In Pictures: Brunel's Thames Tunnel

By Nicolas Chinardet Last edited 168 months ago
In Pictures: Brunel's Thames Tunnel
16623_thamestunnel1.jpg
16623_thamestunnel2.jpg
In Wapping station
In Wapping station
In Rotherhither station
In Rotherhither station
(almost) halfway
(almost) halfway
The new surfacing of the wall (1995) retains the original design
The new surfacing of the wall (1995) retains the original design
a section of the tunnel has not been restored
a section of the tunnel has not been restored

To mark the end of the EAST Festival, and as the East London Line prepares to re-open after two years, the London Transport Museum and the Brunel Museum offered about 2000 members of the public a unique opportunity to turn Brunel's tunnel under the Thames back to its original pedestrian use for two days only (food and trinket stalls, musical Coldstream Guards, banquets and prostitutes sadly weren't included).

If you missed the chance to get a ticket to what was probably the most popular geeky event of the week-end, or, if like one of our editors, the anticipation of the visit got a little bit too much and you turned up on the wrong day, here is an opportunity to catch up on the action with a few pictures taken from the bowels of the London earth on Saturday.To the bewilderment of the locals, hundreds were seen queuing outside Rotherhithe station (one end of what is considered the first tunnel known successfully to have been constructed underneath a navigable river) in the hope for return tickets but many bloggers made it down there: Diamond Geezer, Ianvisits, 853, The Great Wen and Going Underground (for a further selection).More pictures by the author are available on flickr here.

Last Updated 14 March 2010