If we was in the national park we wouldnt be where we are! Our directives are to keep things as they are as much as possible. If extra support work has to go in then so be it. But we would rather keep the structure as it once was where possible.

Sorry, may have confused you! No concrete!

Looking at Graham's pic, I suspect the state of the right hand wall (as you look at it from the outside) is long-standing, ie even if the pile of rubble is removed, it'll still stand up.

However, there are some stones missing and thus the inside face is not vertical - it goes in as it comes down towards the slab it all rests on. If we can clear the rubble (which isn't actually holding anything up), it may be possible to fill in the base of the wall with slabs and a little bit of mortar to bind it all together?

That should cosmetically restore it as well as supporting the base of that wall a bit more?


Incidentally, if you have a look at this picture of Graham's, you will see the very Landie in question, to the left of the adit!

🔗Cwmorthin-Slate-Mine-Archive-Album-Image-004[linkphoto]Cwmorthin-Slate-Mine-Archive-Album-Image-004[/linkphoto][/link]

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The landrover you can see dumped was the first (?) one - they were still using another one when I took the photo! The adit was damp even then, but I suspect a lot wetter now as water is getting in much higher up and then draining down through the ravaged and broken workings.

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Was that before or after they used a Landy in the Lake Level? Was it the same one?

I was disappointed not to be able to go yesterday! That causeway looks very impressive! What happened to the tree?

Sadly the tree seems to have been dead for a while. It fell over a while ago, we tidied it as best we could but it needs a chain saw to cut it up in-situ.

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Was that before or after they used a Landy in the Lake Level? Was it the same one?

They began by working in the chamber at the end of the smoke flue level - but the area was getting creakier and creakier. At the time the Lake Level was blocked by a fall, and the tramway cutting towards it was a quagmire with very big lumps of slate in it! They then reopened the Lake Level - my photo was taken shortly after this occurred, as you can see the scar of removed debris is fresh, as was the timbering just above the entrance. The Lake level was used by the second (?) landrover, not the first. The first was dumped as you can see at floor 2, before the lake level was reopened.

Graham

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Simon Vanoord have unpacked it all yet ,just lets us know if you need any more 2M poles
Big GrinD

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Points noticed about the difference between Vanoord's and Grahami's photo. The Landie one and the 1st work done shot.

Stating the obvious you can see the extent of the land slip. The grassed area to one side and behind the flue has almost completely disappeared. Do we know when and what caused the slip??

A banking has been made to the left of the level entrance as we look at it and to the right of a 'young Graham' extending to camera position.

As the entrance, Graham and the Landie are virtually all on the same line, I doubt very much whether the Landie would have fitted into this level??

For Series One addicts (moi) LRP37L, is no longer registered as such with the DVLA 😞

Fantastic photos to compare with how it was/is. Pre -empted one of my thoughts for the day...to find a "before" picture.
Looking inside the smoke flue, even now, it's amazing how a land rover ever got in there.
It is hard to imagine what the area where it is now 'filled' in where we were digging out, looked like back then.
Great stuff 😉

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As the entrance, Graham and the Landie are virtually all on the same line, I doubt very much whether the Landie would have fitted into this level??

Oh I can assure you that it had done, and it's replacement did - barely. There were bad scrape marks along both sides and along the level, on my interior shot you can see the tyre marks. One of the "risks" of going into Cwmorthin via the Smoke Flue was the chance that you might meet the landrover coming the other way - either arriving or departing - there was no room to pass! It was best to determine whether the men were working or not before venturing.

Graham

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I've just found a couple of photos from November 2005 which show similar angles, and put these, some of GrahamI's 1970s photos and a couple from last weekend into a Lightbox:

http://www.aditnow.co.uk/lightbox/?uid=21&showpulbic=true 

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Oh I can assure you that it had done, and it's replacement did - barely. There were bad scrape marks along both sides and along the level, on my interior shot you can see the tyre marks. One of the "risks" of going into Cwmorthin via the Smoke Flue was the chance that you might meet the landrover coming the other way - either arriving or departing - there was no room to pass! It was best to determine whether the men were working or not before venturing.

Graham

That's incredible, possibly account for the damage to the wings!!

Does anyone know if there are any bits left of the Landies??

I've just found a couple of photos from November 2005 which show similar angles, and put these, some of GrahamI's 1970s photos and a couple from last weekend into a Lightbox:

http://www.aditnow.co.uk/lightbox/?uid=21&showpulbic=true 

The link doesn't seem to work Simon.

The link doesn't seem to work Simon.

Try it now, I forgot to set it to public:

http://www.aditnow.co.uk/lightbox/?uid=21&showpublic=true 

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