The Colin Allbright Collection, Part I: Colwall Tunnel

Well, no sooner do I decide to stop updating this blog every week than someone comes up with me with a new supply of amazing photos. These pictures were taken by Colin Allbright in the late 1970s (or possibly early 1980s) and show the railway around Colwall Tunnel on what seems to have been a very nice summer's day! Colin himself writes:

'My Grandad, Albert Jordan was in the home guard. His platoon guarded the old tunnel during the war. As the Sarg in charge he decided one night to walk the entire tunnel to find no one was guarding the other end. Ever since he told that tale I wanted to see the tunnel myself and been a life long railway enthusiast I decided to record the line just in case I decided to make a model.'

Some of the angles in Colin's shots have now probably passed into history; the growth of trees and shrubs near the line has meant that many of these views are now obscured and may actually have been lost forever. The good news, however, is that there are plenty more shots in Colin's collection and so I will begin to upload those on a regular cycle for the next few weeks. Hopefully, this will give me some time to get out into the countryside to take some more of my own! I hope you enjoy them.

The tunnel portal at the eastern end of Colwall tunnel.

The disused original Colwall tunnel.

The view towards the tunnel with the ruins of a brick shed in view.

A view westwards along the tracks.

The reverse view back towards Malvern.

The pedestrian underpass at Fruitlands.