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I've recently been reading the most excellent book on the Bridgend to Treherbert route published by Pen & Sword - https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Railways-and-Industry-in-the-Tondu-Valleys-Hardback/p/15793 and found the whole story of the Rhondda Tunnel fascinating.

 

I remember the old British Rail Passenger Network Map of 1968, which showed the line as operational, which indeed it was until that year, with the bus service replacing the train through the tunnel section between Blaengwynfi (or was it Cymmer?) and Treherbert.

 

I then found this organisation on the internet - https://www.rhonddatunnelsociety.co.uk/ - they look like a worthy organisation and the project sounds very exciting.

 

Does anyone on here know any more about this project and how likely it is to become a reality, please?

 

Cheers.

 

 

 

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The link wouldn't open for me today (perhaps a lot of traffic on t'intertubes). I recall The Johnster of this parish, in another thread, explained the reason why the tunnel was closed and is considered unsafe. IIRC, subsidence and then rockfalls within it caused its demise.

 

As I can't open the link, I don't know what the latest survey (if there has been one) has shown up. Whilst no doubt desirable, I suspect it will take a lot of money to make it usable again.

 

Good luck to them anyway,

 

Philip

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On 25/12/2020 at 17:28, Andy Kirkham said:

This replica plaque was on display at Treherbert station in 2016, all ready for when the tunnel is reopened.

Rhondda-Tunnel.jpg.53cd2501f0678922617da30f61fe7930.jpg

 Parodied as the “run and shove behind “ .The nearest station on the Rhondda end was in fact Blaenrhondda and the tunnel end was at Blaencwm. My wife is  local girl and we were married in St,Alban’s church next to that station three years before the line closed. The church like the line succumbed to the inevitable and is now converted into “superior  holiday accommodation “ . Any takers ?

 

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Having seen the original post, I put a question up on a railway Facebook page I'm a member of, asking if anyone knew about it or it's current status. I got a reply from the Vice Chairman of the group:

 

1884655347_Screenshot2020-12-28135257.jpg.083115a58300da16840ce9a282d0366b.jpg

 

So, it all sounds promising :good:

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On 27/12/2020 at 22:53, Ian Hargrave said:

 My wife is  local girl and we were married in St,Alban’s church next to that station three years before the line closed. The church like the line succumbed to the inevitable and is now converted into “superior  holiday accommodation “ . Any takers ?

 

 

Yes! I have stayed there for a week - we went for my dad's birthday last year - it has 5 bedrooms (2 with en suite) and sleeps 10 people. Lovely big open rooms including a fantastic kitchen and pool table. I cannot recommended it enough

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1 hour ago, Ed-farms said:

 

Yes! I have stayed there for a week - we went for my dad's birthday last year - it has 5 bedrooms (2 with en suite) and sleeps 10 people. Lovely big open rooms including a fantastic kitchen and pool table. I cannot recommended it enough


Oh my goodness.How the world turns through 55 years. Must take another look at our wedding photos taken outside what was St.Alban’s Church. Apart from the bubble cars on their way to the tunnel,there were the newly delivered 37’s working the short but steep branch to Blaenrhondda Colliery also but a faded memory 

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Must say I enjoyed both of the volumes by John Hodge.  Only error I could see is that he misidentified the single line apparatus at the Blaenrhondda end of the tunnel as postal apparatus. 

 

As indeed, I enjoyed the wedding all those years ago.  Happy innocent days.

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10 hours ago, CEINEWYDD said:

Must say I enjoyed both of the volumes by John Hodge.  Only error I could see is that he misidentified the single line apparatus at the Blaenrhondda end of the tunnel as postal apparatus. 

 

As indeed, I enjoyed the wedding all those years ago.  Happy innocent days.


Well this thread is full of surprising coincidence is it not ? Your nom de plume gives you away but there,given your addiction to kit building and S.Wales railways,I shouldn’t have been that surprised. Nothing like keeping things in the family.  Never actually went through the tunnel but occasionally hitched a ride on a Bridgend bound bubble car from Treherbert as far as Blaenrhondda station which was far easier and quicker if coming up the valley than walking and waiting for a Rhondda bus,though one train a dayformed of two 3 car units did in fact terminate at Blaenrhondda when coming up from Queen Street.  PM on way. Ian.
 

 

 

 

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It was definitely a very wet tunnel and when I went through c.1967 the unit got a very good wash in the process and it was very sensible to follow the Guard's advice to keep the windows closed ;)

 

As an aside for those of more advanced years there was a comedy on the BBC back in the 1950s called 'Davy Jones's (sic) Locker' - see page from 'The Radio Times' below - and it was allegedly based very much on Blaengwynfi.  in view of some of the goings on at that place which I've heard about when working in that part of the world it definitely sounds to have been ideal inspiration for a tv comedy.

 

Locker.jpg.0dd82711867985fa5774a6dcb03dac35.jpg

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Indeed,Mike.Far nearer to the truth than one might think. For many years ,my late mother in law ran the village shop in Blaenrhondda and could tell tales of black market deals with certain Brecon farmers. Such as transporting an illegally slaughtered pig for sale to certain in the know of her customers and being stopped enroute by the local bobby. On being asked what she and her husband had in the back of the car,she replied “ Well what do you think ? A dead pig of course “ .Thinking it was a joke,the bemused officer let them pass. Who knows,he and his family may unwittingly later have been recipients of some prime pork ?

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Oh yes!  My father was a rookie vet (1st job just like J Herriot in All Creatures Great & Small) but in very rural west Wales;  Boncath area early in ww2.  Contraband pigs, local bobby off to Cardigan for the day at slaughter time, pork joint  on door step of police station (unlikely that bit) and all the other tales of yore.  Such as driving around in my Auntie Gwladys' Austin 7 (or was it Morris 8?) for at least 6 months before passing his driving test.    I'm not sure how many bad driving habits  he acquired in that period, but the driving examiner (retired but recalled for war service) was the father of two contemporaries in school with him in Towyn and recognised him.  Not sure that the test was particularly rigorous.  Remarks along lines of "Clearly had plenty of practise Mr. Thomas!"  Allegedly the Cardigan town Police sergeant  who had seen dad driving on a daily basis was on the steps of the test centre and was a little surprised to see dad, plus accompanying driver, plus brand new 'L' plates on Auntie G's car.  Oh and for the benefit of those who did not know Auntie G , she was a highly respected junior school Head teacher in the Rhondda. 

 

There's an even better story about his next job down in very rural Hampshire, which I will relate to Ian when i speak to him next.       

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I have downloaded the John Hodge Tondu books, and they are excellent and informative, but contain some apparently odd and contradictory statements as well as the TPO pickup apparatus gaffe.  According to BR Database, Tondu shed had 3 brand new 350hp diesel shunting locos (08) allox in 1955, yet this is not even alluded to in the books.  Neither are scurrilous goings on at Blaengwynfi, whatever they might have been; certainly none of the Treherbert men I worked with in the 70s ever talked about them at considerable length and with some enthusiasm in mess rooms...

 

I went with some chums on an expedition to Maesteg to see the NCB steam locos in the summer holidays of 1969, when I was 17 and still in school.  Marvin Gaye's 'Heard it Through the Grapevine' was in the charts and hearing the song always reminds me of the adventure  We travelled via Treorchy to investigate the loco at Cwmparc and hitched over the Bwlch road, being picked up by an NCB workmen's hire bus at the road junction at the top.  He ran via Abergwynfi and over Croeserw mountatin to Caerau, where we picked up the bubble car for the short hop to Maesteg, and spent a very pleasant day riding on Austerities and climbing around  on 9642, then made the return journey on the bubble car.  Of course it terminated at Cwmmer Afan, and connected  with the replacement bus service to Treherbert, but the driver opened the cab door and had a conversation with us during which he claimed that signing the road through the Blaenrhondda Tunnel qualified you as a reserve submariner in wartime; it was a trifle damp, but that's ok, it never rains in South Wales...

 

It was a hot and sultry day and I was not much surprised when we emerged from Caerau Tunnel into heavy rain.  It was like being in a big, poorly lit, grey room with the cloud sitting well down on the mountainsides and only about 100 feet or so above us.  We decided to miss the connecting bus and wait for the next one in the 'Refresh' at Cwmmer Afan, as we were pretty famished by this point, and the day was conducive to a shandy or two.  The tunnel was closed after a minor earthquake on the Glyn Neath fault about 5 miles away to the northwest, which apparently caused the collapse of an abandoned mine working beneath it and resultant subsidence in the tunnel.  The tunnel barrel was put out of line by about 9 inches southeastwards and downards at about 60 degrees, enough to make it too narrow and low at the break for trains, and this is the reason it was never re-opened.  There has been further minor subsidence since.

 

During it's construction, the navvies discovered a seam of workable coal and the R & SB sold it at market prices, which helped to defray the cost of the project.  There is considerable support locally for the re-opening of it as a cycle and pedestrian route, and I wish the scheme the best of luck, but doubt if it is really practiable.  On the plus side the Afan Valley is a world renowned centre for mountain biking and tourism connected with this is probably it's biggest industry at present, so there is potential for cycle routes that leave the Afan and cross the high ground between there and Treherbert via the Craig y Llyn escarpment on the Rhigos mountain, and the tunnel would offer an easy return to base route, but it's running costs, particularly pumping water and security, would be high.  There is little attraction that I can see for walkers; the scenery is not particularly edifying down there, and while the promoters rightly assert that the Bwlch road is subject to snow closures in winter and can be tricky in bad weather even in summer (visibility was non-existent on our 1969 replacement bus to Treherbert, and these conditions are not  unusual), the local buses could not use it unless they were electric, so it has little to offer the local transport network. What is really needed is a railway tunnel, of course.

 

It is just short of two miles long and would take about half an hour to walk through, about 10 minutes to cycle, though these time would probably feel longer in a straight monotonous tunnel.  There is precedent, a longer cycle tunnel in Seattle, but this serves a serious commuting transport role.

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