Summit Tunnel in England is one of the world's oldest railway tunnels. It was constructed between 1838 and 1841 by the Manchester and Leeds Railway Company to provide a direct line between Leeds and Manchester. When built, Summit Tunnel was the longest railway tunnel in the world. The tunnel, between Littleborough and Walsden near Todmorden, was bored beneath the Pennines, a natural obstruction to most forms of traffic. The tunnel is just over long and carries two standard-gauge tracks in a single horseshoe-shaped tube, approximately wide and high. Summit Tunnel was designed by Thomas Longridge Gooch, assisted by Barnard Dickinson. Progress on its construction was slower than anticipated, largely because excavation was more difficult than anticipated. On 1 March 1841, Summit Tunnel was opened by Sir John Frederick Sigismund Smith; it had cost of £251,000 and 41 workers had died. On 20 December 1984, the Summit Tunnel fire occurred. There were no deaths and five months later, the tunnel reopened after repairs. The tunnel has remained in continuous use with little interruption since it opened. Development Summit Tunnel, between Littleborough and Todmorden is the highest section of the long Manchester and Leeds Railway, which was built parallel to the Rochdale Canal. When built, it was the world's longest railway tunnel and a critical element of the first trans-Pennine line. The tunnel was designed by the civil engineer Thomas Longridge Gooch, a collaborator of George Stephenson and his son Robert Stephenson on several railway schemes. Between spring 1835 and 1844, Gooch was the engineer for the Manchester and Leeds Railway on behalf of George Stephenson, who was working on other projects. In September 1837, during Gooch's tenure, work commenced boring the tunnel. Gooch was assisted by Barnard Dickinson. When speaking about the tunnel, Dickinson exclaimed: "This tunnel will defy the rage of tempest, fire, war or wasting age". The tunnel is long and tall; the horseshoe-shaped bore is wide and accommodates a pair of tracks. The tunnel falls on a gradient of 1-in-330 southwards (towards ). It was driven by hand through shale, coal and sandstone, after which the walls were lined with six courses of brick, using more than 23 million bricks. The bricks were handmade locally and up to 60,000 were laid in a single day. Mortar, commonly referred to as Roman cement, was used for its impermeability to water. It has been estimated that about 8,100 tonnes (dry