Welcome to the Spring update of Forgotten Relics.

Three bores at Woodhead; two more at Standedge. Beyond these, the UK's next longest disused railway tunnel - at just short of two miles - connects Blaengwynfi and Blaencwm in South Wales. Buried since the 1980s, Rhondda Tunnel is currently the focus of a campaign to reopen it as a cycle path, with the hope that it will bring social and economic rebirth to this former coal heartland. But what condition is it in? We were lowered down a narrow access shaft to find out.

Another tunnel now hoping to benefit from a recycling scheme was driven under Pudsey, West Yorkshire, by the Great Northern Railway in the early 1890s. Greenside Tunnel is in fabulous nick and offers the most benign of conditions: clutter free and entirely dry. Well almost. One single area of considerable water ingress is encountered 170 yards from its eastern end. We investigate the cause.

Newbold Tunnel hosted the historic Coleorton Railway - a product of the 1830s - but looking at it today, you’d think a waterway had passed through it. So it’s wellies on as you venture forth to check out the spalling brickwork and squatting arch. This is a structure that’s feeling its age; however, at 185, it has more reason than most to feel a bit decrepit.

Treffry Viaduct was multi-purpose, designed to carry both water and rails. Costing £6,708, it was regarded at the time of its construction (early 1840s) as the most advanced engineering project on the Cornish peninsula. Although rather lost in trees now, it remains a substantial feature in the landscape, comprising 200,000 cubic feet of locally-quarried granite.

Concrete blocks were fashioned for the eight arches of Tavistock Viaduct which Jon Tuckett has been to awe at. A memorial date stone was laid by the engineer’s wife, Mary Szlumper, on 12th July 1889 to mark its completion, the structure having been decorated specially for the occasion. Now restored to accommodate a walkway, it offers panoramic views over the town and the Devon countryside beyond.