Gelli Felen tunnel March 2010

[swanseamale47]

Gelli Felen tunnel was originally a single bore tunnel of the Merthyr, Tredegar and Abergavenny Railway opened in 1862, taken over shortly after by the London & North Western Railway.
The tunnel, 352 yards long, incorporates a curve of 90° to the north and is mostly masonry lined. Some patches of brick are to be found, especially in the second southerly tunnel which appeared in 1877 when the route was doubled in an effort to increase traffic. The bores are linked by two breaches one of which is now partly flooded with about a foot of water.

The southern entrance showing the one bricked up tunnel

The northern entrance not this end of the "blocked" tunnel isn't bricked just fenced.

Inside the blocked northern tunnel, theres a lot of piping which suggests it may flood at some point.

Carrie with one of the 2 breaches between the tunnels, this is the partially flooded one.

Some of the piping left in the blocked up tunnel.

A dumped fridge freezer,somebody must be mental to drag it all the way up here to dump it.

Crystals on the wall in one place.

A staligmite.

Staligtites.

Sooted up walls.

An animal skull.

Inside the southern end of the blocked up tunnel.

Looking along the tunnel.

Me crawling through the dry but narrower breach between the tunnels.

Inside the end of the open tunnel.

 

[Foxylady]

Really like that...especially like the look of it from outside in the first pic. Great find.
I have this image now of someone manhandling the fridge freezer over the fence, lol, but I suppose it must have been there already before it was fenced off.

 

[smileysal]

ooooooooooooooooh another railway tunnel, nearby to where the relatives live. I definitely have to go here at some point this year when on a "relative visit" lol. Excellent pics, love the curving to the left, and love the light shining through the gaps in the bricks on the bricked up side. nice work.

Sal

 

[swanseamale47]

Foxylady, it never ceases to amaze me the trouble people will go to dump stuff, they will often drive past a tip to dump something in a beauty spot, and in many cases the local council will remove big items for free, even without the fence it must have been a pain to drag there lol.

Sal if you visit the tunnel go along the path towards the Abergavany direction as theres more industrial remains, although no more tunnels that I have found yet. Theres also an interesting culvert below the tunnels (slippery) which is best reached by going down the side of the tunnels rather than climbing down to the bottom end on the hillside
Wayne.

 

[cardiffrail]

Before it was fenced off, it would likely have been possible to get a vehicle in there, given that the farm track goes right down to the trackbed at the western end.