"As I was thinking of these things I disappeared from the world indeed, going down a lighted spiral staircase which buries itself in the earth on the right bank of the Thames, opposite the Tower. I went down and down between two dingy walls until I found myself at the round opening of the gigantic iron tube, which seems to undulate like a great intestine in the enormous belly of the river. The inside of this tube presents the appearance of a subterranean corridor, of which the end is invisible."
Italian writer Edmondo De Amicis (1846–1908)
O túnel da torre, apesar de não muito conhecido, foi uma das primeiras passagens subterrâneas para trens do mundo. Foi muito importante por usar uma tecnologia inovadora, proposta de Marc Isambard Brunel, mais tarde utilizada na construção dos túneis do metrô.
O túnel foi construido para uso do transporte coletivo subterrâneo, porém só funcionou como tal durante 3 meses. Passou então a funcionar como passagem de pedestre até a ponte Tower Bridge ser construida; após isso o túnel foi vendido à London Hydraulic Company que, através da estação hidrelétrica de Wapping (a mesma do "capítulo" anterior), passou a utilizar o tunel como passagem de tubulação de água para abastecimento da região sul de Londres. Durante a Segunda Guerra Mundial o túnel sofreu grandes danos quando uma bomba foi arremessada no rio, perto da Torre.
Recentemente a nova estação do East London Overground Line em Rotherhithe é uma extensção da linha que passava pelo tunel Brunel e tem um museu dedicado a ele. Hoje em dia as tubulações transportam cabos da rede de telecomunicações e a entrada é a única coisa que ainda pode ser vista, uma pequena construção redonda com uma porta, perto da bilheteria da Torre de Londres.
The Tower Tunnel, although not very famous, was the first railway tunnel to be built in the world. It was important for using a new technology, by Marc Isambard Brunel, later used on the construction of the London tube.
It was built to run a passenger railway line but it only worked for 3 months.It then bacame a pedestrian subway until the Tower Bridge was built. After that the tunnel was sold to the London Hydraulic Company and from the Wapping Hydraulic Power Station (the one from the previous post , started to use the tunnel as water mains to bring water to South of London.
During the Second World War it sufered serious damage when there was some bombing on the river, near the Tower of London. Recently the new East London Oveground line is part of that old line and there is a museum specialy dedicated to this amazing engeniering structure. Currently though, comunication cables and equipments run throgh it and the only visible thing is the entrance, a litle round thing with a door near the the ticket office of the Tower of London.
During the Second World War it sufered serious damage when there was some bombing on the river, near the Tower of London. Recently the new East London Oveground line is part of that old line and there is a museum specialy dedicated to this amazing engeniering structure. Currently though, comunication cables and equipments run throgh it and the only visible thing is the entrance, a litle round thing with a door near the the ticket office of the Tower of London.
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