Dudley Canal Trust grew out of the Dudley Canal Tunnel Preservation Society, formed in 1963 to stop British Railways sealing the Tipton portal of the Dudley Tunnel; the trust took its current name in 1970. Its trading arm runs daily boat trips from the Park Head site on Birmingham New Road, taking passengers through the tunnel's caverns and basins, including the limestone workings once mined here. Longer open-water cruises head onto the surrounding canals and, on selected weekend dates, a two-tunnel tour combines locks, tunnels and a stop at the Bumble Hole nature reserve and Cobb's Engine House. As a registered charity, income from trips, the shop and catering supports the tunnel's conservation. It is the only operator running boats through this tunnel system, distinct from the private narrowboat hire firms elsewhere on the canal network.
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