting, near the former Crown Street Station goods yard in the east of the city, to Park Lane Goods Station near Wapping Dock. It now passes beneath the Merseyrail Northern Line approximately a quarter of a mile south of Liverpool Central Station underground.
The original proposal for the railway out of Liverpool ran north along the docks, but this route proved very unpopular with local landowners. The new route required considerable engineering works in addition to the tunnel. The 1 in 48 gradient was much too steep for the steam locomotives of the day. A stationary steam engine was installed at Edge Hill cutting in a short tunnel bored into the rock near the Moorish Arch to haul goods wagons by rope up from the Park Lane good station at the south end docks.

Wapping or Edge Hill Tunnel in Liverpool, England, was constructed to enable goods services to operate between Liverpool docks and Manchester, as part of the planned Liverpool and Manchester Railway. It was the first tunnel in the world to be bored under a city. The tunnel is 2, 030 metres long, running downhill from Edge Hill cutting, near the former Crown Street Station goods yard in the east of the city, to Park Lane Goods Station near Wapping Dock. It now passes beneath the Merseyrail Northern Line approximately a quarter of a mile south of Liverpool Central Station underground.
The original proposal for the railway out of Liverpool ran north along the docks, but this route proved very unpopular with local landowners. The new route required considerable engineering works in addition to the tunnel. The 1 in 48 gradient was much too steep for the steam locomotives of the day. A stationary steam engine was installed at Edge Hill cutting in a short tunnel bored into the rock near the Moorish Arch to haul goods wagons by rope up from the Park Lane good station at the south end docks.