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Longbridge underground tunnels

When a youngster, not long after after WW2, I had a lapel badge which was roughly half an inch square in shape, colored blue with a silver 'wings' herald such as that used the Austin Motor Company. It had wording which said Austin Shadow Factory. I had often wondered what the shadow factory was: this thread has now, after some sixty years, told me. :friendly_wink:

Sadly the badge was lost many years ago.

There are many tunnels and underground sites throughout the United Kingdom. One of the most famous - and speculative - in that of Box Tunnel in Wiltshire on the London to South West England main line. There are also may sites on the coast and headlands of the country; one being fairly local to me.
 
great information what a great thread, i worked on the rail way by longbridge and always wondered what steel doors were doing in the embankment (access to the tunnels is the obvious answer)
just up from the station between grovely lane bridge and longbridge station.

regards
tommy
 
Hello, Im considering going down these tunnels with my mate. Is there an easy way to get down there? any information would be greatly apreciated, thanks
 
Can't help but found them pretty boring when I last walked them - boredom lifted by need to duck as the engines swung overhead.
 
I remember the tunnels at Longbridge. As an apprentice at the Austin Motor Co. 1960, we were sent to collect or deliver things from/to them sometimes. They also stored some of the prototype car bodies, made inhardboard etc., which were experimental designs for future vehicles. One these came onto the market later. The Austin Maxi. Fighter aircraft equipment was produced in the tunnels during the war. I don't think the tunnels extended over very great distances, i.e. not part of Anchor, the Birmingham underground system,
 
I've been watching the Longbridge site quickly being demolished since we moved to Rubery last year. All the tunnels have been back filled in as far as I can see, so I doubt anymore video/photo's will be gleaned from them. Shame, as it's one I wanted to see!!
 
In 1971, I was an engine designer and worked in the Engineering Block at the top of the Test Hill. Most lunch times, I and a couple of pals (Jim and Dick) would wander over to the canteen and then have half an hour to kill. We'd often rummage around in the skips near the development workshops. Amazing what THEY threw out! On one occasion, we explored one of the tunnels which I think we entered from somewhere in the vicinity of the canteen. We must have had a torch because we spent a good 30 mins down there. The tunnel we explored was used for storage and as we walked down, the stored items were under dust-sheets leaving a small passageway for access. Then we came across what were clearly complete cars beneath dust-sheets. The first one we looked at was apparently the millionth Austin ever produced. I recall it was painted in a sort of cream matt emulsion paint and was absolutely covered in signatures! The second car we 'found' was the pre-war Austin 7 Twin Cam racer designed by Murray Jamieson and Bill Appleby, mentioned in detail here https://www.austinmemories.com/page43/page43.html. Both were in a fairly dilapidateds tate, especially the little racing car. But we couldn't report our findings for fear of being accused of trespassing.

I can be accurate about when this story happened because I started at Longbridge in January 1970 and I know the Austin racer featured in the Austin 7's 50th year Celebrations in 1972 which I recall consisted of certain roads being closed around the Birmingham Bull-Ring to allow a parade of relevant cars to be demonstrated to the crowds. The relevance of this is that Lord Stokes, the incumbent boss of BLMC had an attitude of ignoring history and looking forward but when the company agreed to support the 50th Anniversary celebrations, they couldn’t get their hands on this little racer fast enough!

It was first taken down to the engine development shops (the workshops immediately on the right as you entered the factory through N-Gate). The job of getting it running again was given to a couple of the engineers down there, one of whom was a pal of mine known as 'little' Jeff Johnson (to distinguish him from my boss, the chief petrol engine designer, Geoff D Johnson). I think I'd already told little Jeff of our tunnel findings and he called me down when the car arrived in their workshops. They'd already tried to start it and all the external oil pipes had perished and oil was sprayed in every direction. So they removed the engine and dismantled it. I assume the rest of the car then went to the chassis development boys for renovation.

A few days later, Wes Hunt, the Petrol Engine Design manager, told me that my next job was to locate all the engine drawings for the little racer and to redraw as necessary, any detail drawings to enable new parts to be made. I managed to locate all the original drawings in our usual drawing store, some were signed by W Appleby, and drawn around thirty five years before. Being a specialist in cylinder heads and OHC valve-gear design, my eyes stood out on stalks as Little Jeff came up and left me with one of the inverted bucked tappets from this engine. It was HUGE! I'd guess that it was well over 2 inches in diameter which was massive for such a small capacity engine. To keep the tappets light, the skirt was as thin as an eggshell and was drilled with large holes. The valves, camshaft, pistons and con-rods were also replaced with new parts I recall.

Anyway, the engine was reassembled and put on a test bed to check it out and to give it a run before the Birmingham parade. By then the chassis had been renovated and the engine development boys finished the job by reinstalling the engine. My last memory of this little car at Longbridge is of it standing outside the engine development workshop doors for all to see looking as good as new. What a splendid sight compared to the leaking, corroded car we'd discovered in one of the Longbridge tunnels only a few months before.

What happened to this car? The very last I saw of it was in the Donington Park Museum a few years later where it was on loan as a display item. Who knows where it is today...
 
During WWII there was a fully equipped First Aid / Hospital Unit and ambulance station within the tunnels ... my Uncle John (as a member of St John's Ambulance) was stationed there throughout the war, while living nearby on the Bristol Road South ... he was also an Austin Aero line worker on the Hawker Hurricane engine production line in one of the tunnels and split his shifts between the two duties ... sadly John died in the 1990s having retired to the West Country.
 
Looking at the site of the "Flight Shed" today, there will be no more Hurricanes built there. With the piles of concrete the old boys that built it made sure it would not be demolished easily.
 
Visit to the tunnels in 2018

www.28dayslater.co.uk

Report - - Longbridge shadow tunnels.. Birmingham, September 2018 | Underground Sites

Me and man gone wrong decided to give the longbridge tunnels a little look. A few years back we stumbled on the east works tunnel entrance as we were looking for a way in the car plant. We had a quick look in but water was high, and we were not equipped. We said we would go back tothe east side...
www.28dayslater.co.uk www.28dayslater.co.uk
 
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