Tomorrow is the last of the 2010 Heritage Open Days and while searching through for something to do this weekend I spotted Clayton Tunnel North Portal on the list.
(c) Aaron Concannon. Some rights reserved.
By strange coincidence I finished my MSc 13 years ago tomorrow and my dissertation was based on the Clayton Tunnel accident. As Jo rightly points out, it’s not really that freaky a coincidence, but why let logic spoil a good story! My project was basically about modelling the accident, which is nicely explained by this more recent poster. After digging around some old files, I discovered a diagram of the tunnel:
…some screen shots of some exciting grey telegraph dials:
…and a bunch of other images; thirteen years on and .gifs are still going strong. The actual dissertation on the other hand was a little more tricky to look at. After several unsuccessful attempts with Microsoft Word Viewer, Lotus Symphony and Google Docs, OpenOffice finally did a passable job opening the ancient Word format:
Being able to step in and take on an agent’s role is one of the best ways to gain understanding about a system. In the Clayton Tunnel accident, and I suspect many other situations, there are interactions between agents that depend on the other agents having a different perspective on the model. Brown and Killick provide an excellent example of this. At one point in particular the difference between their views of the world results in the last mistake leading up to the accident. As far as Killick knows there are two trains in the tunnel whereas Brown is only expecting there to be one. Now when Killick sends, “is tunnel clear?”, to Brown as a train leaves the tunnel, Brown relies, “tunnel clear”. The modeler is omniscient about the model and hence can’t step in and act on behalf of agents with a limited view of the world without bringing with them knowledge the agent shouldn’t have: there’s a conflict of interests. This limits the modeler’s ability to accurately reproduce an agent’s behaviour.
I wonder if the Open Document Format will prove to be any more future proof. (I still have an original print out just in case!) I keep thinking it would be interesting to recreate the project in Second Life or Open Sim at some point. Maybe I’ll give it a go if I get a chance, although I would be surprised if either of those are around in the same form in 10 years time, unlike the tunnel.
Sadly the Clayton Tunnel tour was fully booked so we’ll have to find something else to do instead. Maybe it’ll be open again next year.
Notes from a small field 
Just to let you know that, as resident of the tunnel cottage, I plan to take part in the Open Day again next September (2011). If in the meantime you want to come down for a tour you would be most welcome — just drop me an email to arrange a date. I normally hold small tours every couple of months.
Hi David,
We were very sorry to miss your talk last night. Not surprising, it had sold out! We are a Brighton-based couple, but are considering moving to Clayton, and were wondering if you have any tours planned of your amazing place? I heard that you also moved from Brighton too? We’re just familiarising ourselves with the place, and putting some feelers out. Thanks for your time, and hoping you do another tour soon! Jess & Simon
Jess, thank you for your message. Please contact me via [email] and we can discuss further.
Hello David
I’ve been hearing about your brilliant tours and would be grateful to know when the next one is. I moved to Hassocks just over two years ago, and am still finding out about this lovely neck of the woods.
I note this article was several years ago, so hope this is still the right way to get in touch with you.
Many thanks,
Kind regards
Liz Edmunds
Hi Liz, I’m not sure David is likely to find your message here. It does look like he’s running tours again for the heritage open days this year but you’ll have to be quick since you need to book by 7th September. https://www.heritageopendays.org.uk/visiting/event/clayton-tunnel-north-portal1
It’s well worth going along if you can.
Regards, James
Many thanks, James – I’ll contact him today.
Rgds
Liz
Hello James
Just tried to book and it’s sold out for both days – I’m so disappointed. Is there any other way I can contact David? I heard he does do talks for small local groups.
Rgds
Liz
Hi Liz, sorry to hear you didn’t manage to get on a tour. There are email and postal addresses on the http://www.claytontunnel.com/ site. I hope you manage to arrange something.
Regards, James