Nestled above a railway tunnel, built into the side of the South Down hills, is an imposing Gothic folly evocatively referred to as Clayton Tunnel North Portal. Originally constructed in 1841, the folly was part of the railway tunnel construction linking the then up-and-coming seaside town of Brighton to London.
For three years, over 6,000 men toiled endlessly to dig the mile-and-a-half long tunnel through the chalk hills. So why was the folly built after the tunnel was constructed? No one really knows the true answer, but there are a few speculations. Back in the 1800's, steam train travel was a relatively new technology and one that a number of people were fearful of. Thus, some claim the folly was built to "reassure" passengers about to enter the tunnel for the first time that they weren't about to descend into the depths of Hell. Others claim it was built as a monument to the feat of engineering and to the men that worked to build the tunnel underneath 270 feet of rock. The most plausible answer however, was that the folly was built to appease the local land owner to allow the tunnel to be dug in the first place.
A cottage was added to the top of the folly in 1849 and it was in here that the signalman / tunnel keeper lived with his family. The daily routine consisted of walking the length of the tunnel, lighting the oil lamps along it's length to guide the trains through. Today the oil lamps are a thing of the past but over 350 trains pass underneath the cottage each day. Despite this, residents of the cottage report that it is surprisingly quiet and peaceful, "like being in the eye of a hurricane."
And it wouldn't seem proper that a Gothic folly should exist without a good amount of supernatural goings-on: a signalling failure in 1861 resulted in the infamous Clayton Tunnel Rail Crash causing the death of 23 people and to this day, visitors still report sightings of two ghostly figures walking hand-in-hand into the entrance of the tunnel.
Carnegie Mellon University students painted a fence for 70 years, with the Guinness Book of World Records calling it "the most painted object in the world" with six inches of paint covering it. It would collapse under the weight of all those coats in 1993, but a new concrete fence was built to replace it. Today, students carry on the tradition of painting the Fence at night.
Fences used to surround a bridge over a ravine on the property when the Carnegie Institute of Technology was established in Pittsburgh in 1900. The bridge was a popular meeting place for students at the time. Further construction would lead to the ravine being filled in over the early years of the school, and the bridge and its fences no longer being necessary. To commemorate the favored meeting spot, the graduating Class of 1923 built a picket fence on the site to keep tradition alive. However, school officials decided that it was an eyesore and should be brought down. The night before the fence was to come down, a fraternity painted it with a party announcement, and due to the fence's central location on campus, it was the largest party in school history. The administration yielded, and the Fence continued to be a billboard for student groups, becoming covered with layer upon layer of paint.
The painting would continue for 70 more years until it collapsed under the weight of its painted layers in 1993. To carry on the tradition, a steel-reinforced concrete fence was built on the site, and students continue to paint it to this day. Tradition dictates that the Fence must only be painted at night, from midnight to 6 AM, in its entirety, using only brushes. If a group wants to keep the message up over a few days, the Fence must be guarded around the clock with at least two students. The Fence has once again accumulated four inches of paint covering it, catching up to the record set by the old Fence one layer at a time.
IHG Rewards is running a super generous free nights promotion. At least it’s super-generous for some, the specific offers a member will get vary. But the base offer is pretty good where three Holiday Inn nights booked carefully can be turned into two free nights at any Intercontinental Hotels Group property in the world. Regarding […]
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Last October, American Airlines announced a new nonstop daily flight between Dallas and Hong Kong, which launched this June. This route was incredibly exciting to me on many levels:
-- Hong Kong is possibly my favorite city in the world
-- It's operated by a Boeing 777-300ER, which features American's new first and business class products, making it the only route to Asia where that's the case
-- I love being an Executive Platinum with American since I get eight systemwide upgrades just for achieving the status, and there's no better use of those than American's longest route
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This offer has been around since 2012, but I don’t think I’ve written about it since then. Most readers probably already have Delta Skymiles accounts, but there are always new readers and folks just getting into the hobby. Overall I don’t recommend focusing on the Skymiles program, but if you’re hub captive in Atlanta, Detroit, […]
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