level crossings over public roads. The line was to be single throughout, except at stations. The terrain was difficult, and due to the limited power of locomotives at the time, the line was built with two rope-worked inclined planes. One was at Bagworth; on a gradient of 1 in 29 it was self-acting, loaded wagons descending pulling up empty wagons. Originally it was to have been powered by a stationary steam engine. The top level was the summit of the line at an altitude of 565 feet (172m). The engine was built by the Horseley Coal and Iron Company., and was equipped with a very early example of a piston valve. The other was near Swannington, on a gradient of 1 in 17 against the load The line was standard gauge, with fish-bellied rails on half-round oak cross-sleepers, but longitudinal timbers were used in Glenfield Tunnel. Construction began almost immediately but soon ran into trouble, particularly with the tunnel. Initial boring had suggested that it would not need a lining. However, it turned out that about would be through sand, requiring much more expensive construction, and in fact doubling the estimated cost of the tunnel. During its construction, on 5 April 1831, one of the contractors, Daniel Jowett, fell down a working shaft and was killed. Three separate contractors gave up their contracts and had to be replaced. The novelty of a tunnel attracted the interest of local people and in March 1832 temporary gates were placed at the entrances "so as to keep out intruders on Sundays until the permanent gates can be put up". Opening and early operation First formal journey A formal opening of the first part of the line took place on 17 July 1832; a passenger journey for proprietors and directors and their friends only, ran from the West Bridge terminus in Leicester to the summit level at Staunton Road crossing, a distance of 11 miles 55 chains (19 km). The inaugural train was drawn by the locomotive Comet and consisted of an open wagon specially covered in for use of the directors, the company's only open second-class carriage and ten new coal wagons with improvised seats, conveying in all about 400 passengers. It left West Bridge at 10:00 and reached Bagworth at 11:00 "A slight delay was caused by the engine chimney striking the roof of the tunnel at a point where the platelayers