Railway Tunnel and Ventilation Shafts
The railway tunnel took five years to make.
The people started building in 1898 and finished in 1902. It fully opened in 1903.
The tunnel costed about £252,000 to build. 320,000 cubic yards of earth was dug out. The bricks for the tunnel were made at a special brickworks on Chapel Lane.
About 150 navvies worked on the tunnel and about 100 railway workers worked on the tunnel as well. People had to move to Old Sodbury to work on the tunnel so more adults could work on the tunnel and all the children went to Old Sodbury school because their parents had to work on the tunnel.
There are six ventilation shafts on top of the tunnel. The shaft that can be seen in Old Sodbury is our school logo.
The tunnel had to be guarded by soldiers in world war two because the Germans might have bombed the tunnel.
There were a lot of floods when the tunnel was built but there were drains in the tunnel so some of the water can go down the drain.
The railway tunnel is a grade two listed that means that it is protected so no one can change the way it looks.
By Tyler, Sophia and Arthur
