for extras, but Forster was not alone in miscalculating costs, as the company had experienced similar problems with projects supervised by an engineer as eminent at Bateman. By 1898, reservoirs at Swinburn and Colt Crag had been completed, and a new reservoir at Catcleugh was in progress. The water was conveyed to Hallington by pipelines and aqueducts, and when flows from there to Whittle Dean exceeded per day, the aqueducts overflowed with a corresponding loss of water. The company looked at building a new pipeline with a capacity of per day, but when they presented a bill to Parliament they had decided on a new tunnel, running parallel to the existing tunnel near Ryal, into which water would be fed by a pipeline from the Hallington reservoir. The Act also allowed them to build a narrow gauge railway from Matfen, at the eastern end of the tunnel, to Wylam, on the River Tyne, via Whittle Dene. An extension from there, across the river to connect to the North Eastern Railway was also authorised, and the bill passed through Parliament unopposed, becoming an Act of Parliament in August 1898. A working site was established at the eastern end of the tunnel, with huts, offices, a canteen, spoil heaps and sidings for the railway. The work was managed by a Resident Engineer called Chamberlain, who presented reports to meetings of the directors. Two shafts were built, allowing work to continue on six faces, but the works were lit by electricity, and the company spent £1,000 on drilling equipment from Schram & Co, which was powered by compressed air. A third shaft was later opened near the eastern end, providing eight faces for tunnelling. The tunnel was some long, and with so few shafts, boreholes were drilled down from the surface into the headings to check on its alignment. By 1903, one-third of the tunnel had been completed, and it was finished in 1905. One unfortunate consequence of the work was that the tunnel cut through the source of the spring that supplied Matfen village with water, and the company had to provide a new source. Once the works were completed, the railway between Matfen and Whittle Dene was lifted. The church at Ryal contains a memorial to those who died during the construction of the tunnel. The aqueduct from West Hallington reservoir consistently suffered from leakage, and this was eventually solved by