By Professor William Powrie
Last Thursday, (August 13), I cycled along National Cycle Network (NCN) Route 8, from Glasbury (near Hay-on-Wye) to Cardiff. From Brecon, the route follows the River Taff, and is known as the Taff Trail. It is a real showcase for the industrial pedigree and heritage of the area, with impressive structures from over 100 years ago still in use for their original or a new purpose.
The selection of pictures shows (1) the Talybont reservoir dam – still very much in use; (2) the “seven mile bank” of the former Brecon & Merthyr Railway, which was once (at seven miles long and a gradient of 1 in 38) the steepest long ascent on the British railway network, taking the railway from Talybont-on-Usk to what was once the highest tunnel on the network, Torpantau – now part of the NCN8 route but unfortunately with a very rough riding surface; (3 & 4) the Pontsticill reservoir dam – still very much in use; (5) Cefncoed viaduct – formerly carrying the Brecon & Merthyr Railway but now NCN8; (6) Pontygwaith bridge – carrying NCN8 over the River Taff; and (7) Pontygwaith viaduct – still in use carrying the railway line between Merthyr Tydfill and Cardiff. But the most poignant of all is the Aberfan memorial garden (8,9 & 10), on the site of the Pantglas junior school that was engulfed in colliery waste when a spoil heap towering high above the village collapsed catastrophically on 21 October 1966.
This year will mark the 60th anniversary of the disaster, which killed 116 children and 28 adults and devastated many more lives, of those who lost loved ones or were otherwise touched by the tragedy. It is disgraceful that such a thing could happen, even then – a basic knowledge of soil mechanics principles, soundly applied, could have prevented it. Sadly, similarly preventable mine waste failures, often associated with tailings dams, have occurred around the world since, and it is nearly always the poor that suffer. I hope that the geotechnical community can come together in this, the 60th anniversary year of Aberfan, to make sure that waste heap and tailings dams failures really are a thing of the past.
If you are interested, you can see the details of my ride here.
