Garndiffaith Viaduct crosses Viaduct Road (geograph 2137517)

Garndiffaith Viaduct is a largely stone-built

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

viaduct A viaduct is a specific type of bridge that consists of a series of arches, piers or columns supporting a long elevated railway or road. Typically a viaduct connects two points of roughly equal elevation, allowing direct overpass across a wide v ...

that formerly carried the former

Brynmawr and Blaenavon Railway The Brynmawr and Blaenavon Railway was a railway line in South Wales, within the historic boundaries of Brecknockshire and Monmouthshire, originally built in 1866 and immediately leased to the London and North Western Railway to transport coal ...

over the valley of the Avon Ffrwd at the lower end of the village of

Garndiffaith Garndiffaith is a village located in Torfaen, south east Wales. It is a small rural area situated between Talywain and Varteg, three miles north of the town of Pontypool and 3.5 miles south of the town of Blaenavon (a World Heritage Site). The v ...

Torfaen Torfaen (; cy, Torfaen ) is a county borough in the south-east of Wales. Torfaen is bordered by the county of Monmouthshire to the east, the city of Newport to the south, and the county boroughs of Caerphilly and Blaenau Gwent to the south ...

South Wales South Wales ( cy, De Cymru) is a loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, south Wales extends westwards ...

. It is

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

.Forgotten relics
/ref> The viaduct was engineered by John Gardiner between 1876 and 1877 to extend the

LNWR The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom. In 1923, it became a constituent of the Lond ...

line that principally carried coal from

Brynmawr Brynmawr (; , ,) is a market town, community and electoral ward in Blaenau Gwent, Wales. The town, sometimes cited as the highest town in Wales, is situated at above sea level at the head of the South Wales Valleys. It grew with the devel ...

and

Blaenavon Blaenavon ( cy, Blaenafon) is a town and community (Wales), community in Torfaen county borough, Wales, high on a hillside on the source of the Afon Lwyd. It is within the boundaries of the historic county of Monmouthshire (historic), Monmouthshi ...

to meet the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

at Abersychan and Talywain. In 1912 the lines were opened to passenger services operated by the GWR as well as mineral trains, making it easier for miners and other workers to travel up and down the valley. This service ceased in 1941 due to the exigencies of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, but the viaduct remained in use until 1980 when the last mineral train left Blaenavons'

Big Pit Big Pit National Coal Museum ( cy, Pwll Mawr Amgueddfa Lofaol Cymru) is an industrial heritage museum in Blaenavon, Torfaen, Wales. A working coal mine from 1880 to 1980, it was opened to the public in 1983 as a charitable trust called the Big ...

mine. The track was shortly dismantled by

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...

thereafter.

The viaduct today

Today the viaduct has survived well into preservation and is in relatively good condition, now forming part of the

National Cycle Network The National Cycle Network (NCN) is the national cycling route network of the United Kingdom, which was established to encourage cycling and walking throughout Britain, as well as for the purposes of bicycle touring. It was created by the cha ...

Route 46. However, reopening the viaduct to railway traffic has become one of the long-term ambitions of the

Pontypool and Blaenavon Railway The Pontypool and Blaenavon Railway ( cy, Rheilffordd Pont-y-pŵl a Blaenafon) is a volunteer-run heritage railway in South Wales, running trains between a halt platform opposite the Whistle Inn public house (famed for its collection of mi ...

as the viaduct is wide enough to accommodate route-sharing, in which the preserved P&BR could expand over it alongside the cycle-route.

References

Viaduct from Incline, June 2008Photo 1 of Garndiffath Viaduct

Photo 2 of Garndiffath Viaduct
{{coord, 51.7327, -3.0687, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Railway bridges in Monmouthshire Railway viaducts in Wales Pedestrian bridges in Wales Grade II listed buildings in Torfaen Former railway bridges in the United Kingdom