....and McBad spake unto the tribes of Usenet, saying...
> "Steve Taylor" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>> Austin Shackles wrote:
>>
>>>> What, actually with track ? Like richard said, the stuff he
>>>> mentioned is pretty interesting, given the period, it would have
>>>> to have been for Brunel's broad gauge.
>>>
>>> that was the rumour. It was something that was built and sidelined
>>> so to speak. Could well be the thing Richard is talking about, but
>>> I don't know.
>>>
>>> This was something our history teacher told us, ISTR.
>>
>> Sounds like we should have a proper expedition to find out then. See
>> you in the summer.
>>
>> Steve
>
> Sounds interesting. The next time I'm down there I'll ask some
> questions. The people I am working with have had at least a couple of
> generations of the family living in that immediate area so maybe
> they'll know the location of any ruins / track.
>
> M.
I can tell you what I know, that's all! Apparently, Brunel wanted to build
a terminus for his new railway linking London with a suitable port for the
Atlantic and on to America. His first choice was Abermawr (a tiny village
on the West Wales coast). He got as far as building many of the buildings,
platforms etc before changing his mind and routing the line of the railway
to Neyland on the Milford Haven waterway. (Even that one never took off,
but that's another story.)
I haven't been there for a while, but as I remember it you park the car on a
bend in the road and climb over a fence into a field. You walk perhaps half
a mile across the field and then you start to enter a wooded valley. The
valley drops down perhaps another half mile before reaching the sea with a
small beach and a huge shingle bank. The woods in the valley are quite
dense, but as you walk through you begin to see straight lines where there
shouldn't be any, and odd shadows that don't belong, and if you look hard,
there are the foundations of buildings and a couple of platforms. The last
time I was there (7-8 years ago) we were headed for the beach with the kids,
so I didn't explore further, but I imagine with a decent pair of boots you
could explore all over the area and find some pretty interesting stuff.
That's assuming it hasn't been discovered by the Heritage Industry and
turned into an interactive Visitor Center (tm) with plastic dinosaurs and a
Macdonalds. I doubt it. As far as I remember, there was no track anywhere.
Next free weekend (ie when the S2a is through its MoT and back in service) I
will whizz down and have another look. This thread has rekindled my
interest. Pembrokeshire does have lots of History.
--
Rich
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Disco 300 Tdi auto
S2a 88" SW
Tiggrr (V8 trialler)