Tyne Pedestrian And Cyclist Tunnels

The Tyne Pedestrian and Cyclist Tunnels are two narrow parallel tunnels beneath the River Tyne, each 900 feet long, constructed between 1947 and 1951. They are approached on each side of the river by deep double escalators and lifts housed in circular entrance buildings with adjacent lift buildings. The escalator tunnels measure 200 feet each.

Entrance Buildings

Each single-storey circular building is constructed of red brick on a blue brick plinth, topped with a shallow curved concrete shell dome covered in asphalt. The main entrance comprises a double opening with square central and side piers. To either side are tripartite windows with central doors providing access to machinery and service points. There are two further tripartite windows to the entrance hall and six similar windows at the rear, the central pair fitted with louvered shutters.

Lift Houses

Each square building is constructed of red brick with chamfered corners and a flat concrete roof. Lower square projections extend from each face: the front projection features square columns forming an open porch, while the side and rear projections have single boarded openings. Above a rear projection is a louvered ventilation opening. Full-height walls have replaced the original low walls that were surmounted by metal balustrades.

Interior Features

Entrance Halls

Each entrance hall has a tiled floor and tiled green dado. A pair of very deep escalators features brushed aluminium decoration. Rooms on either side of the escalators contain associated original machinery, including two Waygood-Otis electric motors.

Escalators

The four escalators are original 1951 Waygood-Otis escalators, each with 306 wooden steps. They are examples of the heavy-duty MH type, manufactured from 1931 to 1961, designed for rises of up to 27.5 metres—the same type as 108 escalators installed to serve the London Underground.

The steps are metal-backed five-ply (17 millimetre) birch plywood board with 29 maple wood cleats (20 by 15 millimetres). At each side of the step is a metal fire cleat and brush (fitted later) to prevent cigarette ends and matches falling down the clearance between the steps and the skirting board. The risers are metal-backed shaped American oak boards (approximately 28 by 225 millimetres). This type of step was patented by Otis in 1928.

At either side of each step is a seven-ply (21 millimetre) plywood skirting board, sectioned to run the full length of the escalator and backed by a steel angle. The handrails are made of fabric-bonded rubber with steel tape inserts and vulcanised joints, running on a metal handrail guide supported above the decking.

Unlike the polished plywood balustrading, decking, and side-panels characteristic of the MH type, the Tyne escalators' corresponding elements are covered with green marbled linoleum secured by aluminium framing. At each escalator entrance landing at the upper and lower ends, the balustrading bulkheads are in brushed cast aluminium. The vertical ends incorporate the switch-off key escutcheons, barrier chains, and the escalator number. At the upper ends, colour enamel-filled bronze county shields for Northumberland and Durham by Martyn & Co. Ltd are displayed. The two-metre length of landing balustrading is clad in brushed steel panelling, incorporating a Waygood-Otis circular logo badge.

The wooden steps of the Tyne Pedestrian and Cyclist Tunnel escalators are the same design as the earlier all-wood L, M, and MX Type Otis escalators.

Tunnels

The pedestrian and cycle tunnels are arched and clad in tiles: green at dado level with a dark green strip, and cream tiles above. At the centre of the tunnels, tile signage indicates "County of Northumberland" and "County of Durham".

Historical Context

Pedestrian, cycle, and road tunnels beneath the River Tyne were first proposed in 1920, but the scheme was not seriously taken up by Durham and Northumberland County Councils until 1937. A Tyne Tunnel Act was passed in 1946, leading to the construction of the pedestrian and cyclists' tunnels between 1947 and 1951. Restrictions on capital expenditure meant that the road tunnel was not begun until 1961 to 1967.

The Tyne Pedestrian and Cyclist Tunnels were constructed to provide access primarily for the large numbers of people who worked at the shipyards, lead works, and chemical works lining the River Tyne—industries integral to the economic and social development of Tyneside. An average of 17,000 people travelled through the tunnels each day to get to work, peaking at 20,000. The steady decline of industry, especially shipbuilding, greatly reduced the tunnels' usage.

The tunnels were designed by Durham and Northumberland County Council's Engineer's Departments. The civil engineering contractor was Charles Brand & Son Ltd of London, working under the supervision of Dr (later Sir) David Anderson of Mott, Hay & Anderson, Consulting Civil Engineers of London. The resident engineer at Howdon was Mr J. Kell. Ceramic tiling was supplied by Carter & Co., Poole, founded in 1873, which became part of Pilkington Tiles in 1964.

The escalators are original 1951 installations by Waygood-Otis. R. Waygood and Co. was formed in 1842 and by 1906 was the United Kingdom's largest manufacturer of lifts. The London-based company was acquired by Otis Elevation Co. in 1914 to 1916, becoming Waygood-Otis.

The tunnels were opened by Alfred Barnes, Minister of Transport, on 24 July 1951, apparently incomplete, and were promoted as Tyneside's contribution to the Festival of Britain, whose celebrations were held in London between 3 May and 30 September 1951. There are similarities between the reinforced concrete roofs of the rotunda buildings and that of the main pavilion at the Festival of Britain, the Dome of Discovery, designed by Ralph Tubbs.

At their opening, the tunnels were the longest subterranean passages and the first purpose-built cycle tunnel in the United Kingdom. They were also the first to be used by both cyclists and pedestrians. Today they remain as one of four purpose-built pedestrian tunnels under rivers still operating in the United Kingdom.

Following the model of St Anna Tunnel, Antwerp (1931 to 1933), the engineers used a similar system of connecting the tunnels to their surface buildings via two escalators and a lift at either end. This differed from earlier tunnels such as Greenwich (1902) and Woolwich (1912), which relied on steps and lifts to provide access. The Tyne Tunnels are the only pedestrian tunnels beneath a river provided with escalators, and those in the cyclist tunnel were the first designed especially for cyclists, incorporating special safety features.

At their opening, these escalators were the longest single-span escalators in Western Europe and the highest vertical-rise escalators in the world. Today they are the longest working wooden escalators in the world; the remaining other five examples are of a shorter form.