Recently, with my good friend Sparhawk (www.blackmountainsite.co.uk), I made a visit to Abernant Tunnel near Merthyr. We found the tunnel on an OS map, took a brief glance at it’s eastern end and decided to come back and take a look a week or so later.
East Portal
Mainly due to geocaching, and the subesquent visit a while back to the Tidenham tunnel in the Wye Valley (now sadly blocked by a new fence), to pick up a cache (here), I have discovered a new interest in visiting the abandoned railway tunnels and other industrial sites around the area. There’s something fascinating about visiting the long-abandoned relics of the industrial age, especially, like in this case, when they are 2497 yards (about 1.5 miles) long and up to 200m below the surface of the hill!
We started off from Gethin Woodland picnic site, we walked about half to three-quarters of a mile (I’d estimate) to the easternmost portal of the tunnel. This is situated at the end of a cutting I think about 1/2 mile long). The portal itself is actually fenced off, but the fence has been damaged sometime in the past on the right hand side, so there is easy access. Before I go any further, I do not condone putting yourself at risk, and it important that you understand that if you do decide to explore locations such as these, you do so at your own risk. You should NOT do it alone, and you make sure you take adequate lighting (with replacement power) and wear suitable footwear. These sorts of places can be very dangerous if you act like a fool and don’t treat them with the respect they deserve. DON’T take unnecessary risks, and make sure somebody knows you are going, and where you are going. Finally, you should never, ever, ever, commit any kind of damage to get into these places, or once inside (including graffitti). Doing so is criminal damage. Remember, take only photos, leave only footprints. If you can’t get in, then hard luck.
Anyway – lecture over.
A brief bit of history first. Abernant Tunnel (also known as Merthyr Tunnel) formed part of the old route from Merthyr to Neath. The last train passed through the tunnel in 1962 (29th December to be precise!), and the tunnel was blocked up in 1967. In 1998, the walls were removed and replaced with fencing. This tunnel is 2497 yards long, making it the second longest in Wales. The longest is the Rhondda Tunnel, at 3443 yards, but this is now inaccessible, having been buried and re-landscaped at both ends (strictly speaking it IS accessible, but only via a drainage shaft, and not without the massive risk of dying of gas poisoning due to it being adjacent to a coal deposit). Therefore, Abernant is now the longest still-accessible tunnel in Wales. For a nice pic of the tunnel with the last train going through it in 1962, go to www.alangeorge.co.uk/merthyrtunnel.htm. A more full history of the Abernant Tunnel can be found here.
We arrived and entered the tunnel through the already broken fencing. On checking it out, the structure looked fairly sound, with much less in the way of visible deterioration than we expected.
The Team
We carried with us much in the way of torches and headlights, meaning that at no time did we have a lack of light. This is something which is vital, and its importance should not be underestimated. The tunnel itself is S-Shaped, which means that you cannot see either end of the tunnel from the central mile. This means BLACK. and I mean PITCH black. The first part (20yds or so) of the tunnel is flooded, but this is only to about 3-4 inches, and is no problem to wade through with walking boots. The floor is covered in the normal aggregate that you find on railway lines, and there is no longer any sign of the tracks or sleepers, so the tunnel looks like it may have been re-floored since closing. The tunnel itself was mostly brick-lined in the sections we saw. However, it is apparently much wider at the western end, and isn’t totally lined. We’re yet to see this however.
This time, we only went to the 89CH mark in the tunnel. This means 84 Chains, which is approx 1.7km. I calculated that the tunnel is 2.28km long, and a chain is 20.11m. Therefore, we went 2.28km – (84*20.11) = Approximately 590m into the tunnel. This was far enough that we could no longer see the eastern portal by which we entered. We decided today not to go any further today, but may return in future to see a bit more.
During our visit, we took some pictures, which you can see in the gallery below, and did a bit of light painting with our torches, by setting the camera to a 30 sec exposure, and walking up the tunnel waving our torches about. Feel a bit silly doing this, but it produces some interesting results!
All-in-all, this was a very interesting visit. Again, visiting these places is entirely at your own risk, and it is good to read up about the risks before you attempt it. It is, however, extremely interesting, as you get to see a fantastic relics of a byegone age. For more information about these sorts of places, and how to visit them as safely as possible, visit www.darkplaces.co.uk. If you do decide to do it, whatever you do, use your best judgement, and be careful!
Enjoy the full range of pics…
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- 30s Exp at East Portal
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- East Portal
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- In Deep
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- A + S
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- The Team
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- The Team
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- The Team
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- Light Painting
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- Light Painting
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- Light Painting
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- Walking Back
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- Walking Back
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- Loneliness
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- East Portal From Inside
went up to the merthyr end today and the fence has been repaired and fresh anti climb paint
went up to the merthyr end today and the fence has been repaired and fresh anti climb paint lets hope someone finds a way in soon.
thats a shame. kids today are hopeless. When we were lads we would have battered, prised, dug our way through in no time
just to let you all know the rhondda tunnell is accesible,and yes by the drainage shaft,there is no gas,oxygen a liitle low,i go down there every sunday,i just cant keep from there
myself and 2 mates walked the entire lenth from cwmbach side thro to merther side then over the top following the pipeline in 1986 without any torches with just the glow of my trainers hitech nitelights member them ha must have been crazy
great site axeman ime due a trip down the abernant tunnel when i get a day off ile let u now how it goes what a engineering masterpiece
Reading your article regarding Merthyr Tunnel brought back a vivid memory of when 4 of my firends and myself walked its entire length (1.5 miles you say??), starting from the Merthyr side. At the time of our adventure (in about 1980) the Merthyr entrance was walled up as you mentioned in your report. However, it was still accessible via a small doorway-sized aparture.
I recall the experience of being totally engulfed by the dark, as once we lost the light from the Merthyr end, we switched off our torches – we were all determned not to be the first to “chicken out” and switch a torch on, so as you can imagine, we remained in the inky blackness for what seemed like an eternity! I have no recollection of the condition of the Aberdare entrance, but do remember we took an overground route back to Merthyr, as several phone calls we made (via a fixed line in a red phone box, of course) failed to persuade a parent to drive over the mountain to collect us!!
Its fantastic to hear everyones’ stories of the tunnel. I love that it’s obviously been providing people with a lot of good memories for quite a few years now. Hopefully it’ll carry on doing so for a good time yet…
Went through today armed with floodlights and a camcorder! Tunnel is still accessible from the Aberdare side (someone’s taken an angle grinder to the fence) but Merthyr end is locked shut, so if you’re going right through, make sure you’ve got 3 miles’ worth of battery power ‘cos you’re going back the same way!
Video will be on YouTube once I’ve edited it.
Interestingly, the Merhyr-side “room” (about half a mile in) now appears to be a Mormon chapel, all painted up with a bible in the little alcove and tealights everywhere. Weird.
I live in merthyr, I’ve been to the merthyr end of the tunnel but couldn’t really be bothered to try and scale the shiny new metal fencing thats now blocking the entrance. anyway, the point is that Sustrans and the welsh assembly is desperate to get hold of this tunnel and the trackbed as potential pedestrian/cyclist route from Aberdare to Merthyr. its only in the consultation stage at the moment and would obviously take serious investment but its something I’d like to see. merthyr to aberdare in about 10 minutes by bike! I live in the Pant area of merthyr, right slap bang next to the old merthyr/brecon line, part of which is now in the hands of sustrans and is now possible to get from pant down to merthyr common (where the old dowlais top station is) thanks to a new footbridge. Sustrans do a good job, while they are not reopening closed lines they are at least ensuring that the track beds remain extant in case such a thing should ever be possible.
I can just remember tunnel open. My father used to have a night out in Merthyr and if last bus missed he used to walk home to Trecynon through the tunnel. Be aware of closed tunnels because of the likelihood there may be a build up of gas which could be deadly, especially talking to an old miner and the Black Damp gas which takes the oxygen out of the air. I thought the floor of the tunnel had collapsed many years ago!!!
jan 21 went to the tunnel today both ends are open took same photos putting them on alan george.co.uk
19/02/12
Merthyr portal now open and accessable (the gate has been angle grinded in two places so no climbing or crawling !).
Abernant portal fully open as per 04/09/11. The angle grinders work has yet to be repaired.
Bad news about the Merthyr portal I’m afraid. Went the today 27/2/12 and it’s been repaired. I had planned to walk all the way through with my dogs and a friend, but no good. This time they’ve welded solid sheet steel over the frame of the old fence and put a very sturdy lock on it. I believe this was done on friday 24/1/12 as that date is finger painted on the steel (damn! only missed it by 3 or 4 days). I would have climbed over but for my three dogs not liking heights!!! I went up the beacons then and walked the Torpantau tunnel and then the Miler, just to feed my tunnel walking urges. Shame though. I don’t know about the Aberdare end, but if anyone could post any info on this it would come in handy. Still would love to walk this tunnel. Great site by the way Axeman.
You’re wrong on the date there Wonky. We went through (Abernant – Merthyr – Abernant) on Sunday 19th February 2012. There was grafitti in the platers cabin from 29th January 2012 also evident.
The gates must have been repaired sometime after 20th February 2012.
Damn. Typed the wrong date there. The plates went on 24/2/12 not the 24/1/12 (teach me to have a drink and try and type!!). Still on my list of tunnels to go through.
Just looked at the excellant video of abernant tunnel
On u tube by aintbigaintclever superb good work !
Still aint had time to get down ther myself see u soon x
That morman chapple inside thats wierd good tho