Mierystock Tunnel - Upper Lydbrook, Gloucestershire, UK - Abandoned Train Tunnels on Waymarking.com

The line began in June 1872 with work on the Mierystock Tunnel beginning in the summer of 1872. Two years later trains were using the new link between the Great Western’s network and Gloucestershire’s Severn & Wye line. The tunnel is 242 yards long with a curve at the northern end. It is lined with masonry and has stone portals which are now bricked up apart from small doorways for official access and bats.

During its use a ganger was tragically killed by a train in 1893. Then in 1956 this line from Mierystock Sidings to Lydbrook Junction was closed. The track was lifted on 11th July 1960 and access was blocked in the 1970s.

Colliery waste used to block the cutting but today the trackbed has been claimed by nature. A stream runs along the valley and lush vegetation lines the banks in summer making a natural habitat for wildlife.

There was an attempt to open the tunnel to continue the footpath; currently it is diverted up, across the road and down again. In February 2005 a group of men dug out the northern portal and secured a £50,000 lottery grant which they used to reveal the cutting, moving 30,000 tonnes of colliery waste which was dumped to block the line when it closed. The story on the website below is a must-read and a real inspiration for determination as the tunnel was revealed from its grave.

Construction: Rock & Mortar Condition: Blocked Off Rail Status: No Current status: Abandoned & Visitable Original Use: Freight The "Other End": N 51° 49.865 W 002° 33.543 Tunnel Length: 726.00 Suggested Parking Area: N 51° 49.813 W 002° 33.541 Terrain: Website: [Web Link] Date Built: 1872 Date Abandoned: 1956

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