I must say that I'm not big on railway explores but I do enjoy a good, dark tunnel and Miley in Preston is certainly that!
Here's a bit of the history of the railway company who built the Miley Tunnel, condensed from an article I found in Wikipedia...
The Preston and Longridge Railway Company was set up in 1836 and they opened a 6½-mile single-track line on the 1st. May 1840, with crude passenger facilities at Longridge, Grimsargh and Deepdale Street in Preston. In 1846, the Fleetwood, Preston and West Riding Junction Railway Company was set up. It had an ambitious plan to link Fleetwood on the Lancashire coast to Leeds and Bradford in Yorkshire. It would link the existing Preston and Wyre Joint Railway to the Longridge line in Preston, and build a new line from Grimsargh via Ribchester, Hurst Green and Clitheroe to Skipton, where it would join the proposed Leeds and Bradford Extension Railway. The line would give Lancashire passengers access to the spa towns of Harrogate and Knaresborough, and beauty spots such as Bolton Abbey. Reciprocally, it would give Yorkshire passengers access to the seaside resorts of Fleetwood and Blackpool. Freight trains would carry cattle from Craven Valley, and stone from quarries near Clitheroe as well as from Longridge. Stonyhurst College would be within a mile of the line and would be able to use it to bring in supplies as well as pupils. The line originally ran horse drawn carriages but it was adapted for steam and the first steam-hauled train ran on Whit Monday 1848. In 1850, a double-track extension was built connecting to the existing line a few hundred yards east of the Deepdale Street terminus. The line passed via the 862-yard Miley Tunnel under the north part of Preston and connected to the Preston and Wyre Joint Railway very close to that line’s original terminus at Maudlands. The extension was initially used for goods only but in 1856 Miley Tunnel was opened to passengers, with new stations at each end, at Deepdale Bridge on Deepdale Road, and at Maudland Bridge. The original Deepdale Street terminus was closed to passengers but continued to be used for goods. In June 1889, a private branch line was opened northwards from Grimsargh to Whittingham Mental Asylum two miles away. As well as supplies, hospital staff and visitors were carried free of charge in converted goods brake vans. As many as twelve trains per day were timed to connect with passenger trains at Grimsargh. The hospital line continued to operate long after the main branch closed to passengers in 1930, eventually closing on 29th. June 1957. The line to Longridge remained open to goods traffic until November 1967. Goods traffic continued to use part of the line as far as the Courtaulds factory at Red Scar, until the last train worked by class 25 diesel, number 25 142 on Friday 8th. February 1980.The track through Miley Tunnel, though rusty and overgrown, still exists. Trampower UK are planning now to use the line from the Miley Tunnel portal to Ribbleton, and eventually to provide a service on the line from the M6 Junction 31A into Preston city centre.
There is a legend locally that the tunnel is haunted by the ghost of a young woman who fell out of a carriage and under the wheels of the train as it passed through the tunnel. She shares her "haunt" with the spirits of numerous Victorian children who are supposed to have died labouring on the tunnel excavation. Children and teenagers in the area will dare each other to walk the tunnel but personally the only lady I saw in Miley Tunnel was of the bare, naked, photographic variety, a picture from a casually discarded, spotty teenager's porno mag...
Access to Miley Tunnel is very easy indeed, via a car park at the Preston end, or down the cutting side from waste land at the Deepdale end. The tunnel is not continuous, but is actually several tunnels, in places open to the skies. About a third of the way along from the Deepdale end two tunnels are actually joined together underground by steel girders and concrete. This is rather unusual as the original masonry arches of both tunnel portals are still readily apparent and it looks as though the footpath or road over one of the two tunnels could still be accessed with appropriate climbing gear as there appears to be a void beneath the bridge work.
On with the pictures!
If you wish to see a bigger version of any photo then click it and it will open in a new window...
