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[Pic 6] Cwm Machno Quarry - (Aug 1982)

I couldn't resist adding this double view of the 'A1' incline. On the left is a clear view of the twin tracks at different levels - but also seen is the waterwheel housing just below the summit - which once powered the up-haulage of waste (bound for tips running off from the inclines head) before the conversion to water balance. In the right hand side of the pic is a view looking down the entire length with the tramway (from the base) clearly curving right (over tips that buried earlier workings in the main pit) on it's way to the mills.

[Pic 7] Cwm Machno Quarry - Tunnel through slate tips (Aug 1982)

This was the route out of the qaurry for product bound for the (external) mill and it pierced through the large waste tip that crossed over the main entrance to the site - now long gone after 1980's landscaping - but was in very poor condition when viewed in 1982. Chunks of old rail formed the roof inside - and were not far from collapsing under the strain of tonnes of slate overhead, as can be witness by the 'settling' over the entrance. For reference, look at Pic 1 and the tunnel is located directly between the two mill buildings, right next to a small rectangular building that is still standing to this day and is clearly on view in pic 10 - though with the tunnel now missing behind it.

[Pic 8] Cwm Machno Quarry - Wal on upper workings (Aug 1982)

A Wal (open fronted slaters hut) is a common site throughout the slate industry, with many examples to be found - but few are as good as this one (Pic 5 above) located high in the upper workings of Cwm Machno. This, and several examples close by, make it well worth the climb up through the workings to see. Note the excellent stone work and the large slates used on the roof.

[Pic 9] Cwm Machno Quarry - Long incline (Sept 1986)

A view looking up the long (upper) Incline - which i call 'A3' - from about half way - that drops down from the old upper workings. Note the lower left hand side of the incline where the water filled counterweight truck ran. Also in view are the open workings above that run into opened out chambers, plus, on the left, is the route of the footpath that climbs up over the shoulder of the hillside and then continues on to Rhiwbach Quarry a few miles westwards. Note the slate retaining wall where the path bears left.

[Pic 10] Cwm Machno Quarry - View of the 1980's landscaping (Sept 1986)

Cwm Machno, Like many remote quarries, never enjoyed the success that rail connection* could have bought it but somehow managed to keep going until it finally closed for good in 1962. Just over 30 years later the site was changed by a landscaping scheme designed to remove the unsafe walling and tip (which contained the entrance) and use it to part fill the main pit - which had began to fill with an unnoficial kind of waste. Pic 6 (above) shows the scene after completion of the scheme. As well as the entrance, one of the mill buildings has disapeared and all the remaining openings into the under ground workings have been buried. Note that the stone flooring for the tramway - from the base of 'A1' incline and seen bottom left corner - still partly exists.

* Cwm Machno (& nieghbouring Rhiwfachno) used road cartage from the very beginning, first to the wharves at Trefriw - over 15 miles to the north, then to Bettws-y-Coed once the LNWR reached there. South west, and high uphill, lies the Rhiwbach quarry and its connection through to the Ffestiniog railway via the Rhiwbach tramway - tantalisingly close, but no connection to Cwm Machno ever materialised despite various plans to do so - including the often muted plan to utilise Rhiwbach's long drainage tunnel which emerged in the hillside just to the west of Cwm Machno's main workings.

Notes: More detailed information (especially on the inclines) can be found in: The Slate Regions of North and Mid Wales / Alun John Richards / Gwasg Carreg Gwalch / Page 109)

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