2014
SD8203 : T68A Tram Leaving Heaton Park Tunnel
taken 11 years ago, near to Prestwich, Bury, England

T68A Tram Leaving Heaton Park Tunnel
Metrolink T68A tram number 2003, operating on the Abraham Moss to Bury shuttle service, exits the Heaton Park Tunnel and travels along the short cutting towards Heaton Park Station.
The Heaton Park Tunnel was constructed during the 19th century when the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway’s line between Manchester and Radcliffe was being laid. Lord Wilton, the owner of the estate at that time, was not prepared to see his estate disfigured by a railway and insisted on the trains going under his estate and not in a cutting. Although known as Heaton Park Tunnel it should, perhaps, be more correctly described as a covered way as it was not constructed by tunnelling but was dug out and then roofed over. It is possibly the shallowest railway tunnel in the UK. At one point, the top of the brick arch is less than two feet underground.
At the time this photograph was taken, 2003 and its sister vehicle 2001, were the last of the iconic blue and white liveried T68 trams operating on the Metrolink system. Significant as the T68s were the first of Britain's "second generation" trams to run on city streets.
The Heaton Park Tunnel was constructed during the 19th century when the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway’s line between Manchester and Radcliffe was being laid. Lord Wilton, the owner of the estate at that time, was not prepared to see his estate disfigured by a railway and insisted on the trains going under his estate and not in a cutting. Although known as Heaton Park Tunnel it should, perhaps, be more correctly described as a covered way as it was not constructed by tunnelling but was dug out and then roofed over. It is possibly the shallowest railway tunnel in the UK. At one point, the top of the brick arch is less than two feet underground.
At the time this photograph was taken, 2003 and its sister vehicle 2001, were the last of the iconic blue and white liveried T68 trams operating on the Metrolink system. Significant as the T68s were the first of Britain's "second generation" trams to run on city streets.