Looking north from the footbridge at Patchway station towards the split-level Patchway tunnels. This view clearly shows the very different gradients of the westbound (left) and eastbound (right) lines. The eastbound bore of the tunnel was built at a lower level with a longer incline after it to give the heavy coal trains from South Wales an easier jourey up from the Severn Tunnel. As most westbound freight trains would be returning empties, the gentle gradient was not needed and so the tunnel was built higher and shorter, and thus cheaper, than the eastbound.
<P>
Photo by <a href="mailto:cmckenna@sucs.org?subject=rail-photo at railfaneurope.net">Chris McKenna</a>23/01/2006.<br>
Larger, higher quality copies of my photos are available, <a href="http://www.sucs.org/~cmckenna/rfephotos.html">click here for details</a>. If you wish to use this, or any other of my photographs, under a different license see <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Thryduulf/Relicensing">my relicensing policy</a>.<br>
Feedback on my pictures is always welcome.

#cmckenna@sucs.org.