Places - Lost in Time: Crumlin Viaduct

Рет қаралды 47,430

Жыл бұрын

Hello, and welcome back to Places - Lost in Time, a series that looks back on the tale of places and locations that have existing within living memory or photographic record, but are now lost to the pages of history.
This week we travel to South Wales, where, in the small valley coal town of Crumlin, this otherwise inconspicuous settlement once played host to the highest railway viaduct in the British Isles, with the Crumlin Viaduct passing across the Ebbw Vale being a mammoth example of lightweight but sturdy Victorian engineering, with its steel girder and partial masonry construction presenting a structure that was delivered in record time and with huge cost savings, but with no sacrifice of structural rigidity, only for this magnificent bridge to fall victim to the endemically harsh environment of its surroundings, combined with the route it was built to serve losing relevance as railways gave way to roads, and coal gave way to oil.
Special thanks to South Wales Valleys for allowing me the use of several historic clips of the Crumlin Viaduct during its final years of use, and I thoroughly recommend visiting their channel to get some superb glimpses not only into the history of the viaduct itself, but also the railway and mining history of South Wales in general.
All video content and images in this production have been provided with permission wherever possible. While I endeavour to ensure that all accreditations properly name the original creator, some of my sources do not list them as they are usually provided by other, unrelated KZfaqrs. Therefore, if I have mistakenly put the accreditation of 'Unknown', and you are aware of the original creator, please send me a personal message at my Gmail (this is more effective than comments as I am often unable to read all of them): rorymacveigh@gmail.com
The views and opinions expressed in this video are my personal appraisal and are not the views and opinions of any of these individuals or bodies who have kindly supplied me with footage and images.
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Thanks again, everyone, and enjoy! :D
References:
- The Victorian Web (and their respective references)
- Crumlin Viaduct (and their respective references)
- Caerphilly County Borough council (and their respective references)
- Wikipedia (and its respective references)

Пікірлер: 134

@kevatcrewe Жыл бұрын

Can I take a minute to say this channel is epic, please keep it going, I love the way you never quite know what the next upload will be focused on, it always makes my day and never dissapoints whatever the subject is!

@thomlinford Жыл бұрын

Couldn't agree more - always makes my Saturday afternoon a bit more interesting

@AshLilburne Жыл бұрын

And nearly at 100k subscribers now too!

@DaveSCameron Жыл бұрын

Hear hear! 👍

@mirmis Жыл бұрын

Spot on!

@gc7820 Жыл бұрын

As a miner my grandfather (fathers side) was in a reserved occupation during WW2 but joined the home guard and had to patrol across crumlin viaduct at nights when he was on homeguard duty. My later to be grandmother in order to get a ‘date’ with him used to spend a few hours on such an evening walking across it arm in arm with him - probably not strictly within the army regulations.

@sheevone4359 Жыл бұрын

I like your wording 😂

@macjim Жыл бұрын

It’s sad they didn’t keep the first pier as a memorial to the bridge and railway line rather remove everything but that’s hindsight for you. I noted the use of destruction in your commentary rather than demolition… very apt.

@luvparc6787 Жыл бұрын

So cool to watch a mini doc on a place you pass through everyday, something very unexpected! I'm only 28 so I never got to experience it standing but I've stood at the one side of where it would've stopped and it is such an epic view across to the other side, would've been great to cross over it!

@chrismackey9267 Жыл бұрын

My cousin, David, was a Bevin Boy working in the Oakdale Colliery, Blackwood, and ran a football team that played home games nearby the Crumlin Viaduct. As a teenager I began work as a surveyor with Ordnance Survey who were remapping the coal mining areas of South Wales. I was based in Pontypridd in the late 50's, early 60's and it was a long trek home to Torquay via the Aust Ferry or round Gloucester so I would visit David at weekends. I played quite a number of games with his team, and always, as a railway buff, found it a thrill, and even a bit scary I must admit, playing nearly beneath that structure while trains were still passing over it. We used to meet in a cafe before matches and play the flipper machines while drinking coffee. Evenings were spent in Blackwood at the cinema where the tickets cost about 9d or 1/- which was so cheap compared with Torbay at the time. This video brought back brilliant memories of those days.

@Tobeshadow Жыл бұрын

Superb film! My father grew up in the shadow of this beauty. We have pictures he took on his Box Brownie when Gregory Peck and Sophia Loren came to film Arabesque. A wonderful structure and a crime that it was lost!

@macjim Жыл бұрын

While building the bridge out of iron reduced the cost, it wasn’t a guarantee of strength as we have seen in the past. Crossing a valley, especially as deep as this one, brought its own problems. There’s the remains of an iron bridge in the USA which was blown down in a gale (worth covering, the Kinzua Bridge) and, for another example, the Tay Bridge Mk 1.

@emilyadams3228 Жыл бұрын

It's the Kinzua Bridge in Pennsylvania.

@MrRichUK Жыл бұрын

@@emilyadams3228 It was one of the subjects featured in the TV series called 'Abandoned Engineering'.

@limeyfox Жыл бұрын

Really good video! One minor note on Welsh pronunciation, if it’s spelt ‘goed’ it’s spoken ‘goyd’ - therefore Hengoed and Bargoed are pronounced ‘Hen-goyd’ and ‘Bar-goyd’ etc.

@philldavies7940 5 ай бұрын

its a synthetic voice, not a human narrator.

@Dave_Sisson Жыл бұрын

It looks a lot like the Taradale Viaduct in Victoria. Australia. It was also built in the 1850s and still carries a main line today. It has its own Wikipedia page.

@Olleetheowl Жыл бұрын

I live at Ilkeston, Derbyshire. We have our own still standing viaduct.built almost identically. Although only 60 ft high. It is 1/4 Mile long and called “Bennerley Viaduct”. Many videos on You Tube. And well worth a look

@Ryan-31 Жыл бұрын

Being from nearby Caerphilly and having to visit Crumlin countless times over the years this was a nice surprise to see on your channel. Great quality video as always. ☺️👍

@flippop101 Жыл бұрын

Once again, quality KZfaq viewing. Thank you for another superb video.

@EntertainmentWorldz Жыл бұрын

super great train video bro ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

@Brommear Жыл бұрын

Nice video! I just love the steam era with Brunel being my favourite. I live in Chile and the 335ft high Malleco viaduct, constructed in the 1890s, is still in use! Thank you also for not putting music on a documentary video!

@jasongray6437 Жыл бұрын

Amazing to see a local lost landmark covered.

@terrymoore9388 Жыл бұрын

Another brilliant video. Thanks

@e020443 Жыл бұрын

Excellent documentary, as usual. Thanks.

@jeffkibby1678 Жыл бұрын

The Crumlin Viaduct Works Company Limited produced the ironwork for the Crumlin Viaduct, they also produced the ironwork for the first Blackfriars Railway Bridge for the London, Chatham and Dover Railway, 120 bridges in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 69 bridges for the Rome and Ancona Railway in Italy, 5 multi-span bridges for railways in India, a 17-span bridge in Pernambuco, Brazil as well as bridges in New Ross, Ireland, the Murray River, Australia and Wolkoff for the Great Russian Railway.

@neiloflongbeck5705 Жыл бұрын

After the Tay Bridge disaster the government set up the Wind Pressure (Railway Structures) Commission. This commission reported back in May 1881. They determined that a wind speed that gave a pressure of 28lb/ft^2 was the maximum a train would allowed to encounter on a viaduct and that the viaduct had to be strong enough to withstand a pressure double that. Hence the stopping of traffic in high winds on viaducts. The entire railway network had suffered neglect during WW2 and its aftermath. The problem with metal bridges is they suffer from metal fatigue, by the 1950s a well known if not fully understood issue for bridge builders. This bridge and lines like it were in desperate need of strengthening if they were to survive, but with falling traffic levels BR couldn't afford to do this work. The rot set in long before Beeching came along with a government preventing BR from raising prices whilst costs went up. If it wasn't for Beeching we wouldn't have half the railway we still have.

@nemo6686 Жыл бұрын

What a cycle track it would've made - like a pier with no show at the end and a big, hard drop if you fall off!

@pacz8114 Жыл бұрын

Thank you. I've learnt a great deal.

@johncunnane1582 Жыл бұрын

marvelous viaduct, explained by a marvelous video, thanks Ruairidh

@petergibbs Жыл бұрын

My father was based at Pontypool just after the war on the GWR/Western region as a fireman and always spoke with a smile when he mentioned the Crumlin viaduct.

@laurenceskinnerton73 7 ай бұрын

Fascinating.

@whetstonebridge4801 Жыл бұрын

Fantastic channel. Always something new and interesting presented in a really professional way.

@m.streicher8286 Жыл бұрын

This photo illustrates something well, the dead load of the bridge is usually an order of magnitude larger than potential dynamic loads 11:05

@villiamo3861 Жыл бұрын

Very good point.

@usmale49 Жыл бұрын

Great video! I would have liked to see it, but since its demise, that will not be possible. Thank you for creating, uploading and sharing!!

@anthonystevens8683 Жыл бұрын

Great history and technical detail wonderfully articulated for this video. Many thanks for sharing.

@KR4FTW3RK Жыл бұрын

Wow what a nice bridge! Shame it was torn down.

@brianjones2899 Жыл бұрын

Not as fun as an Autobahn though.

@Tuberuser187 Жыл бұрын

Nice upload, will need to check but this viaduct might share the engineer with another similar but shorter viaduct of that had to have less weight on its foundation. It crossed a flood plane that had underground coal mines, it recently got a full restoration but it shares a lot in its design. What a sight this one would have been though, shame this one was lost. Edit - Checked Bennerley viaduct didn't share the same engineer but is essentially the same design and materials, there is another viaduct on the edge of Dartmoor, near Okehampton that also has the engineering and materials in common. These are the last two but are scheduled Monuments and kept maintained, shame this one was too far gone.

@bullnukeoldman3794 Жыл бұрын

Ruairidh - I have been perusing your videos for a few weeks now and all have been excellent. The clear and concise history presented as well as your commentary, sometimes fairly biting when explaining the backstories of the history, is thoroughly enjoyed by this old man in Western Ohio. Marvelous or, as folks say over there in "Jolly Old", brilliant stuff. Keep it coming, my friend.

@chrisoddy8744 Жыл бұрын

If you haven't done an episode on Belah Viaduct and the Stainmore line, that's a solid concept

@DaiElsan Жыл бұрын

I saw this a few times. Saw Arabesque being filmed on it. Saw it being demolished. Sad end to a spectacular sight. I was 4 years old in 1965. It memory is as fresh to day as it'll I'd seen only yesterday.

@christopherkennedy314 11 ай бұрын

Broomhill Viaduct in Larkhall (South Lanarkshire) which still stands today was the highest viaduct in Scotland. Three miles along the now disused railway line lay also the longest spanning viaduct which was blown up during the mid 1980s.

@charliescott7764 Жыл бұрын

Lovely structure. Thanks for in depth technical explanations and moving pictures. Thank heaven they over engineered the Forth Rail Bridge to ensure its permanence. Maybe try a documentary about Bouch's spindly designs for Forth suspension rail bridge or the Solway Firth bridge

@frostycola42 Жыл бұрын

i live near crumlin and it is a nice village.

@wurzelle1999 Жыл бұрын

An excellent video! Da iawn.

@RHTeebs Жыл бұрын

This was absolutely fantastic! Might I suggest you do a video on the Kinzua Bridge in Northwest Pennsylvania next? That was quite an important bridge in my area back in the day. Used to connect the Erie main line from New York to Chicago. A big wind storm blew it down in 2003.

@villiamo3861 Жыл бұрын

That's a fascinating story. I'm sure you've seen various documentaries about it, but some, such as Discovery ones etc, can be almost unwatchable due to their hyping style. A really good one, focusing straightforwardly on the engineering problems arising with the stiffener plates etc (consequent to some degree on a mid-life restructuring?), was produced by The Open University a while ago. The OU's link isn't very good, but if you google "open university kinzua's weakest link", and instead follow the Apple podcast link (although it says it's for iphones, it works fine on Android), third podcast down is a 10 min vid that's very interesting.

@RHTeebs Жыл бұрын

@@villiamo3861 that's why I want Mr. MacVeigh to do the Kinzua bridge. Because most documentaries always over-do it.

@villiamo3861 Жыл бұрын

@@RHTeebs Suggest you look at the OU one; nothing overkeyed there. But, yes, an RMV one would be welcome, too.

@melodymonger Жыл бұрын

Fascinating, thank you 🙂

@allenharris1069 Жыл бұрын

I remember it well. We used to live in Trinant in the early 60's and used to play on the viaduct before it was destroyed. Jumping the gaps in the planks on the cat walk being one of the favourites . Don't try this at home kids !

@tremensdelirious Жыл бұрын

Great video. Always amazed how much effort and money went into building lines like this, many of which were relatively minor. Testament to both the bravery and recklessness of Victorian/Georgian engineers.

@silvanski Жыл бұрын

Fine documentary about an impressive feat of construction

@lauriecooper8194 Жыл бұрын

Brilliant video Ruairidh, I've seen lots of photographs of the viaduct but hadn't previously realised that it consisted of two separate sections. Thanks for posting this.

@Clivestravelandtrains Жыл бұрын

Wonderful Ruairidh, well worth getting out of bed for this morning. Thanks for your time and effort in making this film. I have always admired civil engineers.

@stardestroyeruk7025 Жыл бұрын

I grew up in the south wales valleys (Caerau/Maesteg) we had so many amazing, beautiful left over buildings, tunnels and bridges form the railway era.... most are now being demolished and removed its very sad to see this history of rail and coal disappearing :(

@kineticdeath Жыл бұрын

all these places around the world where people are living without a clue of some of the structures that once dominated their towns/regions, that there is color footage of this bridge, but barely a physical trace of it ever existing is so weird

@shtehfaw Жыл бұрын

Pretty sure the most famous use of Welsh coal was letting Henry steam up before he got his new shape 🙂

@villiamo3861 Жыл бұрын

Excellent. Thank you.

@lostlandmarks8305 Жыл бұрын

Wonderful work.

@Froobyone Жыл бұрын

Always fascinating material.

@ivorwhitecar Жыл бұрын

That was excellent, thank you.

@AndrewG1989 Жыл бұрын

Now that’s something from the extraordinary. That viaduct is absolutely tall and thin. Where was this taken.

@None-zc5vg Жыл бұрын

The viaduct was used for location shots at the end of the picture "Arabesque", made ca. 1966. Actress Sophia Loren may have actually set foot on it during a chase scene.

@davidlewis2626 11 ай бұрын

My father was station master at Crumlin High Level in the mid 1950s. I walked that bridge with him many times , both at rail level and the catwalk where you see Loren and Peck running.

@majorberk4647 Жыл бұрын

Great Channel . Great range of engineering subjects too.

@idrislewis6896 Жыл бұрын

My father started in Llanhilleth Colliery in 1936 aged 14. He spent first night of WW2 on ARP duty at one end of Crumlin Viaduct. No mention in video of the ammunition trains from the nearby Ordnance factory crossing the viaduct, apparently there are some bomb craters up there but I guess target too difficult for Germans at that stage. I went to school daily on train on that line from Treown crossing Hengoed Viaduct.

@amp9930 Жыл бұрын

Excellent !

@jimdieseldawg3435 Жыл бұрын

Hi 🙂 Along similar lines there was a tall spindly viaduct on the Halesowen to Longbridge branch but it also succumbed to demolition. Tends to be remembered by local folks due to works trains for employees of “The Austin” running across it for many years 🙂 That branch is probably worth a story of its own, particularly if you were to include the Longbridge plant’s internal network and the block trains of parts that lasted long enough for EWS Class 66s to be regular traction in the final days. I very much enjoy your balanced and well-researched content, sir 🙂

@JanicefromKansas Жыл бұрын

Hello from Kansas🇺🇸

@flybobbie1449 Жыл бұрын

Well, i never knew, thanks.

@flybobbie1449 Жыл бұрын

I now live in industrialist Thomas Hill's former home (1770's) , i believe he made his business mining in south Wales, so this part of the world.

@macjim Жыл бұрын

Might I suggest another railway bridge to be looked at, and that was the one that crossed over the Solway Firth… another bridge lost in time.

@craigsibley8161 Жыл бұрын

Good stuff 👍👍👍

@robertbalazslorincz8218 Жыл бұрын

Nice.

@aiferapple1246 Жыл бұрын

Brilliant video, Hengoed is pronounced Hen-Goid

@ajbonmg Жыл бұрын

And Rhymney is pronounce 'Rum-nee'. I was trying to decide whether the entire commentary is computer generated speech.

@jjqq9456 Жыл бұрын

1857-1965 worth every penny the same as the Kinzua bridge which lasted 121 years ❤❤

@TheHylianBatman Жыл бұрын

I wonder if any of the deck was preserved. I would've left one of the piers, probably the Isabella Pier, standing. That's a compromise between "We must preserve this, it's historically significant" and "We must destroy this, it's expensive to maintain and useless".

@fistsofham8474 Жыл бұрын

It's a shame they hadn't the money to preserve this historic structure, even if it was completely understandable. As an aside, at 14:00 It's probably worth mentioning that in addition to the expanding road network, new roads were of particular importance to this area at the time because rubber wheels allow you to make use of roads that are much steeper than railways can achieve, negating the need for this sort of structure in the first place.

@peterallam6494 Жыл бұрын

14/4 23, When does a structure stop as a Bridge & become a Viaduct ? Span is obviously longer on Viaducts. Would like to have an lan Allan abc type spotters book for all these remaining UK structures still in use. Monuments to their Builders.

@me37631 2 ай бұрын

As a 10 year old I watched the viaduct being demolished. One of the cables from a tower to a winch on the side of the hill snapped and hit an elderly man standing near me on his head. It caused a huge gash and there was lots ion blood. I don’t know if he survived.

@Scots_Diesel Жыл бұрын

How about doing a series on lost bridges, such as the lost other Forth bridge at Alloa or the huge trestle bridge on the Stainmore line.

@charliescott7764 Жыл бұрын

Or the one across the Solway

@monumentstosuffering2995 Жыл бұрын

Imagine living beneath the crumblin' viaduct. My crowning achievement was Goring and Streatley Bridges over the Thames. Hasn't required the slightest maintenance in 30 years. Not even paintwork. Quality.

@jontydenton1201 Жыл бұрын

Jeez the colour of the river on colour film….

@donwright3427 Жыл бұрын

Nice good da iawn

@macjim Жыл бұрын

You should do a places lost in time covering Westminster, there’s a place that’s most definitely living in the wrong century 🥸🤣

@Stubwood_on_YT Жыл бұрын

Soo close to 100k

@robertwilloughby8050 Жыл бұрын

Can you do something on the bus company Jones of Aberbeeg? One of the few independent UK bus companies that ended up in the National Bus Company (sounds of Angels singing!) and retained their blue livery amongst the NBC Poppy Red and NBC Leaf Green, until it was finally killed by the creation of National Welsh in 1979.

@PositionLight Жыл бұрын

You should do something related to the Lackawanna Cutoff (either one).

@steamgent4592 Жыл бұрын

That was one long program on just a bridge. Interesting though.

@dougstubbs9637 Жыл бұрын

16:00 “The Ministry of Housniz ……it was spelt like that on the Van “…

@kimvibk9242 Жыл бұрын

Thanks, Doug - you know your classics! 👍

@Dave_Sisson Жыл бұрын

One politician was on the hustings when someone shouted at him "What are you going to do about 'ousing." The famous reply was "put an H in front of it".

@INTERCITY225 Жыл бұрын

In Motion history can you do the class 91 please.

@stuartwilliams3164 Жыл бұрын

Pity about the pronounceation of Welsh words but very good film

@sitishahara7693 Жыл бұрын

Hi!

@Dan_Gyros Жыл бұрын

ok so not related to the video at all but how tf do you pronounce ur first name? I've been trying to figure it out for years. Keep doing the wonderful job ur doing btw, I love ur content

@stewy62 Жыл бұрын

Rory (Ruairidh is the Gaelic spelling)

@Dan_Gyros Жыл бұрын

@@stewy62 interesting and wacky, I love it! thank you! I was thinking like a Rudyard situation but I had no idea

@martyn6792 Жыл бұрын

Such a shame that all we have left is a few videos

@a11csc Жыл бұрын

a web of lies tore down a lovely structure

@Kaiser_Kenny Жыл бұрын

Am I able to mail you a new microphone?

@Kaiser_Kenny Жыл бұрын

I will give you a Blue Snowball for free.

@thirtysixnanoseconds1086 Жыл бұрын

i love the microphone sounds old like the footage

@m.streicher8286 Жыл бұрын

the audio does seem a little worse than average in this one

@EmyrDerfel Жыл бұрын

@@m.streicher8286 the last few have been like this.

@Loehengrin Жыл бұрын

Will it help his pronunciation of Welsh place names?

@craker4658 Жыл бұрын

7/10 for your Welsh pronunciations

@jantyszka1036 Жыл бұрын

Very interesting information about a fascinating structure. What's the betting British Rail inflated the cost of preservation, making demolition the best option? That's how they justified closure of the old North East line from Barnard Castle to Tebay over Stainmore summit. Belah Viaduct was the victim here. Of course, Transport Minister Ernest Marples owning a company which built motorways might have had something to do with it, too.

@Nastyswimmer Жыл бұрын

Not "by far the highest" - just by four feet. The Belah viaduct in Cumberland was 196 feet high

@seany84uk Жыл бұрын

Something of this scale would take 10 years to build now lol

@TheGalacticEmperorOfLabels Жыл бұрын

I think the viaduct should be rebuilt, regardless of cost or utility.

@alanlord399 6 ай бұрын

An interesting video considering the material available. Have spent my youth in Ebbw Vale I managed to see it before it was pulled down. How many words per minute does the narrator manage. God he must have been out of breath. The pronunciation of local place names would have been so so much better had the producer spoken to someone who lived there.