Dudley Corporation became the first local authority to finance canal restoration when they announced that they would fund half of the repair costs for the tunnel branch, as well as landscaping the derelict land at Park Head, around the southern end of the tunnel. The fact that the tunnel remained open also meant that they did not have to spend millions of pounds on a storm water drainage system. The canals at both ends of the tunnel were dredged, as were the basins within the tunnels, resulting in the removal of some 50,000 tons of mud and debris. The locks to the south of the tunnel were restored, with help from British Waterways and Dudley Borough Council, and the first boat reached the tunnel portal. At Easter 1973, the tunnel was reopened, an event that drew 300 boats to the celebrations, and some 14,000 visitors. The trust began running trip boats into the tunnel, which were moved by legging, but as this was very tiring for the crews, the boat was converted to use battery power in 1975, and became the first electric powered narrow boat to carry passengers in the country. In 1977 the Manpower Services Commission announced its Job Creation Scheme, through which they funded various projects which would create employment. One project that benefitted from this was the first phase of the Black Country Museum project at the northern portal of the tunnel. A short canal arm was restored, and the electric trip boat was stabled within the museum complex. In August 1977, the Dudley Canal Trust celebrated the fact that 25,000 visitors had been carried into the tunnel by the trip boat since 1964, and on 1 October 1977, phase one of the museum opened, Subsidence some from the south end of the tunnel resulted in it closing again in 1979, although boat trips into the caverns from the museum were not affected by this. It took over a decade to find the funds to repair the damage, but grants from the European Regional Development Fund and other agencies enabled the original brick lining to be removed from a section, to be replaced by a concrete tube cast in situ. The work cost £730,000, and was part of a larger project to improve towpaths in the area, with the total cost being £1.8 million. The restored tunnel was reopened in 1992, 200 years after it first