(Photo 13 © Twiggles, photos 15-16 © Neil Cholmondeley Collection)

Like its sibling neighbour Kettleness, Sandsend is a tunnel which never should have been. When the Whitby, Redcar & Middlesbrough Union Railway began work on its Loftus-Whitby route in 1871 - five years after obtaining its enabling Act - the plan was to build the line along the top of the cliffs. Work ground to a halt in 1874 when the contractor went into liquidation; when it resumed under the auspices of the North Eastern Railway, the original formation was deemed too dangerous - some of it having collapsed into the sea - and the track was re-routed via two tunnels further inland. The line opened with little ceremony on 3rd December 1883.

Sandsend, by far the longer of these tunnels, is 1,652 yards in length and was built to accommodate a single line. It is predominantly straight but the last ~300 yards incorporate a curve to the north. It boasts five shafts, all of which are capped. No evidence of them is visible above ground. Shafts 2 and 4 are of a tighter diameter but do have service galleries below them. These emerge on the cliff face and allowed spoil from the original workings to be tipped onto the shore for clearance by the sea.

The northern portal was always problematic and had been strengthened using rings of bullhead rail. Unfortunately these could no longer take the strain and around 6 feet of the roof collapsed at the portal early in 2008, 51 years after the last train passed through it.

The tunnel is very wet in parts, resulting in spalling of the brickwork, some of which is serious. There is thick orange sludge for about 50 yards to the north of shaft three. Close to the south portal, a considerable bulge in the east wall will result in a minor collapse in the not-too-distant future.