Paul Terry wrote:
In message , Bruce
writes

I like the Rotherhithe Tunnel. It is a museum piece. I like the
small diameter and the very sharp bends - this was designed for the
horse and cart after all.

The sharp bends being partly to stop horses from bolting had they been
able to see daylight at the far end of the tunnel.

But I always thought it was very short-sighted of the LCC not to take
better account of mechanised transport when they built it. After all,
motor buses were introduced before work on the tunnel started, and by
the time it opened (in 1908) horse buses had only another three years to
go. Similarly, car ownership was becoming less rare at the start of the
20th century (first London-Brighton run in 1896, RAC founded in 1897,
etc).


Perhaps the LCC was deterred by the very high cost of the curved cast
iron tunnel linings needed to achieve radiused bends? It would have
been cheaper to build straight tunnels between shafts with sharp bends
at the shaft positions, which is what they did.