DEVELOPMENT – PLATFORM 2 AT BLAENAVON HIGH LEVEL STATION (Step 1.4.3)

Blaenavon (High Level) - Platform 2 (uploaded 13 October 2009)

In overall plan terms Platform 2 at Blaenavon (High Level) station (referred to henceforth as BHL) is quite a long way down the development priority list. There is unlikely to be an operational requirement for such a platform for several years, furthermore there is no funding to support its construction. So why are we getting involved in it now?

Our gallant New Works team have built two platforms in two years, and certainly can be viewed as experienced by any standards. The team are at BHL, and have been effectively marooned, so that if work is prevented on Platform 1 for any reason, their gaze naturally falls on Platform 2, and with their innate desire to ‘get on with things’, Platform 2 became irresistible. As things stand, it will not be possible to embark on construction of the platform at Big Pit for several months. The team have also demonstrated that they can build platforms very economically, using scrap material wherever possible. As an example of their parsimony, new 2 x 4in timber was used to provide slab shuttering for Platform 2 at Furnace Sidings. It was then used to provide props for the platform overhang. It then went to BHL Platform 1, where it was again used to provide shuttering. It was then used to provide supports for the windows and door apertures during the construction of the building walls. Finally, those bits that were long enough were used to provide posts for signs, and those pieces that were too short were used to build trestles and horses. Within the overall plan, it is exceedingly unlikely that, in physical terms, there will be time to do more than make a start on Platform 2, before the Big Pit platform calls, nevertheless it has forced a more detailed examination of the plans, and a more critical ground survey has been made.

In physical terms platform 2 will be almost mirror image of its partner. That is to say it will have a flat top surface that is 267 feet long, with ramps at each end, each about 21 feet long. The construction will essentially copy Platform 1, that is, coping stones about 2 feet wide along the platform edge, with the bulk of the platform surfaced in tarmac. There will be no ‘planked’ portion as on Platform 1, as there was no signal box, which required a route for its wires and rods under the platform. On the north end of Platform 2 once stood a water tank supported on a masonry structure. There are also signs that there may have been a water crane situated there. The extent to which these can be reconstructed or reproduced is as yet unknown, and will need some deft archaeology by the New Works team before we can judge how to proceed.

The cycleway runs very close and parallel to the site of platform 2. There is a minimum width specified for passenger platforms, and for a while we had thought that we would have insufficient width to accommodate the platform without encroaching, albeit slightly, onto the platform. Indeed, preliminary discussions had already been opened with the local authority about adjusting the fence line. This had the potential to grow into a process needing protracted quasi-legal negotiations, before the ground survey noted above revealed that there was not only sufficient room, but several inches of slack. Although the platform, as a mirror image of Platform 1, will be dead level, and of the same height. the cycleway, against which Platform 2 will essentially abut, slopes gently downwards towards the south, and is generally lower than the platform. At the north end the cycletrack is about six inches lower than the platform, about twelve inches at the centre and about 20inches lower at the south end. Accordingly, there will be a low block wall at the back of the platform, and the plan is to build a low edge nine inches wide and about two or three inches high at the back of the platform (built from yellow bricks recovered from the building) which will carry a typical LNWR fence along its length, of identical pattern to that on Platform 1. Unfortunately, as things stand, it is unlikely that there will be sufficient space to build even a rudimentary shelter.

Although more images will be added in the next day or so, the few below are added to ‘start things off’.

This is a view, probably from around the mid-fifties, looking southwards with Platform 1 on the left – and of course, Platform 2 on the right. The first locomotive is one of the heavy 42xx 2-8-0T locos, and the one behind appears to be of the same class. These were the usual locos to work the empties up, and coal down. However the main reason for this picture is to show the water crane to the right of the leading loco, for it is the drain associated with this crane that is featured in the images below. In fact, to the left of the loco in the rear it is JUST possible to see the water crane at the south end of Platform 1, which once stood in the blue brick walled structure to the south of the platform. Getting a water crane back into operation at either of the sites of their predecessors would be a real challenge.

Left: Looking broadly south , the northern end of the site of Platform 2 has an indentation in it. This was the site of the drain for the water crane, the upright of which lay to its right. 0370 – 11 Oct 09 Right: Standing on the platform and looking in the opposite direction the water crane would have been placed on the left. On the right are new sleepers, dropped ready for laying in Platform 1 by the PWay crew, parts of which can be seen on the upper right. 0371 – 11 Oct 09

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