Description
The southern end of the tunnel is to the west of The Alps Quarry, off Caerau Lane, and the northern end is north of Culverhouse Cross Retail Park, just west of the A4232 road and south east of the hamlet of Drope. [1]
The tunnel passed under the A48 Cardiff–Cowbridge road and A4050 Cardiff–Barry road via Wenvoe and it carried the Barry Railway for 1867 yards through the downs before it crossed the River Ely on the Drope viaduct of 178 yards and St.Fagans viaduct of 180 yards over the South Wales main line and continued north to the coal fields but at just under half-mile north of its northern portal, a single line branch to Peterston-super-Ely ran to the west to connect with the former GWR South Wales main line.
Further still, at 1.35 miles from the northern portal, Tynycaeau Junction was the location of the divergence of the Cadoxton-Pontypridd line with the Penrhos Branch which ran to Caerphilly and the Rhymney valley.
Classed as a freight-only branch, over the years it passed many day passenger excursions to Barry Island from the Rhymney Valley and rail network beyond Rhymney.
Opened in August 1901, the 6-mile branch incorporated the 490-yard curved, Walnut Tree tunnel (now breached by quarry workings) and the magnificent 517-yard Walnut Tree viaduct bridging the Taff Gorge south of Taffs Well. By 1905, the Penrhos branch had been extended from Penrhos Junction (South) west of Caerphilly, to join the Brecon & Merthyr Railway at Llanbradach, again incorporating two engineering feats, the first of which was the 385-yard Penyrheol viaduct, south-west of Caerphilly and finally their impressive Llanbradach (or Pwll-y-Pant) viaduct, the length of which is subject to conjecture but an Institution of Civil Engineers Minutes of Proceedings document dated 11 February 1908, confirmed the length as 800 yards.
All three of these impressive viaducts were of steel spans supported on brick piers. Due to duplication of rail routes, following the 1922 GWR Grouping, the extension to the Brecon & Merthyr Railway was taken out of use on 4 August 1926 and the latter two viaducts had been demolished by 1937. Walnut Tree viaduct survived in use until December 1967 and was demolished in 1969.
The other main works on the former Barry Railway's Cadoxton-Trehafod railway were the Pontypridd (or Graig) tunnel 0.75 miles (1.21 km) at Treforest and a viaduct over the River Ely 534 feet (163 m) long and 62 feet (19 m) high. plus the St. Fagans viaduct mentioned above.
A British Rail Gazetteer says the tunnel, between Wenvoe and Drope Junction, is just over 1 mile (1.6 km) long, at 1,867 yards (1,707 m). More simply, the closed tunnel on the former Barry–Pontypridd route is 1,867 yards (1,707 m) long, the 9th longest Great Western tunnel.
It is brick-lined apart from a short section at the south end. It has an air shaft near the centre of its length, almost as wide as the tunnel. Its original air shaft chimney of circular red brick with Staffordshire blue corbelling, was removed following closure and a breeze-block structure built to the rear of a concrete-aproned area of a retail outlet and which at ground level, occupies an airway of only a quarter of the circular air shaft area below ground. As at 2020, a large bore concrete water main maintained by Welsh Water is run at tunnel ground level and against the east side of the bore.
Since falling out of use following 1963, the tunnel has suffered much flooding.
The Taff Vale Railway (TVR) was a standard gauge railway in South Wales, built by the Taff Vale Railway Company to serve the iron and coal industries around Merthyr Tydfil and to connect them with docks in Cardiff. It was opened in stages in 1840 and 1841.
From 1839 the trustees of the Marquis of Bute, operated a large dock operation in Cardiff, the "Bute Docks". This was very successful, but was overwhelmed by the huge volume of coal exported through Cardiff. At the same time it was seen that railway companies, especially the Taff Vale Railway (TVR), were making money conveying the coal to the docks.
The Rhymney Railway (RR) was a railway company in South Wales, founded to transport minerals and materials to and from collieries and ironworks in the Rhymney Valley of South Wales, and to docks in Cardiff. It opened a main line in 1858, and a limited passenger service was operated in addition.
The Brecon and Merthyr Tydfil Junction Railway (B&MR) was a railway company in Wales. It was originally intended to link the towns in its name. Finding its access to Merthyr difficult at first, it acquired the Rumney Railway, an old plateway, and this gave it access to Newport docks. This changed its emphasis from rural line to mineral artery.
The Butetown branch line, also known as the Cardiff Bay Line, is a 1-mile-6-chain (1.7 km) commuter railway line in Cardiff, Wales from Cardiff Bay to Cardiff Queen Street. The service pattern formerly comprised a mixture of shuttle services along the branch and through trains along the Rhymney Line to Caerphilly, or the Coryton Line to Coryton, but after December 2005 was a shuttle service from Queen Street station. However, in May 2024, direct trains to Pontypridd were restored alongside shuttle services. The normal journey time is four minutes.
Grangetown railway station is a railway station serving the Grangetown district of Cardiff, Wales. It is located on the Vale of Glamorgan Line 1 mile (1.5 km) south west of Cardiff Central towards Bridgend via Barry, Penarth and Barry Island.
Penarth railway station is the railway station serving the town of Penarth in the Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales. It is the terminus of Network Rail's Penarth branch running from Cogan Junction to Penarth station, 1 mile 12 chains from the junction and 2 miles 67 chains south of Cardiff Central station. The Penarth branch ran from Cogan Junction to Biglis Junction, a rail mileage of 5 miles 65 chains and was officially closed beyond Penarth after the last passenger train ran on Saturday 4 May 1968.
Hengoed railway station serves the village of Hengoed in the county borough of Caerphilly, South Wales. It is a stop on the Rhymney Line of the Valley Lines network.
Taffs Well railway station is a railway station serving the village of Taff's Well, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, as well as neighbouring Gwaelod-y-Garth, Cardiff. It is located on the Merthyr Line and the Rhondda Line. Passenger services are provided by Transport for Wales.
Cadoxton railway station is a railway station serving Cadoxton and Palmerstown near Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales. It is located on the Barry Branch 6½ miles (10 km) south of Cardiff Central. The line continues to the terminus of the Barry Branch at Barry Island but from Barry Junction the line also continues as the Vale of Glamorgan branch to Bridgend via Rhoose for Cardiff International Airport bus link and then Llantwit Major.
Aber railway station is a railway station serving the town of Caerphilly, south Wales. It is a stop on the Rhymney Line 8+1⁄4 miles (13.3 km) north of Cardiff Central on the Valley Lines network.
Caerphilly railway station is a railway station serving the town of Caerphilly, south Wales. It is a stop on the Rhymney Line of the Valley Lines network. The station is located at Station Road in the south of the town. Facilities include a small shop and a ticket kiosk. A self-service ticket machine was installed near the entrance to the station on 22 December 2008. Several advertising murals depicting holiday travel in various parts of South Wales have been placed on the northbound side of the station in order to improve the 'look' of the station.
The Barry Railway Company was a railway and docks company in South Wales, first incorporated as the Barry Dock and Railway Company in 1884. It arose out of frustration among Rhondda coal owners at congestion and high charges at Cardiff Docks as well the monopoly held by the Taff Vale Railway in transporting coal from the Rhondda. In addition, the Taff Vale did not have the required capacity for the mineral traffic using the route, leading to lengthy delays in getting to Cardiff.
The Pontypridd, Caerphilly and Newport Railway was built to bring the coal output of the Aberdare and Rhondda valleys directly to Alexandra Docks at Newport.
Llanbradach is a village within the historic boundaries of Glamorgan, South Wales less than three miles north of the town of Caerphilly. It is part of the community of Llanbradach and Pwll-y-Pant.
The Crumlin Viaduct was a railway viaduct located above the village of Crumlin in South Wales, originally built to carry the Taff Vale Extension of the Newport, Abergavenny and Hereford Railway (NA&HR) across the Ebbw River.
Barry Docks is a port facility in the town of Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, a few miles southwest of Cardiff on the north shore of the Bristol Channel. The docks were opened in 1889 by David Davies and John Cory as an alternative to the congested and expensive Cardiff Docks to ship coal carried by rail from the South Wales Coalfield. The principal engineer was John Wolfe Barry, assisted by Thomas Forster Brown and Henry Marc Brunel, son of the famous engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
Rail transport in Cardiff has developed to provide connections to many other major cities in the United Kingdom, and to provide an urban rail network for the city and its commuter towns in southeast Wales. Today, there are three train operating companies in Cardiff: Great Western Railway, CrossCountry and Transport for Wales.
Hengoed Viaduct is a disused railway viaduct located above the village of Maesycwmmer, in Caerphilly county borough, South Wales. Grade II* listed, it was originally built to carry the Taff Vale Extension of the Newport, Abergavenny and Hereford Railway (NA&HR) across the Rhymney River, and is now part of National Cycle Route 47.
Walnut Tree Viaduct was a railway viaduct located above the southern edge of the village of Taffs Well, South Wales. Originally built to carry the Barry Railway across a narrow gorge through which the River Taff, Taff Vale Railway and Cardiff Railway passed, it was deconstructed in 1969, leaving only two of the support columns visible from the A470 road.
