# Short Railway Tunnels, Saundersfoot, Wales August 2008



## boxfrenzy (Aug 18, 2008)

Through much of the preeceding centuries, coal had been cut and dug from the landscape near the tiny coastal hamlet of Wiseman's Bridge. The nearby harbour of Saundersfoot, first built in 1829 enabled this to be taken away by sea, and as the industrial age progressed, demand raised. The pits got deeper, and the horse drawn carts proved less than ideal in transporting the coal to the harbour. As a result, three, fairly short tunnels were dug into the cliff.
Today, they are now part of the cliff path, and are a popular way of getting to the beaches nearby, where, in the early 1940's, Eisenhower, Churchill and Montgemery met, to plan the d-day landings on the hard sand.
First view, from Wisemans Bridge. The portal can be seen on the far right.






On the approach, the remains of the coal excavations can be seen





This is the longest of the tunnels





The first part is lined. The light is not a train, but the other end.





In the middle of the tunnel, water is dripping, and a strange luminous colour emerges from the darkness. The ghost of a long forgotten miner? No, Hi Viz paint for Health and Safety purposes...










Looking back to the first tunnel





The second, and much shorter tunnel





The third tunnel. In 1874 the first steam engine (called Rosalind) ran through these tunnels





Inside the third tunnel.





The steam trains would be narrow guage engines, pulling drays behind them full of miners. Here, Peter Sam looks proudly at his unusual funnel. He and his friends are typical of the narrow guage engines that pulled coal and slate trucks from Welsh mines during the latter half of the nineteenth century.



(Rev Awdry)

The history...


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## Neosea (Aug 18, 2008)

Cool find, looks like a good place for fishing


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## Foxylady (Aug 18, 2008)

Neosea said:


> Cool find, looks like a good place for fishing



   

These are delightful. Nice bit of history too.


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## Locksley (Aug 18, 2008)

great pics mate, and I'm loving the Thomas The Tank Engine example, lol! That program never gets boring. In fact I watched it only this morning.


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## Mr Sam (Aug 19, 2008)

i was watching old skool thomas the other week on youtube,.....ya know with Ringo Star narration


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