vanoord
December 7th, 2007, 17:43
I'll be accused of making a nuisance of myself shortly! Here's a few pics of the back vein incline area of Cwmorthin slate mine:
Crashed truck on the incline - this is a couple of floors down from 'ground level' and shows a truck presumably pushed down by vandals which has wedged halfway down. The photo is taken looking up a slope of perhaps 30 degrees.
http://images.fotopic.net/yqjbwf.jpg
Because of the dangers of walking down a working incline, one of the worked-out chambers nearby was used as a stairway: one of the proposed works in the next few months is to reinstate the wooden steps.
http://images.fotopic.net/yqjbvz.jpg
To either side of the incline, chambers lead off, often with their floor worked away. To maintain access, bridges were built over the depths below: most are long gone, but in some cases just the massive main timbers remain.
http://images.fotopic.net/yqjbw5.jpg
http://images.fotopic.net/yqjbv0.jpg
The area at the bottom of the incline is now flooded and trucks stand idle - probably in the same place they were finally abandoned when the mine closed at the start of World War II:
http://images.fotopic.net/yqjbvw.jpg
This is a low as you can get in this part of the mine: the incline down to the next working level is flooded, its crane-like winder standing alone in a massive chamber - the greeny/blue patch of water marks the incline down.
http://images.fotopic.net/yqjbw2.jpg
For further information on Cwmorthin, have a look at Friends of Cwmorthin (http://www.cwmorthin.co.uk). Work is ongoing to repair the main adit to prevent further collapses and to keep the mine open. Some pics of the recent retimbering work to the adit are in this thread (http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?p=339577#post339577) and there's a full set of these pics here. (http://www.aditnow.co.uk/album/The-Back-Vein-Incline/?gowhere=%2f)
Crashed truck on the incline - this is a couple of floors down from 'ground level' and shows a truck presumably pushed down by vandals which has wedged halfway down. The photo is taken looking up a slope of perhaps 30 degrees.
http://images.fotopic.net/yqjbwf.jpg
Because of the dangers of walking down a working incline, one of the worked-out chambers nearby was used as a stairway: one of the proposed works in the next few months is to reinstate the wooden steps.
http://images.fotopic.net/yqjbvz.jpg
To either side of the incline, chambers lead off, often with their floor worked away. To maintain access, bridges were built over the depths below: most are long gone, but in some cases just the massive main timbers remain.
http://images.fotopic.net/yqjbw5.jpg
http://images.fotopic.net/yqjbv0.jpg
The area at the bottom of the incline is now flooded and trucks stand idle - probably in the same place they were finally abandoned when the mine closed at the start of World War II:
http://images.fotopic.net/yqjbvw.jpg
This is a low as you can get in this part of the mine: the incline down to the next working level is flooded, its crane-like winder standing alone in a massive chamber - the greeny/blue patch of water marks the incline down.
http://images.fotopic.net/yqjbw2.jpg
For further information on Cwmorthin, have a look at Friends of Cwmorthin (http://www.cwmorthin.co.uk). Work is ongoing to repair the main adit to prevent further collapses and to keep the mine open. Some pics of the recent retimbering work to the adit are in this thread (http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?p=339577#post339577) and there's a full set of these pics here. (http://www.aditnow.co.uk/album/The-Back-Vein-Incline/?gowhere=%2f)