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If you would like to add your voice to those seeking to secure a route through the tunnel for a future cycle path, you could sign the e-petition. Those involved would be very grateful for your support. The alternative involves plugging the thing with concrete.
Like Queensbury, Sandsend Tunnel is suffering withdrawal symptoms after closure brought an end to its maintenance regime. It was built as an afterthought when the intended cliff-top route succumbed to incompetence and nature's compelling forces. Now thought this conduit for the inland diversion is also under pressure from the severe lateral forces being exerted on its west sidewall.
Toft Tunnel could not be more of a contrast. Perfectly straight and just 330 yards long, this structure formed part of an ambitious cross-country route connecting the industrial Midlands with the East Coast ports. It's in good order today, enjoying protected status as the centrepiece of a nature reserve which borrows its name.
Coal and paper inspired the assembly of this month's other featured structures. With its attractive curves, Garndiffaith Viaduct carried traffic to and from the many collieries on the Afon valley's west side, north of Pontypool. Hosting a diverging junction, it is twice as wide at its western end as it is at the other. Not many viaducts can make that claim.
And in Fife, Leslie Viaduct (also known by the fabulous alias of Cabbagehall) is single-track width all the way but, like Garndiffaith, the wheels that cross it are now rubber. It is an elegant landscape-defining structure, made all the more impressive by K-Burn's accomplished photography.
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