Celebrate 200 Years of Railway History!
In 1825, the Stockton & Darlington Railway opened the world’s first passenger railway station on Tuesday 27th September — a milestone that transformed travel forever. Steam locomotives carried passengers and goods at unprecedented speed, sparking a transport revolution that connected towns, boosted industry, and shaped modern Britain.
This special SideTracked Railway 200 event, at the place that made it possible, is part of a nationwide celebration running from Wednesday 24th to Tuesday 30th September 2025. All finds and hides from this event count towards your SideTracked statistics, and a unique profile badge will be created especially for this event. Whether your chosen location is old, disused, miniature, or still bustling today, it’s part of a railway story that’s been 200 years in the making.
The great Railway Era was the product of two distinct lines of development: the growth of tramways and the appearance of the locomotive steam engine. These were first brought together, albeit in a tentative manner, by Richard Trevithick. On the 21st of February 1804, Richard Trevithick's high-pressure steam engine travelled the Merthyr Tramroad, passing through this tunnel on its way to Abercynon. It pulled five wagons, containing ten tons of iron (the haulage of which was intended to discharge a substantial wager) and seventy passengers (the great majority of whom being last-minute opportunistic day-trippers) - and was the world's first journey by a passenger carrying railway locomotive.
Homfray was so impressed with Trevithick's locomotive that he made a bet of 500 guineas (some £30,000 today) with another ironmaster, Richard Crawshay, that Trevithick's steam locomotive could haul ten tons of iron along the Merthyr Tramroad from Penydarren (51°45′03″N 3°22′33″W) to Abercynon (51°38′44″N 3°19′27″W), a distance of 9.75 miles (15.69 km). On 21 February 1804, amid great interest from the public, it successfully carried 10 tons of iron, five wagons and 70 men the full distance in 4 hours and 5 minutes, at an average speed of approximately 2.4 mph (3.9 km/h). As well as Homfray, Crawshay and the passengers, other witnesses included Mr. Giddy, a respected patron of Trevithick, and an "engineer from the Government".
The Tunnel, built in 1802-3, carryied the Merthyr Tramroad under the furnace charging bank of Plymouth Ironworks. The original tunnel has been extended to the south. The northern end is buried and both tunnels are currently inaccessible, but the south portal of the later tunnel has been 'restored', with new stonework, steel grille, mosaic blocking wall and flooring.
At GZ there are a couple of benches, but you may wish to bring a camping chair. If it's raining, I'll bring a tarp for some shelter. I've timed the event to start around sunset, so it will be getting dark towards the end. I thought it might be a nice idea to light up the mosaic with torches.
Car parking is available about a 5 minute walk away for 12 cars, with more on the road slightly further away.
I've rated the event as T2.0, because while there's a wide tarmac path all the way from the car park, it's got a couple of steep places, some tree roots that have created what's effectively speed bumps, and there's a metal kissing gate that although reasonably large may be too small for a wheelchair. Other access options from parking further away with drop kerbs may be available.
The closest station today is Pentre-Bach, about a 20 minute walk to the event.