Features - Tunnels Under City Station

Johnny39 · Post by **Johnny39** » Wed 28 Jul, 2010 7:57 pm

Don't know if this has been covered on an earlier thread but I once heard a story about an elephant being buried under the Empire Arcade. It was supposed to have died whilst appearing at the theatre. Am I alone in hearing this story?

book · Post by **book** » Sat 13 Aug, 2011 12:56 am

Taken from the Leeds Author who will be publishing - Tales of Ducky & Boob, Summer MischiefTwo boys growing up in Leeds in the 1960sSewersWe met after breakfast and decided to go to the bottom of the ridge and over the main road but we went under the road through a tunnel to the beginning of the sewer tunnels. The sewer tunnels were unknown to us, this was new territory, adventure was beckoning and we never turned down an opportunity to venture into new places and these were mostly places that we were not supposed to be in. We walked through the entrance of the tunnel astride a small trickle of water that run down the middle of a large circular corrugated pipe, this made the tunnel difficult to walk in but we made our way through it at a fair pace. It seemed to go on for miles, we stopped every time we felt tired and leaned against the arches that helped support the tunnelling. A stream fed the initial tunnelling with water that was only a trickle. Soon we started to see other tunnels with flowing water pouring into the main tunnel. These other tunnels were sited every so often on either side of the main tunnel. The main tunnel was big and we could stand upright, the main tunnel started to become more full of water as the other tunnels were feeding it with water but we still walked astride of the flowing water and ventured further and further down the main tunnel, the light behind us shining in from the start of the tunnel was becoming smaller and smaller. It was getting darker and darker as we moved further down the tunnel. Eventually we reached a roundabout system made up of water tunnels all pouring into one massive tunnel that was lower than the rest that poured into it; there was an island in the middle with a sprinkler system that circulated over what looked like coke cinders. We jumped from the side of the tunnel onto the circulating sprinklers and rode round in circles, gradually moving from the edges of the sprinkler arms into the middle where we could swop from one arm to another. After a while we got off the sprinkler by moving to the end of the arm and jumping back onto the tunnel bank. We moved down a level to another tunnel, this was a massive tunnel with water flowing faster down the bottom of the circular tunnel, there was still enough room to walk legs astride the water that flowed fast down the tunnel that gradually declined further and further. We came to some steel ladders that were vertical and were on either side of the tunnel, the ladders were fastened to the corrugated tunnel by big brackets with bolts pinned through them to secure them to the tunnel walls. We looked up and the ladders went way up out of site, they were bolted all the way up and the corrugated tunnels were narrower than the sewer tunnels. We started to climb the ladder, moving further and further up until we couldn’t see the bottom rung, there was still a massive ascent up to the top, we climbed and climbed for a long time, the tunnel was narrow and we stopped for a rest and leaned on the walls of the tunnel, eventually we reached the top. After a short rest at the top of the ladder we pushed up a round metal cover plate and we were in a car park in the city centre!!! We climbed out of the hole and replaced the metal cover, we headed for the entrance to the car park where we met a parking attendant who questioned us as to where we had come from, we remained silent, he pursued his line of questioning but we remained tight lipped, he couldn’t figure out how we had got into the car park as there was only one entrance and that would mean passing him on the way in, he took us to his hut but a man in a car was having problems exiting the car park so he went to assist and we made off towards the metal cover, lifted it and down the hole we went, he spotted us pulling the cover over our heads but we were too fast for him and we descended the ladder faster than we had gone up it, we saw him looking down the hole and shouting abuse at us, we responded with saying that he was too fat to get down, he was fat and we knew he could not fit down the hole, we made it to the bottom very fast.

Post by **chameleon** » Mon 03 Oct, 2011 6:14 pm

A piece from the YEP with a short video giving a simple but worthwhile overview of part of the vastness which lies below the rail station, with more to come -http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/n ... _1_3834002

uncle mick · Post by **uncle mick** » Tue 04 Oct, 2011 5:15 pm

YEP video-Below Leeds City Stationhttp://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/lat ... _1_3836851

Cardiarms · Post by **Cardiarms** » Tue 04 Oct, 2011 5:33 pm

chameleon wrote: A piece from the YEP with a short video giving a simple but worthwhile overview of part of the vastness which lies below the rail station, with more to come - I wonder if the bit 30 seconds in when the fella says 'the river ran through before being diverted in the 30's', if it's the Kings Mill goit that he's referring to?

jim · Post by **jim** » Tue 04 Oct, 2011 5:55 pm

Afraid not, Cardiarms. It refers to the "missing" arches of the river itself after it leaves the dam. The rest of the film is shot in the Signal and Telegraph area, which I covered in the "Leeds Railway Station's "Lost World"" thread, page 5 et. seq. One of the the old hydraulic lift shafts makes a brief appearance, and is seen in one of the article's photographs. Another shows the bricked off stairs to Platform 12/13 at the end of the old pre-1965 subway. They were bricked off well before my time - and I clean forgot about them, so made no mention of them in my "grand tour"!

Post by **chameleon** » Tue 04 Oct, 2011 6:22 pm

jim wrote: Afraid not, Chameleon. It refers to the "missing" arches of the river itself after it leaves the dam. The rest of the film is shot in the Signal and Telegraph area, which I covered in the Leeds Railway Station's "Lost World" thread. One of the the old hydraulic lift shafts makes a brief appearance, and is seen in one of the articles photographs. Another shows the bricked off stairs to Platform 12/13. They were bricked off well before my time - and I clean forgot about them, so made no mention of them in my "grand tour"! Thinkd you mean our friend Cardi - but no matter Yes there were a few bits which didn't tie in very well with what we know weren't there? But at least another perspective and perhaps openings for more discussion. We'll wait to see what else transpires in articles to come.

jim · Post by **jim** » Tue 04 Oct, 2011 6:48 pm

Sorry Chameleon, I've corrected myself. I was getting over-excited again.

Post by **chameleon** » Tue 04 Oct, 2011 10:30 pm

jim wrote: Sorry Chameleon, I've corrected myself. I was getting over-excited again. The pills will help lad

Post by **chameleon** » Tue 04 Oct, 2011 10:51 pm

PART 2 today -http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/n ... 1_3836851A little more detail in this one but referring back through this thread and others about the arches complex will fill many gaps and help pinpoint dome of the locations.A worthy and appreciated note too about Secret Leeds and its valuable contribution to discovering and recording history and data about our local environment together with a contribution from our very own munki