Cowburn Tunnel

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The Cowburn Tunnel is at the Western end of the Vale of Edale in the Derbyshire Peak District in the English Midlands. The tunnel, originally built by the Midland Railway, takes the Hope Valley Line under Colborne (part of a 1,700 ft moorland between Kinder Scout and Rushup Edge) to re-emerge near Chinley. It has a length of 3,702 yards (about 3.35 km) and was built in 1891.

The summit of the line between Dore and Chinley is within the tunnel—unusually it is not built at a constant gradient. Rising at 1 in 100 from the eastern end, about a quarter of the way through, it falls at 1 in 150. Nevertheless, when the headings met, they were no more than an inch (25mm) out of line in the vertical direction, and met exactly in the horizontal direction. Only one vertical shaft was used. Although the workings were much drier than they had been for Totley Tunnel, on one occasion the headings filled with water to a depth of ninety feet (30m) and work was carried on in a diving bell.

In the 1970s this railroute was controversially given precedence over the more modern Woodhead route (which had then only recently been re-engineered and electrified), as the preferred passenger route between Manchester and Sheffield.