Editing Thames and Medway Canal (section)

===Sharing with the railway===

[[Image:Thames and Medway Canal.JPG|thumb|right|alt=Thames & Medway Canal|Thames and Medway canal in overgrown state, with railway line adjacent]]

From 1845 the newly built railway between Gravesend and Strood shared the tunnel with the canal, a single track resting partially on the towpath and partially on wooden stakes in the water.

<blockquote>The ride through the dreary tunnel with the dark waters of the canal beneath us, and an insecure chalk roof above our heads, enlivened as it is by occasional shrieks from the engine's vaporous lungs, and the unceasing rattle of the train, is apt to make one feel somewhat nervous; and the first glimpse of bright daylight that breaks upon us, relieves us from a natural anxiety as to the chances we run of being crushed by the fall of some twenty tons of chalk from above, or being precipitated into twenty feet of water beneath, with the doors of the carriages locked and no "Nautilus belt" around our waists and not even a child's [[caul]] in our pocket. This relief is however temporary, for the light only breaks in through a gap in the tunnel, and some more experienced traveller informs us we are only half out of it. However, our journey is brought to a close without any accident: and we embark on the steamer that is to deposit us at [[Chatham, Medway|Chatham]]. <br />
—William Orr, 1847<ref>Orr, William (London: 1847) ''Summer Excursions in the County of Kent along the River Thames and Medway'', quoted in Barnard, Derek (1999) [http://www.paulbb.org.uk/history/articles/one_leg_in_the_water.htm ''One Leg in the Water''.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070312222612/http://www.paulbb.org.uk/history/articles/one_leg_in_the_water.htm |date=12 March 2007 }} Accessed 2007-30-01Barnard's article includes a diagram of the tunnel with the railway suspended above it.</ref>
</blockquote>

In 1846 the canal company sold the tunnel to the [[South Eastern Railway (UK)|South Eastern Railway]] company, which filled the canal and laid a double railway track over it. This was part of the [[North Kent Line]]. The canal towing contractor's home was converted into the ticket office for [[Higham railway station, Kent|Higham railway station]].

Orr's fears of a chalk fall, however, were not unfounded. Over the years, there have been many roof falls, most small. But in December 1999 a fall near Strood derailed a train, fortunately without causing serious injuries (but leaving a hole in the ground in an orchard). Some 60% of the tunnel had by this date been lined: in 2004 it was closed to line the remainder and renew the track, reopening a year later on 17 January 2005.