I can’t believe how long it’s been since anything new went up on the site. Not that we haven’t been to plenty of places, but what with moving house and all, I just haven’t made time for it. Anyway, thanks to all those who have shown an interest in the site and who have come back every now and again to see what’s new. I finally have something for you – a report and gallery from Pencaedrain tunnel, visited yesterday. Click here to go to the page.
Recent Posts
Recent Comments
- Green Godess on Pencader tunnel
- adrian on Some new shots inside Abernant tunnel
- David Jones on Gyfylchi tunnel
- Dai Heafield on Failed drift mine and the Strawberry Wall at Ynysybwl visited
- paul.s on Pencaedrain tunnel at Rhigos visited
Links
:: Sponsored Links ::
Nice pictures of PenCaeDrain! I’ve been into the tunnel several times – my first visit was nearly 30 years ago. The “mine” is very interesting but I came to the conclusion that it is either there for ventilation or for drainage. I’ve never measured it accurately but I believe that the “mine” dips down slightly along it’s entire length from the tunnel. Why you would need either a ventilation adit or a drainage adit in the tunnel I don’t know. The other thing that would rule out this being a mine is that there isn’t actually any evidence of any mining, though I guess it could have been a trial adit that never found anything worth working. Definitely a very interesting feature of this tunnel.
Hy There
Having been fascinated by railway tunnels ALL my adult life, and whilst employed as a Junior Surveyor (at Bridge Six) near Pont-Nedd-Fechan on the (then) much needed by-pass road, I was informed by someone in the village of the Pencaedrain Railway Tunnel (I was informed that this historical tunnel was to be demolished during the road construction).
Led to have been to believed this, I went through most of my adult life with the ‘knowledge’ of its ‘destruction’, and only VERY recently (after a close friend discovered the presence of the Pencaedrain Tunnel whilst looking on Google Earth), I have now realised its actual location and presence. He and I shall soon be venturing to this location (armed with camera, safety gear, maps etc) to photograph and document this tunnel for future interest.
Living at Aberdare, I cannot now believe that ALL these years, whilst I truly believed that this tunnel had been destroyed during road construction, where as in fact its been awaiting me and my camera.
Thank You
Regards
Dave Workman (Local Historian)
Loved the photos of the aberdare tunnel. My friends and i used to regularly walk through this tunnel as a shortcut to merthyr. We also used to camp in the side rooms in the tunnel. would love to go in again but unsure about access.
And yet ANOTHER ‘adventure’ to ANOTHER disused railway tunnel (Cynon Valley) for the second time recently and now on Sunday – 10th of October 2010.
I refer of course to the Cefn Glas Railway Tunnel (disused) since the mid 1960s. On the first visit to this site (a few days before), it literally took an ‘age’ to discover it’s location, due mainly to the overgrown fauna and flora around and about the portal (which is not too far from the Lletty Turner lay-by). On discovering it (the first time) my friend (Phil) and I had gone very ill-prepared, so returned home and set ready for another visit to this site (10/10/10) – suitably prepared this time.
It must have been nigh on 1.30pm this day, in bright sunshine that we now both made our way to the tunnel’s portal (through ankle deep muddied water, where rubber wellingtons are a MUST). I noticed that at the entrance (Cynon Valley side) one cannot see the distant light of the exit into the Merthyr Valley at all, but simply a few steps inside the entrance and light was clearly visible the other end. (I would advise anyone exploring this disused tunnel to wear wellington boots, safety helmet and take a good torch) even though the ‘light’ from the Merthyr side gives reasonably good effect. I witnessed NO danger of stones or the like cascading from the roof of the tunnel, but nevertheless I would advise safety head gear, if nothing more than to prevent your head from getting soaked by the numerous streams which have over time found their ‘lowest point’ and are running through the sides and roof of this tunnel.
I noticed that whilst walking through the Cefn Glas Tunnel that it seemed as if we were walking a slight incline (this could have been a ‘trick of the light’ but it certainly seemed as if we were walking slightly uphill).
I was amazed to discover the items we came across inside this tunnel (large parts of a car – no doubt having been driven through the tunnel at some point, as well as three large toilet cisterns) which made me ask – “Why on earth would anyone want to drag such heavy objects half way into a tunnel in the first place?”
Another reason for the need of a good torch, is that when you are approaching the Merthyr side of this tunnel, there are sections of the middle of the ground that can be quite treacherous if you come upon them unseen. I think these (at one time) may have been drainage holes, because there are about four or five (which are full of flowing water) and about 18″ to 24″ in depth. These features are spaced about 40 or 50 feet away from each other and are where the middle of the track WOULD have been. They are surrounded by concrete sides and each one is about a yard by 18″ in size. We actually discovered that its FAR safer to walk (on route to Merthyr) on the right-hand side of the tunnel, and the same side on our way back. The left hand side (on way to Merthyr) has over the years been subjected to many roof falls, whereby there are large areas of fallen masonry which if unprepared for this, could be a hazard.
The odd thing we noticed that at the exit of this tunnel (Merthyr side) – one could still see the light emitting from the Cynon side), whereas as this ‘light’ was not visible from the entrance at Lletty Turner (Cynon side). Also (need for wellington boots) there is a large area of muddied water on the Merthyr side (as my friend discovered to his cost) – this water which consists of thick mud seems to be running along the cutting right up to the point where the cutting is blocked off with the A470 road running above it. This MUD is in fact quite deep (as my friend found out) – where I ascended the steep slope at the tunnel’s exit, and whilst it was a hard climb, it was worth it if only to see the view behind me of the mountainside.
We did notice something rather strange inside this tunnel, which I feel important enough to mention. We came across a large hole in the side of the tunnel (left side from Cynon), which had seemed to have (in some past time) been ‘worked’ by someone, as there was a level above it (inside this hole) which planed off to a dead end, and another DEEP hole going down below the level of this tunnel (needless to say we did not explore this further), but it would be interesting to discover why, and what this was. (We thought perhaps some form of mining activity, perhaps excavated during the year long Miner’s strike of 1984/85???)
We did notice however, that considering this tunnel hasn’t been used for nigh on 45 years, the surface of walking area was quite free of large falls of rock and bricks, and do not present much of a problem on the feet.
We are awaiting the development of photographs which we both took inside and around this tunnel and once developed we shall be pleased to publish them on this site.
Finally, as for Paul.s comments relating to the Aberdare-Merthyr Tunnel (near Cwmbach), I was at this site only a few months ago, and for CERTAIN there IS access to the Cwmbach side of the tunnel, but am presently unsure of any access on the Merthyr side. Again, I would suggest STRONGLY to anyone wishing to explore these old disused railway tunnels, to make sure that they go WELL PREPARED (Good strong torch, plus spare batteries, safety helmet and steel-capped wellington boots)
Hi Dave,
Thanks for the comment on Abernant tunnel. Will get my caving kit and go for a wander through.
Also Dave, you say you are a local historian ? Do you know of any good books that deal with tunnels and industry from bygone years ( particularly coal mines, tunnels as i love underground workings etc ) in the cynon valley as i would be most interested in buying some.
I was one of the last ones to go down Tower Colliery on a trip which was amazing !
the mine may have been a ‘test’ for silica. i know down the gorsge there are the Silica Mines ( which in itself makes a fantastic trip ). If you follow whats left of the old dram track which leads from the mines itself and look up onto your right of the gorge you will see another 2 ‘holes’ in the rockface which sound similar to what you have seen in the tunnel. There are silica adits on the riverbank as well, which again are good trips although theey can be difficult to find if you don’t know where they are.