Tidenham Tunnel, Tidenham, February 2009

[seven8]

A few weeks of planning with a mate and his family, and we managed to get out today to the disused railway tunnel at Tidenham.

The tunnel was built to serve the Wye Valley line, and the now closed Tidenham Quarry, and is 1200 yards in length. Many thanks must go to a wonderfully supportive member here - cardiffrail - for providing loads of information for me in preparation for what turned out to be an excellent trip.

We started by driving to the Southern portal, but unfortunately this has recently been blocked off by a 6' metal fierce fence. Several of us could have climbed over this, but we had our lady wifes and kids with us, so we decided to seek out the North Portal and take a look there. This too was found to be fenced off, but someone had considerately 'bent' one of the end verticals, making it passable for all but my mate and I. So... we climbed over!!

The quarry is private property and so the entrance to it is barriered off, and one has to park a good 1.5 miles from the North portal entrance. We followed the track past an alarmed building that, though unoccupied, sounds a very loud alarm and 'voice warning' message if you wander too close!! Found that quite funny tbh.

Anyway.... that's enough waffling from me... you want pics, yeah...

Small caves on the approach to the North portal (my son and his gf in the pic)

The North portal

Some light painting in the tunnel

Small workers refuge (many of these along the length of the tunnel)

Looking into the North Portal at the entrance (it gets dark - pitch black dark - around 80 yards into the tunnel)

Gallery to all pics here.

 

[Black Shuck]

Did you say that was a quarry tunnl seven?

 

[seven8]

Did you say that was a quarry tunnl seven?

Errrrm.... yes! Why, have I done something wrong?

 

[thewhiteroom23]

Thanks for posting these pics. I've been meaning to go back here one day after I walked down from Tintern last May as far as the quarry.

 

[BigLoada]

You got some good shots there man. 4 and 5 are class.

 

[Urban-Warrior]

excellent pics fella.. love the pic of the bat, thanks for sharing

 

[smiffy]

The barriers must be well new cos I had a wander down there end of last summer and the tunnel was open then .....
And not meaning to be picky but......
......... .. the tunnel wasn't built to specifically 'serve the quarry'...........the tunnel was bult as was the rest of the line as part of the once world famous 'Wye Valley Railway' (owned/operated ultimately by GWR) that once connected Chepstow to Monmouth and then on to Ross on Wye where the line made a connection with the Hereford to Gloucester line.....
.....All now long gone and closed..although part of the Chepstow / Monmouth section retained its tracks for many years to serve the quarry you saw....
..This part of the line has been dis-used since about 1982 ish and why the track was never recoverd I haven't got a clue....
...The first part of the line (from the main line at Chepstow) also served the now dis-used Tidenham Dayhouse Quarry which didn't shut til about 1990 ish but rail traffic had ceased from there a few years before the actual closure of the quarry so again......
....just why the tracks were never lifted is anyones guess.........
There have been rumours over the years of a preservation attempt but nothing serious has happened beyond the talking..............
Hope this helps........

 

[seven8]

Nope - not being picky, thanks for the correction, much appreciated.

I spoke to a local resident who lives close to the South Portal, and she said that last year some kids started a fire in the tunnel and the emergency services were called out to deal with it. I guess the fences were erected following that... stupid chavs I bet.

The fences are climbable, and are about 6' tall, with sharp points on the top. The North entrance has had one of the verticals 'bent' slightly which allows room for most to get through.

 

[Ferret]

Nice pics there, especially liking the one of the bat

 

[Lightbuoy]

Quality shots. That's a looooonnnnnnnng Tunnel!

 

[cardiffrail]

Nice one Seven - great pics. . Glad you got in in the end.

I have seen reports of bats in there before. That is probably why it has been fenced off.

 

[LiamCH]

Hang on, when I went there in October there were ladders by the entrance! Are they gone already? The fence has only been there since about August 2008, as there is a sticker on the fence indicating the date it was ordered.

 

[seven8]

Hang on, when I went there in October there were ladders by the entrance! Are they gone already? The fence has only been there since about August 2008, as there is a sticker on the fence indicating the date it was ordered.

Hi Liam

There were no ladders present at either end, and I didn't see any stickers on the fence either sorry.

 

[LiamCH]

Damn! Someone's taken them. There were also loads of bottles placed over the edge of the fence slats to make climbing over easier. I suppose they've gone too? That's really annoying.

 

[seven8]

Damn! Someone's taken them. There were also loads of bottles placed over the edge of the fence slats to make climbing over easier. I suppose they've gone too? That's really annoying.

There were one or two plastic bottles on the top of the fence slats Liam, but only at the south end portal, nothing at the northern portal.

That's dreadful that someone has the audacity to steal your ladders, sorry to be the bearer of bad news - why do people do these things...?

I have to say though, that for us this was an excellent trip, and despite my fear of closed spaces/dark/being trapped, I absolutely loved it. The bat was a bonus. I picked up a few plastic bottles that were strewn about inside the tunnel as well, and took them away to recycle.

 

[seven8]

Nice one Seven - great pics. . Glad you got in in the end.

I have seen reports of bats in there before. That is probably why it has been fenced off.

All my thanks go to you cardiffrail for the fantastic help and support you provided prior to this trip... I really am grateful to you for your help, which was greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

PS: have you received the email yet?

 

[seven8]

Apologies for consecutive posts, but I realised after I entered the last two that I hadn't posted an update to an image someone suggested I do.

A mate emailed me and suggested I use some tone mapping on one of the tunnel light painted images... so here's the attempt, next to the before image...

before tone mapping

after tone mapping

Personally, I think this is a great improvement and - this time - the HDR/Tone Mapping has been used to actually enhance an image.

 

[pdtnc]

Nice tunnel, and nice to see a bat too cheers for showing the pics

 

[cardiffrail]

Plans are now in the pipeline for opening the line, including tunnels, as a sustrans cycleway.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/gloucestershire/8120628.stm

http://www.wyevalleycycling.org.uk/

 

[LiamCH]

Hmm... A nice idea, but I can't help but wonder if it'll come to fruition. The cost would be astronomical. Several miles of track would have to be removed between the junction at Chepstow and Tintern Quarry, one bridge that is held up by supports which block the line would have to be repaired - again costing a fortune, tons of rubble has to be cleared from where some kind person with a digger has blocked the line by Dayhouse Quarry and both tunnels have to be sorted out - they're fairly safe, but there have been a couple of rocks falling from the roof. On top of that, the bridge at Tintern has been removed and would need replacing, and that's not to mention bridges further down the line, which I haven't personally seen and so can't comment on. It'd probably make more economic sense to reopen the railway, although I can't see that happening.