Summit Tunnel - Izeria

Summit Tunnel in England is one of the world's oldest railway tunnels. It was constructed between 1838 and 1841 by the Manchester and Leeds Railway Company to provide a direct line between Leeds and Manchester. When built, Summit Tunnel was the longest railway tunnel in the world. The tunnel, between Littleborough and Walsden near Todmorden, was bored beneath the Pennines, a natural obstruction to most forms of traffic. The tunnel is just over 1.6 miles (2.6 km) long and carries two standard-gauge tracks in a single horseshoe-shaped tube, approximately 24 feet (7.2 m) wide and 22 feet (6.6 m) high. Summit Tunnel was designed by Thomas Longridge Gooch, assisted by Barnard Dickinson. Progress on its construction was slower than anticipated, largely because excavation was more difficult than anticipated. On 1 March 1841, Summit Tunnel was opened by Sir John Frederick Sigismund Smith; it had cost of £251,000 and 41 workers had died. On 20 December 1984, the Summit Tunnel fire occurred. There were no deaths and five months later, the tunnel reopened after repairs. The tunnel has remained in continuous use with little interruption since it opened.

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Walsden

Walsden (; WOLZ-dən) is a large village in the civil parish of Todmorden in the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England. It was historically partially administered in Lancashire (the Walsden Water as tributary to the Calder serving as the county boundary), and close to the modern boundary with Greater Manchester. It lies along the A6033 Keighley to Littleborough road in the Walsden Valley, a branch of the Upper Calder Valley, and is 2 miles (3.2 km) south of Todmorden and 4 miles (6.4 km) north of Littleborough.

Walsden railway station

Walsden railway station (; WOLZ-dən) serves the village of Walsden, Todmorden in West Yorkshire, England, on the edge of the Pennines. It is served by the Calder Valley line operated by Northern. The station is 32 miles (51 km) west of Leeds and 17.25 miles (28 km) north east of Manchester Victoria. Walsden is the last station before the boundary with Greater Manchester. The station was opened by Metro (West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive) on 10 September 1990 as a replacement for an earlier structure that closed on 6 August 1961. This earlier station, which was opened in 1845 by the Manchester & Leeds Railway, predecessor of the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway, was situated between the level crossing and the north portal of Winterbutlee Tunnel, a few yards south of the present station.

Lumbutts

Lumbutts is a former mill village just to the south of Todmorden, in West Yorkshire, England. Lumbutts and the adjacent village of Mankinholes, were traditionally hand-loom weaving villages located on an old packhorse route that traversed the southern side of the Calder Valley. The village is east of Rochdale and west of Halifax.

Mankinholes

Mankinholes is a hamlet in the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale, in West Yorkshire, England. It is situated in the Pennines and the nearest town is Todmorden. The hamlet is part of Calder Ward in Calderdale Parish Council. It has a YHA hostel, managed by the larger hostel at nearby Haworth. Mankinholes is the starting point for the popular trek up Stoodley Pike (pike being a North-country term for a mountain or large hill). The hill is surmounted by a 19th-century obelisk, 120 feet (37 m) high, also known as "Stoodley Pike", commemorating the end of the Crimean War. The name "Mankin" is believed to have Celtic origins, with the OED recording its first meaning as "fierce wild man". The surname Mankin is found in parish records of the township of Langfield and the parish of Halifax. One theory is that the name derives from an area of caverns, inhabited by mankins. A second theory is that the name means "Mancan's Hollow", Mancan being an Irish surname. This would indicate an Irish-Viking settlement. Mankinholes was an early centre of Wesleyan Methodism. Groups met in farmhouses as early as the late 18th century and the first chapel was built in 1814. This was enlarged in 1870 and rebuilt in 1911. An adjacent Sunday School was built in 1833. Mankinholes Methodist Church closed on 1 July 1979, when the congregation joined with that of Lumbutts Methodist Church, situated midway between the villages of Mankinholes and Lumbutts. The Mankinholes Sunday School building still stands and is now a private house, surrounded by a large graveyard.