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 YouTubers. 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): [email protected]
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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)