According to working drawings, Mossdale Head Tunnel is 246 yards (225 metres) long. Excavation work began in December 1875 and the tunnel was finished in May 1877. It was constructed from a single working face (proceeding from east to west), so no vertical access shafts were required. As the tunnel is relatively short, no ventilation shafts were needed either (although one is shown on the ‘Contract Plans’). The two tunnel entrances are constructed from stone. The trackbed passes through the tunnel on a continuous gradient of 1:70 (descending from west to east).
Source: An extract from a set of land plans drawn at a scale of ‘2 chains to an inch’ by the Midland Railway Company in 1911-12.
Please note that there are no public rights of way leading to Mossdale Tunnel and there is no public right of access to any part of the former trackbed.