In mid-September 2026, I picked up a copy of the Souvenir Brochure for the closure of the Swansea and Mumbles Railway which occurred on 5th January 1960. Photographs of the pages of the brochure appear in the Appendix to this article.
Throughout the country, the internal combustion engine was beginning its ascendancy and many in national and local government together with those providing transport had been won over by the arguments which supported the rise of petrol and diesel-powered vehicles. Looking back from the 21st century, we can see that, while there was some value in the arguments put forward, the net effect has been significantly disadvantageous to the built environment and to our ability to get around. We also know now that Internal combustion engines have been heavily polluting and have contributed to the warming of our planet.
The closure of the Swansea & Mumbles Railway is just one example among so many, of decision-makers turning away from trams to buses amid the significant rise in car ownership. The reducing patronage of the line was partly caused by these transitions but it was also essentially a self-fulfilling prophecy. Expenditure on maintenance and renewals was perceived as unnecessary because of the lower demand for the service, this in turn resulted in a further lowering in patronage!
The brochure for the closure of the line talks of the way in which “More and more car owners meant fewer and fewer train passengers and naturally, a subsequent loss of earnings.” [1] It says that, “Not only did the traffic fall but costs increased alarmingly. The railway began to lose money. It had to be subsidised by the rest of the South Wales Transport undertaking; in effect, the bus passenger. Just as steam had ousted the horse, just as electricity had ousted steam, the internal combustion engine was ousting electricity. The 1950’s saw marked developments in the motor bus. It got bigger and better.” [1]
Perhaps inevitably the future horizon began to contract and all decisions were focussed on the here-and-now or the next few years. The result was lower investment and then a very significant cost for upgrading – £350,000. At the end of the 1950s that must have felt like a fortune. The decision was inevitable. The brochure tells us that “With great reluctance, the Directors [of the South Wales Transport Company] decided to close the undertaking and supplant it with services of modern, well-equipped motor buses.” [1]
So ends the story! The brochure finishes with a eulogy and with paragraphs which extol the motor bus as ‘the future’ of public transport:
“Whilst we have recorded briefly in cold facts the important stages in the development of the Mumbles Railway, coupled with that history has been a warm and human relationship between the Railway and the residents of Swansea and Mumbles. Maybe because it was to many a symbol of happiness by the seaside.
“It is little wonder then, when its ultimate fate was announced, that there was a distinct feeling of personal loss.
“In its passing it lays down the mantle of the ‘Oldest Surviving Passenger Railway in the World’ but no one can take from it the proud title of being the ‘First Passenger Railway in the World. We emphasise this as it passes from our everyday scene into the realms of history. What of the future? The closure of the railway does not mean the end of 155 years of public service. Far from it. That service will still continue with greater ability and efficiency to meet the demands of the traveller, in this modern day and age of 1960. The motor bus knows no boundary.” [1]
In the 21st century, First Cymru operates frequent regular bus services (such as routes 2A and 2B) connecting Swansea city centre directly to Oystermouth and Mumbles. The former railway route along the seafront now forms part of a popular walking and cycling track. Recent council updates to the Mumbles seafront have even embedded smart aluminium strips into the paving as a visual nod to the old Mumbles Railway tracks. Transport planners and local groups occasionally discuss light rail, tram-train, or wider Swansea Bay Metro concepts, but a dedicated rail link returning to Mumbles remains a long-term proposal rather than an active project.
As we look back from the 21st century, aware of the way things are now perceived, it is reasonable to speculate about ‘what might have been’ had significant investment been made on improvement of the tram network rather than it being set aside in favour of the ‘modern bus’!
A consultancy report – Greengauge21: Shaping Tomorrow’s Railways [2] – concluded that a “Swansea Bay Metro could use the same technology that is being developed for tram-style operation into Cardiff Bay to provide access to Swansea city centre from key valley towns such as Pontypridd and Aberdare. … Given where passenger railways started 214 years ago, someone is bound to ask whether the light rail into Swansea city centre could be extended to Mumbles. That is a challenge we leave for others to ponder.” [2]
The History of the Line
The Swansea and Mumbles Railway stakes a claim to be the world’s first passenger railway. [3] It was originally built under an Act of Parliament, the Oystermouth Railway or Tramroad Act 1804, to move limestone from the quarries of Mumbles to Swansea and to the markets beyond, it carried the world’s first fare-paying railway passengers under an agreement effective from 25th March 1807. It later moved from horse power to steam locomotion, and was finally converted to electric power, using the largest tram cars ever built for service in Britain. [3]
At the time of the railway’s closure, it was claimed to have been the world’s longest serving railway, although this distinction has to be qualified because other railways which were used solely for goods traffic (e.g. the Middleton Railway in Leeds, Yorkshire, dating from 1758) had been operating for longer. [4]
Wikipedia tells us that, “There was no road link between Swansea and Oystermouth at the beginning of the 19th century and the original purpose of the railway was to transport coal, iron ore and limestone. Construction seems to have been completed in 1806 and operations began without formal ceremony, using horse-drawn vehicles. As constructed, the line ran from the Brewery Bank adjacent to the Swansea Canal in Swansea, around the wide sweep of Swansea Bay to a terminus at Castle Hill (near the present-day Clements Quarry) in the tiny isolated fishing village of Oystermouth (known as Mumbles). There was also a branch from Blackpill which ran up the Clyne valley for nearly 1 mile (1.6 km) to Ynys Gate which was intended to promote the development of the valley’s coal reserves.” [4]
“In February 1807, approval was given to carry passengers along the line, when one of the original proprietors, Benjamin French, offered to pay the company the sum of twenty pounds in lieu of tolls for the right to do so for twelve months from the following quarter day, 25th March 1807. This is usually cited as the date when the first regular service carrying passengers between Swansea and Oystermouth began, thus giving the railway the claim of being the first passenger railway in the world. Passenger services operated from The Mount, the world’s first recorded railway station. [5: p333] The venture was … a success … The following year, French joined with two others in offering the increased sum of twenty five pounds to continue the arrangement for a further year, but the construction of a turnpike road parallel to the railway in the mid-1820s robbed it of much of its traffic and the passenger service (by that time in the hands of one Simon Llewelyn) ceased in 1826 or 1827, ironically just as events elsewhere in the United Kingdom (particularly in the north east of England) were paving the way for the development of railways as a truly national and international transport system for both goods and passengers.” [4]
“In its early days the line operated in the same manner as the contemporary canals and turnpike roads. Tolls and charges were laid down in the enabling act of Parliament and any trader could use the line on provision of a suitable waggon and after paying the appropriate toll to the owning Company. The railway was laid in the form of a plateway, with the rails being approximately 4 ft (1,219 mm) apart.” [6: p48]
Wikipedia continues: “After cessation of the passenger service the line became derelict and the original company of proprietors virtually moribund. The Clyne valley branch was re-laid in 1841/2 and extended for a further 1 mile (1.6 km) (as a private line) to the Rhydydefaid colliery where George Byng Morris, the son of one of the original proprietors, had started to exploit the coal and iron reserves of the valley. From about 1855, George Byng Morris took the line in hand, re-laid it with edge rails, as a conventional railway, to the standard gauge of 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) and reintroduced a horse-drawn passenger service between Swansea and a terminus at The Dunns in Oystermouth.” [4]
Trials were undertaken in 1877 using “one of Henry Hughes’ patent tramway locomotives, … ‘Pioneer’. These were successful and two further locomotives of the same type were obtained, although a dispute between the Swansea Improvements and Tramway Company (SI&T) (which owned the locomotives) and the line’s then owner, John Dickson (who had come into possession following the death of George Byng Morris) meant that horses continued to operate certain services until 1896.” [4]
More about Hughes’ locomotives can be found here, [7] here, [8] here [9] and here. [10]
At the end of the 19th century, “there was a junction between the Mumbles Railway and the Swansea town tramway system at the Slip, allowing SI&T cars to run through from Swansea town centre to Oystermouth. The nature of the dispute was such that the Swansea & Mumbles company demanded that the SI&T horse cars should follow their own steam-hauled services on the line. In 1889, a new company, the Mumbles Railway and Pier Company, was incorporated to extend the railway beyond Oystermouth to a new pier close to Mumbles Head. The first section, to Southend, was opened in 1893 and the remainder, including the pier, in 1898.” [4]
“The Clyne valley branch continued to be used for coal traffic from Rhydydefaid pit until its closure in 1885 after which the entire branch fell into disuse. In 1896 the promoters of the Gower Light Railway proposed incorporating it into their scheme but nothing came of it. The original branch to Ynys Gate (as authorised in 1804) was relaid in connection with the Clyne Valley slant (opened 1903) and used for coal traffic until the colliery closed in 1915. The extension of 1841/2 remained abandoned until 1920 when a narrow-gauge tramway was laid on its formation to carry coal from Ynys slant to Ynys Gate. This was used only until 1921 when the slant closed. There was then no further traffic on the branch, although the track remained in situ and was still usable as late as 1936 when it is recorded that a diesel locomotive made a trip up the branch as far as Ynys Gate.” [4]
“A somewhat motley collection of steam locomotives was used to maintain services between 1877 and 1929, beginning with the Hughes tramway locomotives mentioned above (which were actually owned by the SI&T and therefore not able to be used on the railway after 1878). Dickson had purchased two saddle tank locomotives of more conventional outline from the Falcon Engine & Car Works (successor to Hughes’s Locomotive and Tramway Engine Works), and two more from Manning Wardle & Co of Leeds in the early 1880s. A further locomotive (originally numbered 5, later 3) came from the Hunslet Engine Company of Leeds in 1885.” [4]
“When the new Swansea and Mumbles Railway Company took over operations in 1890 it ordered two 0-4-0 saddle tank locomotives from Black, Hawthorn & Co of Gateshead. These were delivered in 1891 and numbered 1 and 2; they worked on the line until after the First World War. Two larger 0-6-0 side tank locomotives were obtained from the Hunslet Engine Company in 1898; numbered 4 and 5, they bore the brunt of the passenger service until well into the 1920s. The nominally independent Mumbles Railway and Pier Company ordered a 0-4-0 saddle tank from the Brush Electrical Engineering Co of Loughborough (successor to the Falcon Engine & Car Works) in 1906 and this carried plates reading “MR & P No. 3” to denote its ownership. Finally, a second-hand Avonside 0-6-0ST was obtained and named Swansea. All were tank locomotives of 0-4-0 or 0-6-0 wheel arrangement. Ownership was vested variously in the Swansea and Mumbles Railway Company or the Mumbles Railway and Pier Company (and sometimes transferred between the two for accounting purposes)[4] and as early as the 1890s there is evidence that the railway was having to hire in locomotives to supplement its own fleet. By the 1920s, locomotives were regularly being hired from a local dealer, Charles Williams of Morriston, and frequently appear in photographs of the railway.” [4]
“The line celebrated its centenary in 1904, producing a special commemorative brochure for the occasion. Two years previously, a notable experiment had been carried out, namely the introduction of battery-powered ‘accumulator’ cars. These were not a success, but one of the cars was retained after the electrical equipment had been stripped out and used to convey parties of visiting dignitaries, including King Edward VII when he and his consort, Queen Alexandra, visited Swansea for the ceremonial cutting of the first sod of the King’s Dock in July 1904. The car was used again for the visit of King Edward’s successor, King George V, in 1920, when he officiated at the opening of the Queen’s Dock.” [4]
Electrification – “The line was electrified in 1928 at 650 V DC using overhead transmission – giving it the distinction of having used three forms of regular locomotive power over the years (i.e. horse, steam and electricity). Trials began on 6 July 1928 [5] and full electric services were introduced on 2 March 1929, using a fleet of eleven double-deck cars built by the Brush Electrical Engineering Co of Loughborough, in Leicestershire. These were the largest ever built for service in Britain and each could seat 106 passengers. [6] Furthermore, they were frequently operated in pairs, giving a total seating capacity of 212 per train.” [4]
“Two further cars were added later, bringing the fleet strength up to thirteen. A four-wheeled petrol-mechanical locomotive was acquired from Hardy Railmotors of Slough, then in Buckinghamshire, to handle the residual goods traffic on the railway, but this proved to be underpowered and was replaced after a few years by a diesel-mechanical locomotive from John Fowler & Co, of Leeds. The Hardy locomotive was retained for a few years and used for shunting the cars in the depot, which was on the site of the former carriage sheds, adjacent to the Rutland Street terminus, and for inspection of the overhead line equipment, but it had been dismantled by 1954, when parts were used in the construction of a replica horse-drawn car to celebrate the line’s 150th anniversary.” [4]
“In 1958, the South Wales Transport Company (the principal operator of motor bus services in the Swansea town area and predecessor of the modern-day First Cymru company) purchased the railway from the old owning companies (the Swansea and Mumbles Railway Limited, and the Mumbles Railway and Pier Company), having previously been the lessee in succession to the Swansea Improvements and Tramways Company since the 1930s, and the following year went to Parliament with an abandonment bill. Despite vociferous local opposition, the bill became law as the South Wales Transport Act 1959.” [4]
The South Wales Transport Company wasted no time in closing down the line! Their closure brochure/pamphlet is reproduce as Appendix 1 to this article.
There remains a debate about whether the line was a railway or a tramway. This is discussed in Appendix 2 to this article.
“The railway had a multitude of stopping places over the years, but at the time of electrification in 1929 the officially recognised stations from Swansea to Mumbles (as published in Bradshaw)” [4] were:
Rutland Street
St Helen’s (frequently known as “The Slip”)
Brynmill
Ashleigh Road
Between Ashleigh Road and Blackpill stations the railway was crossed by the LM&SR Central Wales line from Swansea Victoria to Shrewsbury, at a point close to the LM&SR Mumbles Road station. There was a Mumbles Road name board under the bridge on the Mumbles Railway line, but if this was an official stopping place for Mumbles Railway cars it was not recognised as such by Bradshaw.
Swansea Victoria was “opened to passenger and goods traffic on 14th December 1867. Owned successively by the Llanelly Railway and Dock Company (1867 to 1871), the Swansea and Carmarthen Railways Company (1871 to 1873), the London and North Western Railway Company (L.N.W.R., 1873 to 1922), the London, Midland and Scottish Railway Company (L.M.S., 1923 to 1947) and British Railways (1948 to 1964), it was served by trains to and from Shrewsbury, Crewe, Liverpool, Manchester and York and formed the southern terminus of the Central Wales line, most of which is still operational as the Heart of Wales Line. Victoria closed in June 1964. … The site was subsequently cleared and used for Swansea Leisure Centre.” [12]
Production of gas at Swansea Gas Works dates back to 1841 when Swansea Gas Light Company began making gas by burning coal. The site ceased producing gas in 1922 and the facility was used for gas distribution until 1949 and then as a gas operations centre.
Swansea Bay is a former railway station in Swansea next to Swansea Bay, in South Wales, opened to passenger and goods traffic on 14 December 1867. [21] Owned successively by the Llanelly Railway and Dock Company (1867 to 1871), the Swansea and Carmarthen Railways Company (1871 to 1873), the London and North Western Railway Company (LNWR, 1873 to 1922), the London, Midland and Scottish Railway Company (LMS, 1923 to 1947) and British Railways (1948 to 1964), it was served by trains to and from Shrewsbury, Crewe, Liverpool, Manchester and York and formed the southern terminus of the Central Wales line, most of which is still operational as the Heart of Wales Line. Swansea Bay closed in June 1964, having been listed in the Report on the Reshaping of British Railways (better known as the Beeching Report) the previous year. [22] The former station is near ‘The Slip’ opposite the Bay View Public House. It was adjacent to the Swansea and Mumbles Railway which was closed in 1960, and opposite the Western end of St Helen’s Road, which until the 1930s was the terminus of one of the Town tram lines. [20]
To the West of Swansea Bay Railway Station, the tramway followed the road between Singleton Park and the LNWR line which followed the sea wall. [19]Again, a similar area showing the route of the line overlaid on modern satellite imagery. [17]
Singleton Park covers approximately 250 acres. An ornamental garden is located in the south, near the entrance to Swansea University, while a walled botanical garden is located in the park centre. On the south-western corner, past the hospital and the university, is a boating lake, as well as a miniature golf course. [23]
Wikipedia tells us that, “The park was originally part of the Vivian family estate. It was purchased by Swansea County Borough Council in 1919 for use as a public park. Park superintendent Daniel Bliss, who was trained at Kew Gardens, conceived of the Singleton Farm botanical gardens and Ornamental Gardens. He was the main driver behind the purchase of the estate. [23]
During the Second World War, the park hosted the Armaments Research Department a detachment of the Woolwich Arsenal under Sir Robert Robertson (1869-1949). While in 1944 over 1500 American soldiers were billeted for training on the beaches prior to landing on Omaha Beach, Normandy. … A Gorsedd stone circle was erected in 1925 for the Eisteddfod held in Singleton Park, Swansea, and was enlarged in 1964. [23]
A hundred metres or so short of the railway bridge a branch line left the main line of the Swansea & Mumbles Railway. This branch line was opened in the first decade of the 19th century and remained in use until as late as the Second World War. … The Clyne Valley Tramway is covered in a separate article which can be found here. [27]
Looking West from Mumbles Road between Glyn Crescent (off to the right of the image) and Derwen Fawr Road (beyond and to the left of the car). The straight blue line is the main line of the Swansea & Mumbles Railway, the curved line approximates to the line of the Clyne Valley Tramway. [Google Streetview, July 2025]
At Mumbles Road Station, the LNWR line crossed over the Swansea & Mumbles Railway and the main coastal road via the Blackpill railway bridge. A Swansea & Mumbles Railway name board was also positioned just under the bridge. The LNWR station featured a goods yard, sidings, and a signal box.
The Blackpill Railway Bridge seen from the South. The LNWR line crossed both the Swansea & Mumbles Railway and the Mumbles Road. Mumbles Road Station on the LNWR line is at high level off to the left of this image. [26]looking Southwest along Mumbles Road: Blackpill Bridge was approximately at the location of the pelican crossing. [Google Streetview, July 2025]Looking Northeast along Mumbles Road to the location of Blackpill Bridge. [Google Streetview, July 2025]South of the junction with the Clyne Valley branch the main line of the Swansea & Mumbles Railway passed under Blackpill Bridge and in the hamlet of BlackPill there was a tramstop/station which can be seen on this map extract. Initially, South of the station/tramstop the line continued in the East-side shoulder of Mumbles Road. This arrangement changed in the early years of the 20th century. [19]At the turn of the 20th century, the tramway had been diverted away from Mumbles Road to follow the coast wall. It appears on that alignment in this extract from the 6″ Ordnance Survey of 1913/1914, published in 1921. [28]
Railmaponline.com shows both alignments superimposed on modern satellite imagery. [17]
The later alignment with significant storage lines at Liliput. This length also takes us to the bottom edge of the OS Sheet. [28]
This extract from railmaponline.com shows the two routes continuing through Liliput. [17]
Looking South close to the location of Liliput Station. The original railway alignment was at the kerb line of Mumbles Road, the newer line was beside the sea. Both are marked by blue lines. [Google Streetview, July 2025]Another South-facing view along the line of the newer route, this image is again provided by the City and County Survey Team. [Google Streetview, April 2026]
The original alignment as far as Norton Road Station. This is an extract from the 6″ Ordnance Survey of 1896/1897, published in 1900. [29]
The two alignments meet again at the location of Norton Road Station. By the time of this survey, Norton Road Station appears not to be in use and a station has been provided to the North at West Cross. This extract comes from the 6″ Ordnance Survey of 1913, published in 1921.[30]
The Swansea & Mumbles Railway: Over 155 Years of Service: Souvenir Brochure; The South Wales Transport Company Ltd, 5th January 1960. See the Appendix below.
Stephen Hughes; The Archaeology of an Early Railway System: The Brecon Forest Tramroads; Royal Commission on Ancient and Historical Monuments in Wales, 1990;; via https://books.google.com/books?id=C-pzUWrCU5sC&pg=PA333, accessed on 17th September 2026.
Charles E. Lee; The Swansea & Mumbles Railway; Oakwood Press, Oxford, 1988.
The Swansea & Mumbles Railway: Over 155 Years of Service: Souvenir Brochure
Appendix 2
Railway or Tramway?
“The railway is frequently referred to as a tramway, but the original name of the company of proprietors was the Oystermouth Railway or Tramroad Company, the word tramroad being used in its pre-railway context. The original right of way was unique and it was only after the construction of the turnpike road in the 1820s that the line assumed its roadside character. The introduction of steam locomotion in the 1870s was facilitated by a clause in the original act which authorised the “haling or drawing” of waggons by “men, horses, or otherwise” and owed nothing to the Tramways Act 1870 (33 & 34 Vict. c. 78).” [4]
“The passenger rolling stock used in steam days bore little resemblance to conventional railway carriages, employing open-top, “toast-rack” and “knifeboard” seating, and being built by companies more commonly associated with the construction of urban tramcars, such as G.F. Milnes & Co., Starbuck & Falcon, etc. After electrification the resemblance to an urban tramway became more marked with the introduction of the huge Brush-built electric cars and because of the style of operation (the signalling was used only to regulate entry to the passing loops and not to control the actual running of cars). The track was always laid with conventional railway-type rail and not grooved tram-rail and the railway also handled conventional goods wagons (exchanged with the London and North Western Railway (the London, Midland and Scottish Railway after January 1923) at Mumbles Road station and with the Great Western Railway at the Swansea terminus). In the early nineteenth century a tramway was a line for mineral wagons (trams), the term railway being used when edge rails replaced plates. The term tramway did not become almost exclusively associated with urban transport systems until after the passing of the Tramways Act 1870 (33 & 34 Vict. c. 78).” [4]
The featured image for this article shows a Powlesland and Mason locomotive (withdrawn 1927) crossing Oystermouth Road, Swansea just outside the gate pillars of the rail entrance to the gas works, probably in the early 1920s. This or similar locomotives would have transported Clyne Valley coal to the gas works. The image was shared on the Industrial Locomotive Enthusiasts Facebook Group by Dave Roberts on 20th August 2026. The photographer is not know, (c) Public Domain. [17]
In the very early 19th century, The Clyne Valley Tramway was built (around 1804–1807) as a branch line extension of the Oystermouth Railway (Swansea & Mumbles Railway) to transport coal and timber out of the Clyne Valley.
The Clyne Valley Mineral Railway. The solid black line is the main line of the Swansea & Mumbles Railway. The dotted line is the LNWR line from Swansea and up the Clyne Valley. [7]
Promoted initially by John Morris I and John Morris II, the tramroad/tramway connected local coal workings—such as early bell pits and the Rhydydefaid pit—down through the valley toward Swansea Bay and local docks.
During the 19th century, the tramway and its branches served a number of industrial sites, including later collieries like Clyne Wood Colliery (opened 1868), ironworks, chemical works, and the Clyne Valley Brickworks.
Industrial operations in the valley wound down by the early 20th century (with lines largely abandoned by the 1920s and tracks lifted around World War II).
“From about 1812 a number of large underground pits were excavated of which at least 5 are known. An arsenic and copper works was opened in 1837; acetic acid works in 1856; and brickworks in 1875. In 1865, the main line came through the valley and at least one colliery was directly connected to it. There was also a horse racing course, which was between Killay and Olchfa and operated between 1866 and 1927.” [1]
The Clyne branch parted from the line to Oystermouth at Blackpill and “followed a course close to the river as far as a spot referred to in the Act as Ynys – in modern terms about 250 yards to the north of the pond beside the cycle track (NGR SS 61249 91599). The sinuous track that now runs on the level beside the east bank of the river follows the course of the railway. The total length of the branch was about 1,450 yards.” [6]
“The first mention of Clyne Valley coal being carried on the railway comes in March 1812 when the minutes of the railway company (now in the Richard Burton Archives in Swansea University) notes that ‘Mr Morris’ [i.e. John Morris II] had opened a colliery on the line of the tramroad. This colliery can perhaps be identified with the colliery to which the modern name Ynys has been given. In the last quarter of 1812 the first payment by Morris of tolls on ‘Coals from Ynis to sundry parts of Tramroad’ is recorded. Similar payments were then made every quarter until September 1814. After that, there is no further record of tolls on Ynis coal until entries in the cash book cease early in 1816. This strongly suggests that the colliery was in production for two years only, 1812–14.” [6]
Later, John Morris II, now Sir John, once again became involved with the line, he “became mortgagee in possession of the railway on 21st December 1819. For a time the company continued to have the semblance of corporate existence but by 1847 George Byng Morris, the grandson of Sir John, had assumed the role of absolute proprietor.” [6]
The Clyne Valley Community Project tells us that after John Morris II ceased working in 1816 it appears that there was no coal working in the Clyne Valley until 1840. At that time when he transferred all his mineral interests to his second son, George Byng Morris. He re-laid the abandoned Clyne Valley branch line and built an extension to a new pit – his own Rhydydefaid pit. The line along the valley as far as Ynys remained as a legal part of the Swansea & Mumbles Railway (the Oystermouth Railway) but was apparently regarded by everyone as the property of the Morris family! “The section north from Ynys to Rhydydefaid pit was a new construction that closely followed the course of the river and was truly the private property of George Byng Morris. The re-laid branch with Morris’s extension was complete by 1846 at the latest.” [6]
George Bingo Morris also owned a coal yard at Blackpill which was now conveniently connected to Rhydydefaid pit. The yard probably covered local land sales but the bulk of the output from Rhydydefaid pit was carried to Swansea on the Swansea & Mumbles Railway and much of the output was used in the town’s gasworks on Oystermouth Road.
Morris extended his new tramway a short distance beyond Rhydydefaid pit. “At this period the coalfield around Dunvant and beyond was starting to be developed on a commercial scale and the new tramway was seen by several promoters as a possible means of getting their coal to Swansea for export or use in the town’s industries. The railway was never actually extended in this way, but when the Llanelly Railway was built in the 1860s a short tunnel, which still exists, was provided through their embankment, and the only reason for this tunnel can have been to accommodate a pre-existing right of way.” [6]
In 1854, the Swansea Coal and Iron Co was formed in London and it took over the running of the pit and the tramway. It arranged for the renewal of the whole Swansea & Mumbles Railway, having it converted from a plateway into an edge rail line to improve access to Swansea docks.
Morris undertook the re-laying of the original Swansea & Mumbles Railway, including the Clyne Valley branch as far as Ynys. “The Coal Company was responsible for the extension from Ynys to Rhydydefaid since this section was regarded as part of the colliery infrastructure.” [6]
Until 1865, the Clyne Valley line was the sole outlet for coal from Rhydydefaid. In 1865, when the Llanelly Railway opened their line through the valley, initially for goods traffic only, a siding to serve Rhydydefaid was put in, perhaps as part of the original construction but certainly by 1876. But, this did not supersede the Clyne Valley branch which remained in use. “A further source of traffic was added in 1868 when Clyne Wood Colliery, across the river from Rhydydefaid, started to produce Clyne Wood was connected to the Clyne valley branch by means of a bridge across the river and for a year or two sent its coal out by that way.” [6]
The Clyne Valley Community Project tells us that by 1870, Philip Richard had control of Rhydydefaid Colliery and by 1878 he had introduced a steam locomotive that worked on both the branch and the mainline of the Swansea & Mumbles Railway. The pit was closed in around 1883 and the Clyne Valley Branch also fell into almost complete disuse. Only the occasional train operated by the Oystermouth Railway Company (the owners of the Swansea & Mumbles Railway) in connection with the local racecourse.
In 1891, Philip Richard opened a new pit, Commercial or Rhydydefaid No. 2, served by a newly built siding off the LNWR line which ran through the woods on a high embankment. Initially, the new pit was not viable but “Richard took a lease of coal under Llanerch and Olchfa which lay between Dunvant Road and Hendrefoilan Road and adjoined his existing taking. This gave him access to an area of more easily worked coal which made the colliery a viable proposition. He re-opened Commercial in 1899.” [6]
He also refurbished the Clyne Valley Branch of the Swansea & Mumbles Railway and began sending coal into Swansea via the Swansea & Mumbles Railway as part of “an agreement made in 1899 between the Swansea Improvements & Tramways Company, by this date owners of the [Swansea & Mumbles] Railway, and Sir Robert Armine Morris and Philip Richard.” [6]
In the early 20th century (1903), the Clyne Valley Slant Colliery was opened. “It was connected to the Clyne Valley branch by a new siding and this was its only railway connection: it had no link to the LNWR. The branch was re-laid in 1904 to the point at which the new siding had been put in, probably with heavier rails to cope with the volume of traffic expected from the new colliery. In 1906, an agreement was made with the Swansea Improvements & Tramways Co. [(SI&T Co.)]… under which all the coal from the Clyne Valley colliery was to be hauled to Rutland Street by the Tramways Company.” [6]
The Clyne Valley Community Project tells us that a further period of disuse followed the closure of the Clyne Valley Colliery in 1915. “Then in 1919, James Pridmore opened his Ynys Slant close to the former Clyne Wood Colliery. He entered into negotiations with the SI&T Co in the hope that they would extend their branch from its terminus at Ynys to his new slant – in effect, hoping that they would relay the privately-owned extension. Understandably the company was not prepared to do this and Pridmore then laid his own narrow-gauge tramway along the trackbed of the extension to the limit of the SI&T Co line. The company then agreed to send a locomotive up the branch as far as Ynys (i.e. to the limit of their metals) to collect the coal so long as there was a load of at least 50 tons. Pridmore opened a second slant in 1920, the West Glamorgan Slant, close to the point at which the former Clyne Valley Colliery siding had joined the branch, but neither this nor the Ynys slant were successful and both were abandoned in 1921.” [6]
The Clyne Valley Community Project continues: “the last revenue-earning traffic on the branch was in 1921 but the track remained usable and as late as 1936 a diesel locomotive penetrated as far as Ynys Gate, the terminus of the SI&T Co. Presumably, this was simply an exploratory move or one intended to maintain the company’s rights. The track was lifted in part during World War II but some sections still remained into the 1950s.” [6]
The line left the Swansea & Mumbles Railway close to Blackpill Bridge and Mumbles Road Railway Station (LNWR).
Mumbles Road Railway Station is at the bottom-left of this extract from the 25″ Ordnance Survey of 1913, published in 1918. Immediately to its East was Blackpill Bridge which carried the LNWR over Mumbles Road. East of the road was a Coal Yard which could be accessed from both the LNWR line and the Swansea & Mumbles Railway. To the North, the Clyne Valley Tramway had a couple of sidings adjacent to its main line. Don’t confuse the two drainage channels North of the Clyne Valley line for further sidings! [8]The same area in the 21st century. The blue line superimposed on the satellite imagery is the Swansea & Mumbles Railway and its Clyne Valley Branch. The purple line is the route of the LNWR line. This imagery is provided by railmaponline.com. [12]Looking West from Mumbles Road between Glyn Crescent (off to the right of the image) and Derwen Fawr Road (beyond and to the left of the car). The straight blue line is the main line of the Swansea & Mumbles Railway, the curved line approximates to the line of the Clyne Valley Tramway. [Google Streetview, July 2025]Mumbles Road Station is at the bottom-right of this next extract from the same OS survey. The LNWR line curves up towards the top,-left of this image as it heads into the Clyne Valley. The single-track Clyne Valley Tramway also curves towards the top-left of this image. [8]The same area in the 21st century. [12]Looking back along the line of the old tramway from the location of its level crossing on Derwen Fawr Road. [Google Streetview, July 2025]Looking ahead along the line of the old tramway from the same level crossing. [Google Streetview, July 2025]Only one 25″ Ordnance Survey is available along the next length of the Clyne Valley Tramway. This extract from the 1877 survey, published in 1878, shows the railway and tramway following the Clyne Valley to the Northwest. The tramway seeks to follow the easiest gradients as it winds sinuously up the valley. The LNWR line was much better resourced and was able to afford significant earthworks which eased gradients and allowed a more direct line up the valley. [9]Approximately the same area as shown on railmaponline.com. [12]
These next few Streetview Images are courtesy of the City & County Survey Team.
Just towards the bottom of the railmaponline.com satellite image above the old tramway route is joined by a cycleway. This photograph looks back Southeast along the line of the old tramway. [Google Streetview, August 2026]Looking ahead along the route of the old tramway from the same location. The tree cover is dense and the lighting therefore is poor. [Google Streetview, August 2026]Continuing Northwest, late evening further along the old tramway route and looking Northwest at the location of the clearing shown a little above the centre of the railmaponline.com image above. [Google Streetview, August 2026]Further Northwest, this time at the point where the purple and blue lines are closest on the railmaponline.com satellite image above. [Google Streetview, August 2026]The two lines continue North up the valley of the Clyne. Note the Mill Race which separates the two railways. [9]
A similar area to that shown in the map extract above. Note the branch line that railmaponline.com shows heading to the East from the main branch line. This does not appear on the map extract as it was the line which served Ynys Colliery in the earlier 19th century. By the sate of the 1878 Ordnance Survey, the line had been abandoned and removed [12]
The branch served a colliery which is given the name Ynys in the early part of this article. The line shown in this image was the original line of the Clyne Valley Tramway. This length of tramway appears as a stub-end in the first map in this article and as a longer line in the second map near the top of this article. [12]
A closer view of the area to the Southeast of Killay that was the original terminus of the extension mentioned in the text of this article. Note the Coke Oven, two Engine Houses and the Smithy which remain from Rhydydefaid No. 1 Pit. [9]
The site of Clyne Colliery which was accessed under the LNWR line and then via a headshunt. [9]
The next couple of OS map extracts show the area Southeast of Killay at two later times in history – the turn of the 20th century and immediately before the first world war. …
This extract from the 6″ Ordnance Survey of 1896/1897, published in 1900 shows the same area just before the turn of the 20th century. A long siding from the LNWR main line can be seen. Heading North-northeast to Rhydydefaid No. 2 Pit which was sited just on the next OS Sheet to the North. [10]This extract from the 6″ Ordnance Survey of 1913/1914, published in 1920 is able to include the colliery (by then disused) because the OS sheet area had changed from the earlier 6″ survey. Note the racecourse on the right side of this image. [11]Looking West along the forest path which runs between the Racecourse location and that of Rhydydefaid No. 1 Pit: (the camera is at a place to the West of the location of the Grand Stand which appears on the OS Map extract above), a hundred metres or so ahead is the point where the track was crossed by the LNWR siding serving Rhydydefaid No. 2 Pit (Commercial Colliery), (c) Ian Allen. [Google Maps, July 2022]
The next image is a line drawn map of the area South of Killay.
There is very little left of the buildings associated with this colliery which sat at, what was then, the end of the Clyne Valley Tramway. The colliery’s extensive waste tips are to the north of the pit on the south-east side of the railway embankment leading to the later Rhydydefaid No. 2 Pit (known too as Commercial Colliery). No. 1 Pit was sunk early in the 1840s and George Byng Morris started to work the coal and ironstone almost immediately through the Rhydydefed Coal Company and the Rhydydefed Iron Company which were created for this purpose. In order to serve these new workings, he re-laid the original 1804 Clyne valley branch of the Oystermouth Railway and extended it to Rhydydefaid pit in 1841-2, thus almost doubling its length. The history of teh colliery is covered in the general text above, it passed through a number of different hands and spent times in a state of disrepair prior to being refurbished by the next ‘owner’ or ‘leasholder’. Deatils are available on the Clyne Valley Community project website. [13]
That website tells us that, ” Evidence for the closure date of the Rhydydefaid pit is ambiguous. The colliery is listed in the report of the Inspector of Mines for 1882 and in Mining and Mineral Statistics for 1883. It is absent from Mining and Mineral Statistics in 1884 but re-appears in 1885 and 1886: in both years no manager is named which could be taken to indicate that it was inactive. The pit had definitely been abandoned by 1885 since all the plant and machinery was offered for sale in December of that year. The plant included a winding engine and a pumping engine, each with its own boiler; these would have been housed in the two engine houses which were marked on the 6in and 25in Ordnance Survey maps of 1876/7. There were also screens and tipping apparatus, cages, coke ovens (again as shown on the Ordnance Survey maps), a large number of trams, eight railway trucks, rails and a variety of miscellaneous equipment – altogether what one would have expected of a well equipped colliery. With a life of about forty years, its closure must have been due simply to the fact that all the coal that could be worked conveniently or economically had been extracted.” [13]
Within a few years coal was being exploited from Rhydydefaid No 2 Pit (Commercial Colliery).
Rhydydefaid No 2 Pit (Commercial Colliery)
This colliery was built to exploit coal from the area North of the No. 1 Pit. Rhydydefaid No 2 Slant, later known as Commercial Colliery, commenced working in 1891 or at the latest 1892; A railway connection to the new slant was put in from the existing siding off the London & North Western Railway which had been installed to serve Rhydydefaid No 1. The railway is shown on the 2nd edition of the Ordnance Survey 6 inch map (revised 1896) and it is safe to assume that it was in existence by the time the colliery opened. It remains a prominent feature within Clyne Woods.
After closure, an area to the West of the site seems to have been used as a clay pit with the embankment was used as a convenient track for transporting clay to the brickworks to the South of the site close to the LNWR main line.
Clyne Wood Colliery
Clyne Wood Colliery is marked on the OS mapping above as ‘Clyne Colliery’. Remnants remain but the principal site appears to have been used for clay extraction by the adjacent Briskworks.
Work ceased at the pithead in 1870, although underlying minerals may have been extracted via the neighbouring Rhydydefaid pit. In June 1870, the entire plant and materials at the Clyne Wood pithead were offered for sale. “It would appear that the sale was unsuccessful and that the pithead equipment remained in situ for it is all shown in detail on the first edition of the 25 inch Ordnance Survey map (surveyed in 1877/8).” [15]
Underground working probably ceased in about 1883 at the same date as Rhydydefaid itself.
Steam Locomotives
In the 1899 Agreement: to facilitate the reopening of the valley’s coal reserves, an agreement was struck with the Swansea Improvements and Tramways Company (operators of the Swansea and Mumbles line) to convey coal from the Clyne Valley down to the main Swansea wharfs. Because the main line had fully transitioned to steam traction by this era, the regular fleet of Swansea and Mumbles Railway Steam Locomotives worked the branch line to haul the heavy coal trains down the valley. This fleet included a variety of saddle tanks from manufacturers like the Falcon Engine & Car Works, Manning Wardle, and the Hunslet Engine Company. [16]
Steam-hauled coal trains coming down the Clyne Valley branch would arrive at the junction near Blackpill. To transfer the coal to the wider rail network, the locomotives had to back-shunt west towards Oystermouth before running forward through points into the adjacent London and North Western Railway (LNWR) Mumbles Road station goods yard.
Locomotive operations on the branch continued through the peak years of the local coal industry until the local slant mine closed in 1921. The track itself actually remained intact for years afterward, with records showing a final diesel locomotive excursion traveling up the branch as far as Ynys Gate as late as 1936. [16]
This article has been long in gestation! Some of the images were found in later 2022 and early 2023 and permission to use them was sought at that time. Other work intervened and it is only now that the article has reached a stage where publication is right. My thanks to those who gave permission for the use of their images back in early 2023. Their names and copyright is noted in the images or in the test associated with each image. Thank you.
In a press release about its exhibition ‘Slate to Sea’ in 2018, the National Museum of Wales stated that, “In 1882 the Welsh slate trade produced 280,000 tons of slate. This rose to 485,000 tons by 1898. Worldwide slate exports from Welsh ports were enormous and included the West Indies (114 Tonnes) Argentina (404 Tonnes) Channel Islands (580 Tonnes) British South Arica (290 Tonnes) Belgium (431 Tonnes) Germany (41,000 Tonnes) Denmark (3,500 tonnes) and Australia (5,500 tonnes).” [22]
The busy ports serving the slate industry included:
Porthmadog: “where initially, slate was carted from Blaenau Ffestiniog down to the quays along the Afon Dwyryd, then boated to Porthmadog for transfer to seagoing vessels. The rapidly expanding cities of England needed high quality roofing slate, which gave rise to railways to transport them to the new port by tramway from the quarries around Ffestiniog and district. The Ffestiniog Railway opened in 1836, followed by the Croesor Tramway in 1864 and the Gorseddau Tramway in 1856, and by 1873 over 116,000 tons (117,800 [tonnes]) were exported through Porthmadog in more than a thousand ships.” [22]
Y Felinheli: which was – “transformed by slate quarrying when the Assheton Smiths – the owners of Dinorwic quarry and the Vaynol Estate – built the harbour to export slate transported to the quay by the Dinorwic Railway, a narrow gauge railway (now the Llanberis Lake Railway). They also decided to give Y Felinheli the alternative name of Port Dinorwic at that time.” [22]
Caernarfon: “the slate quay at Caernarfon served the development of the Nantlle quarries when new wharves were constructed along the Seiont to cater for the growing output of slate, mostly to be transported to customers by ships. The arrival of the Nantlle Railway in 1826 boosted slate exports from Caernarfon. By 1840 the slate quay become the main focus of Caernarfon’s shipping activity.” [22]
Porth Penrhyn: which served the Penrhyn Quarry at Bethesda. Exports are not at 19th century levels but they continue to be an important part of the business of slate. “Exports of crushed slate (aggregate) by Penrhyn Quarry, through Porth Penrhyn to Rotterdam, or ports along the south coast of England, have grown to become a significant proportion of Welsh Slate sales in addition to several containers of roofing slates being shipped every month to Australia alone (taking approximately 45 days).” [22]
“Welsh slate is now covering the roofs of buildings as prestigious as the New South Wales Supreme Court and historic as Unwin’s Stores, both in Sydney Australia, as well as the Arts Centre in earthquake-hit Christchurch, New Zealand 2012. Europe is also a prime destination for Welsh slate with shipments of slate and decorative aggregate within Europe continuing to grow and evolve in particular. In 2017 a total of seven shipments totalling almost 14000 tonnes of slate aggregate were made from Port Penrhyn.” [22]
This article focusses on the transport arrangements within Penrhyn Quarry. Two earlier articles cover the route down to Porth Penrhyn, first on a tramroad and then on a narrow-gauge railway:
Penrhyn Quarry utilized a gallery (ponc) system with over 20 to 40 terraces/levels and multiple internal and external inclines and water balances, rather than a single standardized list of named levels like Dinorwic. “About 3000 men worked here by the middle of the 19th century. Working the slate meant developing over 20 galleries or terraces, these climbing the slopes of Y Fronllwyd. Slate that was not good enough to be split and trimmed into roofing slate would be dumped, creating huge tips of waste. As the quarry developed, waterpower was used to raise wagons in innovative lifts (or “tanks” as they were called). As the quarry deepened, pumps were used to lift water from its lowest levels, this then flowing through a tunnel into the Ogwen river.” [31]
James Boyd comments that the Railroad/Tramroad (1801-1879) commenced “high up in the Quarry and over succeeding years its original route(s) through the workings was lost and replaced by others more convenient to the times. Nothing was allowed to prevent the good slate rock from being quarried and if the rail route was hampering the work, it disappeared. The Quarry grew to enormous proportions; up to 90% of material extracted was simply rubbish and was tipped wherever convenient; if this buried the Railroad, so be it. The immediate purpose of the Railroad was to carry quarried materials to Coed-y-Parc where after processing the re-loaded wagons would be assembled into trains for despatch down to the Port. Certain wagons contained materials for processing at Felin-Fawr Mill and when ready, wagons containing such products were introduced into the Railroad traffic at the north end of Coed-y-Parc. From the Quarry there were ultimately two routes northward to Coed-y-Parc; the original one of 1801 climbed southwest from Coed-y-Parc by incline to Ponc-y-Level (Right). (Ponc-y-Level (Right) Incline was built to carry the wagons even higher in 1823.) Thence, by a course running generally anti-clockwise, along Ponc Sling to where at its furthermost end, Sling reached the foot of Ponc-y-Level (Left) Incline. It was here the Railroad may be said to have begun: the 1829 Plan of the [route] simply shows “Quarry Machine” (ie. weighing machine) without surrounding detail.” [15: p43-44]
He continues with further detailed notes on the changing network of rails within the Quarry. The notes above give a flavour of the detail that Boyd was able to record after consulting the many documents available to him in the Quarry archives. [15: p43-44]
By contrast, the PQR was deemed to commence, not within the Quarry, but “at the foot of the Felin-Fawr incline … [which was] completed in August 1874 … It formed part of a first stage in improvements right along the Quarry-Port link, some five years before the old Railroad itself was discontinued. Oddly, the Ordnance Map printers working on the 1886-88 survey for the First Edition of the 25 inch/1 mile the produced the pre-1874 access route and, showing the track already at least eleven years out of date, provided posterity with a false record. From the Incline foot two tracks struck off northwards a differing levels to enable empty wagons to run on to the foot of the Incline by gravity. Beyond the foot the main line began, flanked by various parallel tracks; that to the extreme east being once a siding (post 1912) but having the 1933 Ponc Sling access route branching off it. … The yard ended at its northern edge in a single line passing under Coed-y-Parc road bridge, this being a level crossing with adjacent gatekeepers cottage until 1900.” [15: p53-54]
The British Listed Buildings Website records this Grade II listed structure as follows: A road bridge over former railway. “Single segmental arch of red brick (including to soffit) with stone keyblock and arch-ring; coursed slate slab spandrels and piers flanking cast-iron parapet topped by ornamental iron balustrade. Abutments of large coursed slabs with band courses and slab retaining and boundary walls to each side, formerly enclosing the entire yard of the Felin Fawr Slate Works.” [19]
“Originally the site of a manned level crossing dating from the opening of the Penrhyn Slate Quarry Steam Engine Railway in 1843, the present bridge was built in 1900 and originally equipped, as were other bridges on the line, with wooden security gates across the arch. This opening was subsequently infilled but was reopened during the 1990s as part of the creation of a footpath along the course of the former railway line.” [19]
James Boyd suggests that it was always a good idea to turn to the North as you climbed the Felin-Fawr incline. … “Looking northward from halfway up the Felin-Fawr Incline, and viewing this scene below, it might be noted how the arms of the rubbish tips embraced the land on either side. To the left was the long single-line stone shed built in 1903 to house the Workmen’s Train carriages, but marked as ‘Engine Shed’ on the 1912 OS Maps. This definition may be a ‘hang-over’ from the time beginning in 1879 when two main line engines were kept at Felin-Fawr overnight; in earlier times the Workmen’s Train was kept in a shed below the Quarry (and possibly not transferred to this shed immediately it was built in 1903 – the precise date of this transfer is not known). It could be that the two main line engines were squeezed out and down to the Port shed when the Workmen’s Train increased to 13 vehicles, for that train had latterly grown too long for the shed, so the south end was taken down and the carriages poked out of it. Alongside was the 6th milepost. Beyond on the same side was (correctly) a small Engine Shed, which in due course acquired the nickname ‘The Baldwin Shed’, after the purchase of three ex-War Department locomotives from that American builder in 1924 had proved fruitless and they were stored inside. There was a water standpipe for main line engines on the wall outside. In much earlier days the building housed the little private saloon carriage which in later years was kept in the Port Engine Shed.” [15: p54]
Boyd continues: “This yard was always full of stock, lines of slate wagons loaded and waiting the next run to the Port, with empties alongside making their way slowly to be hauled up by the endless chain incline at Felin-Fawr, with perhaps another row of Quarry Flats standing with huge lumps of slab on them, waiting to be run down into the Felin-Fawr Mill in the Coed-y-Parc complex. Other odd wagons found a home there month by month – there was not much spare accommodation elsewhere. Wagon loads of coal waiting to go up into Quarry Departments and the wooden-bodied ‘Fullersite’ wagons could be easily distinguished too. Away to the right might be discerned the course of the abandoned 1843 line … but, ere its grassgrown course had gone many yards, the foot of the waste tips buried it. Beyond and behind this there was a drop of some 20 ft with a supporting wall and, running along near its top the course of the 1933-built link line, a second generation (so to speak) of the 1843 access and intended to bring Sling Level into easy communication with Coed- y-Parc independently of the Felin-Fawr Incline… but doomed to operational failure on account of its sharp curves.” [15: p54]
Boyd continues: “In the distance (and across the middle of the scene), the abutments and road bridge at Coed-y-Parc marked the boundary of the area, the bridge itself with ornamental railings to the road and a pair of wooden gates beneath it; these were shut to prevent unlawful access to the workshop area at all but working hours. Beyond the bridge might be seen the huddled roofs of the mills and workshops and moving to the left, the row of houses bordering the line to the west, formerly the stables (Tai’r-stablau) for the Railroad but now converted into domestic dwellings. It was a rural setting for this early nineteenth century industrial centre, the wooded Ogwen valley stretching away behind the works until the hills beside it merged with those of Anglesey beyond the waters of the Menai. From no point on the Railway itself was such a view obtainable.” [15: p55]
Boyd’s final words about this particular area of the Quarry: “Coming down-incline into the yard, there was formerly an island platform between the running line where the daily Workmen’s Train terminated: during working days, its stock was shunted into the long shed out of the way. Almost under Coed-y-Parc road bridge the line was single for a few yards, only to branch out beyond and make its way, curving slightly to the right and following a tall wall on the left with other lines alongside.” [15: p55]
The Levels, Galleries and Inclines in the Quarry
The very nature of Penrhyn quarry means that much of the site went though a series of changes as new levels were opened up, waste slate was deposited. There are no definitive maps of the quarry galleries and levels beyond what can be seen on Ordnance Survey maps. Almost inevitably, the descriptions of levels, galleries and inclines below cannot be complete or comprehensive.
Penrhyn featured eight water-balance systems used to raise and lower wagons using tanks of water. The most documented water balance was named Sebastopol (built during the Crimean War), which also lent its name to a gallery/level. Each incline had its own drumhouse. Heritage documentation notes eight incline/drumhouse structures within the quarry. Heritage references for these structures are: 60035, 60036, 60055, 60075, 60076, 60090, 60094, and 60136. [37]
Photographs of typical Welsh slate inclines and of a preserved water-balance system at Penrhyn can be seen here. [33]
Levels and Galleries
Red Lion Level: The main working and dressing mill level where the core processing, sawing, splitting, and dressing took place (home to the 1912 electric dressing mills).
Sebastopol Level: Named after the Sebastopol water balance. [32]
Terraced Galleries: Over 20 distinct benched levels climbed the slopes of Y Fronllwyd, with deep sink operations developing later as the pit expanded.
Penrhyn grew into a vast pit featuring up to 29 working galleries (ponciau). A web of traditional rail inclines connected these massive terraces to the main processing sections. Examples include:
George Gallery: this name was used interchangeably with the Sebastopol Level, it was established in the mid-19th century as the quarry bit deeper into the valley floor. [32]
Inclines
Felin Fawr Incline: We have already encountered this incline which was the primary external incline linking the main quarry processing yard to the mainline railway.
Red Lion Incline: Ascended directly up from the lower yards to the Red Lion Level, which was the main working terrace housing the primary dressing mills and locomotive tracks.
Twlldyndwr to Red Lion Counterbalance Incline: A specific track network connecting the Twlldyndwr Gallery (the second major level where waste slate was historically tipped) down to the Red Lion level. [34]
Red Lion to Twlldyndwr Uphaulage Incline: Used for dragging materials up into the higher tiers. [34]
Vertical Water Balance Shaft Lifts
As the pit was dug deeper into the valley floor, standard sloping inclines became less practical. Penrhyn innovated vertical water balance shafts. This system used water weight filled at the top of a cage to pull heavy wagons up from the lower gallery sinks. Penrhyn operated eight water balance systems.
Sebastopol Water Balance: Constructed during the Crimean War, it sits above the main drainage tunnel adjacent to the Sebastopol Level (historically part of the George Gallery). The Sebastopol lift sat higher up the terrace face than the lower Princess May lift, serving as the middle-tier staging platform. It lifted slate up to the Red Lion Level. [36]
Princess May Water Balance: One of the lower survivors, positioned alongside the Princess May Gallery.
Lord Lift: Serviced the upper tier known as the Lord Gallery.
Lady Lift: Positioned directly beneath the Lord Gallery, servicing the Lady Gallery tier.
A series of photographs of steam locomotives which worked at Penrhyn Quarry follows below. This does not pretend to be a comprehensive list, rather it illustrates the range of different types of locomotive present on site. … Locomotives included:
De Winton Locomotives: Vertical- and horizontal-boilered 0-4-0 tank engines introduced around 1876 for early steam operations, such as George Henry (built 1877).
Penrhyn Main Line Class (Hunslet): Three iconic 0-4-0 saddle-tank locomotives built between 1882 and 1893: Charles, Linda, and Blanche. Charles was preserved at the Penrhyn Castle Railway Museum, while Linda and Blanche were later transferred to the Ffestiniog Railway.
Penrhyn Port Class (Hunslet): Compact 0-4-0ST engines built in 1883–1885 to handle dock operations at Port Penrhyn, including Gwynedd, Lilian, and Winifred, may have been occasional visitors to the quarry itself.
Other Engines: Hunslet-built Hugh Napier (1904), Kerr Stuart 0-4-2ST engines like Stanhope, and various Andrew Barclay (such as Cegin and Glyder) and Baldwin locomotives acquired over the decades.
Among the locomotives which worked at the quarry were those pictured below.
Margaret, was built by Hunslet in 1894 (Works No. 605). It was supplied to Penrhyn Quarry to work in the quarry galleries. The engine spent its working life in the quarries, until withdrawal from traffic in 1950. Margaret was once thought to be beyond restoration, due to the engines poor condition. The Vale of Rheidol Railway purchased her in 1999. Some restoration had been undertaken prior to this, though it was far short of completion. The locomotive was stripped back to the frames to establish what had already been done, and by 2004 was a rolling chassis. Progress slowed, as maintenance of the running fleet took priority. A new boiler was delivered in 2007. With the completion of the new workshop in 2014, Margaret’s completion moved up the agenda. In September 2015 Margaret was returned to steam for the first time in 65 years, and has the distinction of being the first locomotive to be completed in the new workshop at the Vale of Rheidol Railway where she continues to be based in 2023. [9]
Glyder: Made it’s first appearance at Beamish Museum’s “Old King Coal” event in June 2019 after restoration at that museum. it is an Andrew Barclay 0-4-0WT (Works No.1994) of 1931. This was the first time that the engine had worked in railway operation since 1965.
Terry Pinneger tells us that “Glyder was built for the Durham County Water Board for use at the extensive Burnhope Reservoir development in Weardale in the early 1930’s, where it was given the uninspiring name “Grey”. At the end of the contract in 1938 it was sold to Penrhyn Quarry in North Wales and renamed “Glyder” (after a range of peaks of the same name in Snowdonia). It spent most of it’s working life in Penrhyn Quarry and, when it was withdrawn in 1965, it was sold and exported to the USA along with several other redundant narrow gauge locomotives. Whilst there, it saw no use at all and remained in storage.” [4]
Glyder was one of a number of Penrhyn Locos that were taken to the USA and their story can be found on the Bala Lake Railway Website. [8]
Glyder returned to the UK in 2012 and was gifted, on long term loan, to Beamish Museum for restoration. Back in operation in the 21st century, the loco carries its Penrhyn Quarry livery.
Marchlyn was built by the Avonside Engine Company of Bristol, in 1933 (Works No. 2067), the loco was exported to the United States in 1965. Whilst there it was exhibited at the Winneepesaukah Amusement Park, Chattanooga and was given the name, ‘Choo Choo. It returned to the UK in 2011 and is now based at the Statfold Barn Railway where it has been fully restored.
Cegin is an Andrew Barclay 0-4-0WT of 1931 (Works No. 1991) and is preserved at the Statfold Barn Railway. It is named after the Afon Cegin beside which the Penrhyn Quarry Railway wanders away from Porth Penrhyn. Cegin’s restoration was completed and it was steamed for the first time in 56 years in 2021 for a test run before its debut in traffic at the Statfold Barn Railway’s Enthusiast Weekend on the 12th & 13th of June 2021. [14]
Kymer’s Canal is the oldest canal in Wales, built near the town of Kidwelly in Carmarthenshire between 1766 and 1768. It was about 3 miles in length, built by Thomas Kymer, a local mine owner to carry anthracite coal from the Pwll y Llygod pits to a new dock (Kidwelly Quay) on the Gwendraeth Fach river for shipping to clients in the wider world.
The channel and dock suffered from severe mud silting over the decades, making navigation dangerous. In Later years, it became part of the larger Kidwelly and Llanelly Canal and Tramroad Company system authorised in 1812. [2][3][4][5][6]
You can still see parts of the historic waterway and walk alongside dry sections in the 21st century. Walking routes link the old canal directly to the Wales Coast Path and the nearby Kidwelly Town Council local heritage sites. [6][7][8]
Bourne tells us that Canal and Tramroad Company authorised in 1812 was, as well as being permitted to undertake maintenance of the Kidwelly Harbour and to improve Kymer’s Canal, authorised to build railways and tramways to supplement the canal or even replace it. [1: p737]
In parallel, in the following decade (1825) the Pembrey Harbour Co. was incorporated to construct a relocated harbour at Pembrey and to build a canal, tramroad or railway to connect with the harbour. The old harbour, which was constructed in 1819 by industrialist George Bowser and partners to ship local coal, suffered from severe silting problems almost immediately. (It was completely abandoned in 1878 after larger ships moved to the newer downstream port). [9]
The new port was constructed to accommodate larger vessels. It was first opened in 1832 but almost immediately suffered from the collapse of a harbour wall and the collapse of the scouring reservoir walls. It was 1836 before the port was to open fully. [9]
To save confusion between the two harbours an amendment to the Act of Parliament was passed in 1835 to change the name of the newer harbour to ‘Burry Port Harbour’, and the town, which had grown up during the construction work, took on the name at the same time. [1: p737][9]
Three decades later, the designation of the Canal & Tramroad Company was, by Act of 30th April 1866, “changed to the Kidwelly & Burry Port Railway Company. This Act authorised railways, partly by canal conversion, from Kidwelly and Burry Port to Llanarthney, with branches. In 1867 [possibly 1868 [9]), the Harbour Company was dissolved and vested into the railway company under the title of the Burry Port & Gwendraeth Valley Railway Company, and this name remained in use until the railway was absorbed by the Great Western in 1922.” [1: p737]
Bourne continues: “Construction of the railway was completed between Burry Port and Cwmmawr in 1869. The first mineral train ran to Pontyberem in July, and the section between Pontyberem and Cwmmawr was opened later in the year. A branch to Kidwelly was brought into use in July, 1873. Extensions of the line to the east were completed in 1891, partly on the [line] of an old tramway, from Burry Port to a junction with the Llanelly & Mynydd Mawr Railway at Sandy, Llanelly. The proposed railway to Llanarthney did not materialise, although surveys were taken of the route in 1874.” [1: p737]
“In 1898, the railway was approached by local colliery companies with a request that it should operate workmen’s trains from Burry Port and Kidwelly to Cwmmawr.” [1: p737-738]
Despite the fact that the Board of Trade had only passed the railway for freight use, the Company (being in poor financial health) agreed to the use. Initially the requisite coaches were provided by the colliery owners, who contributed 50 shillings/week/coach to cover the railway company’s expenses. The railway company undertook to purchase the coaches when its finances permitted.
Bourne tells us that, “On Llanelly market days it became the practice for the miners’ wives to travel in the workmen’s trains or in the guard’s brake-van of the mineral trains, a charge of sixpence being made in respect of an article belonging to the passenger instead of a fare. When the collieries were closed, free trains were run to enable miners to attend meetings, and to give their families a day by the sea. These trains consisted of colliery wagons, previously cleaned by the miners and provided with benches; ladders were used for entering and leaving the vehicles.” [1: p738]
After a fatal accident in August 1903, the Company “decided that the reconditioning of the railway for use as a passenger line should be considered without delay. When the improvements were completed, sanction was obtained, under a Light Railway Order, to operate passenger trains between Burry Port, Kidwelly and Pontyberem. The service was brought into operation on 2nd August 1909.” [1: p738-739]
The Burry Port & Gwendraeth Valley Railway and associated lines. [1: p738]
A similar diagrammatic representation of the BR&GVR and surrounding railways, (c) Afterbrunel and licensed for reuse under a Creative Commons licence (CC BY-SA 4.0). [10]
A similar area as it appears on a Railway Clearing House (RCH) map of South Wales. [14]
“The BP&GVR was single line throughout, and consisted of the 12.75 miles from Burry Port to Cwmmawr (the main line), the Kidwelly branch, and shorter branches (used only for freight traffic) from Burry Port to Sandy, Burry Port to Cwm Capel, the junction near Pinged to Trimsaran, and to various collieries. Connections with other railways were maintained at Burry Port, with the Great Western; at Kidwelly, with the Great Western and the Gwendraeth Valley Railway, traffic to and from the GWR passing over 25 chains of the valley line; at Sandy, with the Llanelly & Mynydd Mawr Railway; and at various colliery sidings.” [1: p739]
The Colonel Stephens Society notes that, “The railway was poorly managed in the nineteenth century and often bankrupt. Increasing traffic at the turn of the century and intelligent management transformed it as a business and Holman Fred Stephens was employed as a consultant in 1908 to reconstruct it [and] to legalise its unofficial carrying of passengers. The necessary legislation was obtained in two Light Railway Orders in 1909 and 1911. Stephens supervised re-construction and re-equipment over the years up to 1913 after which he had no further connection.” [11]
“The Burry Port-Cwmmawr section originated from a separate station at Burry Port, alongside the main-line Pembrey & Burry Port Station. When this line was equipped for passenger traffic to Pontyberem, in 1909, stations were erected at Burry Port, Pontyates, and Pontyberem, and halts at Pembrey, Pinged, Trimsaran Road, Pontnewydd, and Ponthenry. Signal boxes or ground frames were provided at Dock Junction (Burry Port), Kidwelly Junction, Pontyates, and Pontyberem, and eighteen single lever ground frames, working siding connections, were installed. The permanent way consisted of flat bottom steel rails, weighing 75 lb. per yard, secured by bolts to the sleepers. The over and under bridges, which existed when the railway was a mineral line, had sufficient theoretical strength for an axle load of 14 tons, the maximum allowed.” [1: p739]
Bourne continues: “Passenger trains commenced running through to Cwmmawr in 1913, under powers granted by a Light Railway Extension Order (1911), the old mineral line having been rerailed throughout. The original passenger terminus at Pontyberem became a crossing station with an additional platform, while Cwmmawr was furnished with a single platform, booking office, waiting room and ground frame. In addition, five ground frames, controlled by the train staff, were added to work various sidings. In 1914, a new crossing place and signalbox, both since removed, were established at Tymawr, between Burry Port and Kidwelly Junction.” [1: p739]
Bourne continues his description of the line:
“The stations were primitive, with platforms of the short earth type 250 or 350 ft. long, and 3 ft. above rail level. They usually consisted of a small corrugated iron hut with one end roughly partitioned off for an office and the other for a waiting room, though at Ponthenry small brick buildings were erected just before the GWR took over. The signals, mostly electrically lit, were of rather ancient pattern; distant signals, gradient boards and mileposts were not provided. Industries on the line 30 years ago included ten collieries producing anthracite coal, one small colliery raising steam coal, a brickworks and a small tin-plate works. Trains coming down the line to Burry Port often consisted of 45 to 60 loaded wagons. Long trains of empties were taken up the valley with one engine and a 15-ton brake-van. The population was connected almost exclusively with the mining industry, so that general goods traffic was light.
The Burry Port-Cwmmawr line was equipped for working with the train staff and one engine in steam between Burry Port and Dock Junction, and electric train staff or token between Dock Junction and Cwmmawr. Crossing facilities are avail-able at Kidwelly Junction, Pontyates, Pontyberem, and Cwmmawr, but at the first and last named two passenger trains could not be crossed. Staffed stations were situated at Burry Port, Trimsaran Road (population 200), Pontyates (2,000), Ponthenry (700), Pontyberem (3,500), Cwmmawr (2,250), and unstaffed halts at Pembrey (1,800), Craiglon (80), Pinged (80) and Glyn Abbey (150). Signalboxes were installed at the crossing stations and at Dock Junction.
There [were] several noticeable curves on the line, including that at Dock Junction. The railway [was] laid alongside the old canal bed for half its distance, consequently gradients [were] not difficult; … but it [rose] from Pontyates to Cwmmawr, on gradients as steep as 1 in 48 and 1 in 40, each for over half-a-mile. Every station and halt [had] long needed a coat of paint and repairs. The track [was] a mass of weeds. Closed pits, with broken buildings and useless pit gear, [bordered] the line.
Until the passenger services were withdrawn on 21st September [1953], there were four trains daily, one a workmen’s train from Burry Port to Cwmmawr, on weekdays only, with an additional train on Saturdays and five services daily in the reverse direction. They consisted of an engine and two coaches, but the 1.45 p.m. Burry Port to Cwmmawr (Saturdays excepted) was formed with two engines and four coaches, to provide stock for the additional return service. Speed was limited to 25 m.p.h., with further restrictions of 15, 10 or 5 m.p.h. at level crossings, and at the sharp reverse curve near Dock Junction. The level crossings, which [were] rather numerous, [were] not provided with gates (except at Pontyates), the railway being quite open to road traffic. No keepers [were] employed, and public users [had] to look after themselves.
The majority of passengers, a number of whom were miners, travelled only short distances, and the total number carried in 1950 was 35,645, with a revenue of £1.499, compared with 83,965 in 1938. Colliery upon colliery [had been] closed from Pontyates to Cwmmawr, and only three [remained in 1953]. Pentremawr, the largest, [had] a daily output of some 55 wagons, and certain passenger trains stopped at the colliery sidings, the majority of workers travelling from Ponthenry and Pontyates, one and two miles distant. Carway Colliery [produced] some 15 wagons of coal daily, and [there] again passenger trains called at the colliery siding, but the train user was irregular and very light, an average of two miners alighted and one joined daily in a sample week. Glynhebog Colliery, at Cwmmawr, closed in November, 1949, [was then] used as an N.C.B. training centre and some passenger trains stopped at the colliery sidings. The railway [served] an area of no great population, and parallel road services [operated] with much greater frequency and convenience than did the trains. So after attempts to recapture passenger traffic for the railway it was decided to withdraw the service.
The freight train service [was] continued, as traffic offered amply [justified] its retention. The tonnage dealt with in 1949 was 243,461, and the output of Pentremawr Colliery [was] to be increased. The services [were] maintained by a daily train from Burry Port to Pontyberem and back, and to the Kidwelly branch and return. There [were] also two freight trains, except on Saturdays, to Cwmmawr and back.” [1: p740]
1923–1924: Owned by Great Mountain Collieries Co. Ltd., employing 121 underground and 32 surface workers (Manager: Jas. Steele) before it was abandoned on May 30, 1924.
With the withdrawal of the passenger service on 21st September 1953, the line was operated on the one engine in steam principle between Kidwelly Junction and Cwmmawr. The crossing gates at the level-crossing at Pontyates were operated by train crew.
An Anthracite train from the Gwendraeth Valley line arriving at Burry Port with former BP&GVR (No. 12) 0-6-0T No. 2165, built in 1913 by Hudswell Clarke, in charge. [1: p742][16]
Bourne says that electric train staff working between Dock Junction and Kidwelly Junction had to be maintained because of developments in opencast coal workings at Trimaran.
Bourne continues:
“At Cwmmawr, the goods shed siding, the platform road and the line running parallel [were] removed, and the short portion of the line now leading to the platform road [was] slewed to effect connection with the mileage siding; traffic [was] propelled from Pontyberem to Cwmmawr. The passenger track from Dock Junction to [Burry Port] station, together with the loop and three carriage sidings at Burry Port, [were] recovered. Pontyberem and Pontyates parcels offices … remain[ed] open to deal with station-to-station parcels traffic, but the other stations [were] closed and let, and parcels traffic collected and delivered by road vehicles based at Llanelly.
“The Kidwelly Junction-Kidwelly section, from Trimsaran Road to the South Wales main line, slightly east of Kidwelly, [was] worked on the staff and one engine in steam principle. [Operation in the 1950s embraced] the former Gwendraeth Valley Railway, quite a separate undertaking to the Burry Port & Gwendraeth Valley Railway. The Gwendraeth Valley Railway (GVR) was opened to traffic over the three miles from Kidwelly to Mynydd-y-Garreg in 1871, and worked by the BP&GVR until 1904. The actual BP&GVR branch ran to Kidwelly Quay, via Tycoch Junction with the GVR. With the exception of a miners’ train, long discontinued, operated from Tycoch Halt to Pontyberem, no passenger train had traversed this section. … [By the 1950s, the permanent way [was] in a very rough state, overgrown with grass and weeds, and low-lying and wet near Kidwelly. The rails were of light flanged type, bolted to the sleepers, and no signals were provided. Between Tycoch and Kidwelly Quay, the line was used for an occasional few trucks of coal, despatched in small boats carrying 10 to 20 tons at a time. … [In the 1950s], the track [was] used only by the 8.25 a.m. freight train from Burry Port to Kidwelly; the engine [spent] the day shunting at Kidwelly, and running trips on the Mynydd-y-Garreg branch, conveying stone from the quarry to Stephens Works, Kidwelly, and [returned] from Kidwelly to Burry Port at 5.45 p.m. (3 p.m. on Saturdays). The line between Tycoch and Kidwelly Quay was abandoned about 1934, when the quay was closed.
[In 1953], consideration [had] recently been given to the possible closure of the line between Kidwelly Junction and Kidwelly, but no action [was] taken because of the inability of the local breakdown crane to clear several low bridges between Burry Port and Kidwelly Junction. In these circumstances, the loop line [was] the only means of access to the Cwmmawr branch [by] the crane.” [1: p743]
Bourne’s notes are essentially a ‘snapshot’ of the prevailing conditions in 1952/53. He comments that it was the intention to close the line to through traffic when the scheme relating to the National Coal Board sidings at Coed Bach was completed, but the track would not be broken and would remain available, if required in an emergency.
Bourne continues:
“Reception sidings [were] laid during [1953] on a site near Kidwelly Junction to serve the new opencast coal disposal centre at Coed Bach. The normal daily output of the new washery [was] just over 1,000 tons, all of which were despatched by rail. The new works [were] of a temporary nature, as it [was] expected to clear the 1,116,000 tons of opencast coal in the area by 1956.
“The Burry Port-Sandy Junction line crosses the Great Western main line on the level at Pembrey East. At one time, the line served three small collieries and a small brick works, but traffic was light and mainly that emanating from the collieries. Flanged rails weighing 75 lb. a yard, secured by nut and bolt to the sleepers, were used, and the permanent way generally was in a bad condition and overgrown. Fencing was poor and had disappeared in many places, and the track was used regularly as a footpath to Llanelly. One trip daily each way served the line, conveying approximately 30 wagons to Burry Port and 15 to Llanelly. A colliery locomotive worked over the branch between the New Pool and Crown colliery connections. Stop boards were provided to halt BP&GVR trains and the drivers had to satisfy themselves that the line was not occupied before proceeding slowly.” [1: p743 & p744]
Bourne continues his description of the line and its usage in the early 1950s:
“The portion between Pwll and Sandy [was] no longer used for traffic, or even wagon storage, but [was] still in position. The daily freight train [plied] only between Berry Port and Pwll Brick Works, a distance of under two miles. In connection with the N.C.B. new sinkings at Cynheidre, the former Llanelly & Mynydd Mawr track [would, within [a] few years, be doubled, and, to assemble empties for use at the new colliery, a proposal to lay in sidings on the site of the Sandy branch about one mile from Sandy Junction [was] being considered.
“The Trimsaran branch, which [left] the Cwmmawr line between Pinged Halt and Kidwelly Junction, [was] used for marshalling of coal from the Trimsaran Colliery and for wagon storage. Marshalling [was] performed by the colliery’s own locomotive. The branch [had] a ruling gradient of 1 in 47 for 1.25 miles.
“The track [had] been removed from from the Burry Port-Cwm Capel branch. Trains over this branch were propelled from Burry Port, with the guard riding in the leading vehicle. Trains operated during daylight only. Before the train passed over any of the level crossings on the branch, it came to a stand, and the guard went forward and hand-signalled it over. Frequent whistle sounding while running was the practice, and all shunting operations were performed with the engine at the Burry Port end of the train.
“At Burry Port, a short branch, [closed by 1953], served Gwscwm Colliery sidings, and trains of not more than 20 wagons were propelled from Burry Port. Speed did not exceed 5 m.p.h., and a red light was exhibited on the leading vehicle during the hours of darkness. Other colliery lines included the Carway branch and the Glyn Abbey branch, used for wagon storage.
“The small wet dock at Burry Port [was by 1953] out of use, and the hoists and other equipment [had] been removed. The dock, which covered 64,000 sq. ft., was provided with two hydraulic coal tips and hydraulic capstans for shunting. An electric power station was situated on it for the supply of light to the dock premises.” [1: p744]
Wikipedia tells us that, “From 1953 opencast coal extraction gathered pace in the Gwendraeth Valley, and this coupled with economic factors gradually led to closure of most of the deep mines. By 1961 only the Capel Ifan Colliery at Pontyberem continued deep mining, and that pit ceased to forward coal by rail in 1970.” [10]
“The Sandy branch, connected the BP&GVR to the Llanelly and Mynydd Mawr Railway near Llanelly. At the eastern end it divided into two and curved round to the south; one part joined the Stradey estate line and the other the L&MMR line; with the closure of the Pwll brickworks all traffic between Burry Port and Sandy Gate sidings ceased from 4th October 1962. Sandy Gate sidings were simply located on a short stub now served from Sandy, and that too closed on 22nd December 1963.” [10]
“The Trimsaran branch closed to revenue traffic in 1960, but it was retained for wagon storage until June 1962. Goods traffic to Pwll Brickworks ended on 4th October 1962. Regular traffic to Smart’s Dinas Silica Brickworks at Kidwelly ceased in February 1959, after which the Kidwelly branch was little used, and was closed in October 1965.”
“The section from Kidwelly Junction to Kidwelly closed in October 1965, but reopened after relaying on 19th September 1983.” [10]
“Diesel traction was inaugurated on the BP&GVR section on 4th October 1965. Two D2000 Class (later 03 Class) locomotives were modified to work together in multiple, and soon a third was used to bank the trains up the steep gradients in the rear of the train. On the downhill journey the three locomotives hauled the train.” [10]
“The short section from the New Dynant North ground frame to the Cwmmawr terminus was closed on 1st May 1967, although the coal depot at New Dynant continued to be referred to as Cwmmawr.” [10]
“The Kidwelly branch beyond Coed Bach was re-opened (after relaying the track) on 19th September 1983 and, for the first time, large main line locomotives were able to use this short section of the BP&GVR as far as Coed Bach. The re-opening enabled the original section of line from Burry Port to Kidwelly Junction to be completely closed, from 19th September 1983. The remaining line was now worked in two sections; Kidwelly Yard to Coed Bach and Coed Bach to Cwmmawr (New Dynant). From February 1987 substitute locomotives capable of operating air-braked wagons were introduced on the line.” [10]
The very last train to Cwmmawr ran on Friday 29th March 1996, … closure of this remaining section of the BP&GVR main line took place on 1st April 1996. Coed Bach continued to be fed by road so there was still rail traffic over the short distance from there to Kidwelly Yard. This remaining stub of the BP&GVR, and also of the GVR, finally closed on 23rd March 1998. [10][17]
Former BP&GVR (No. 12) 0-6-0T No. 2165, built in 1913 by Hudswell Clarke. [1: p742][16]
Further photographs of locomotives from the BP&GVR can be found here. [16] (Most of the images on this link will probably be in the public domain, but rather than showing them in this article they are well collated on the link.)
Bourne says that:
“Fifteen tank engines were taken into GWR stock at the absorption; all were 0-6-0s some with saddle and others with side tanks. BP&GVR Nos. 1-15, they respectively became Nos. 2102, 2162, 2193 to 2196, 2176, 2197, 2163, 2198, and 2164 to 2168, in GWR stock. The named engines were Nos. 1. Ashburnham, 3. Burry Port, 4, Kidwelly, 5, Cym Mawr, 6. Gwendraeth, and 8, Pioneer. A small shed at Burry Port could accommodate ten engines. At one time, the company possessed 31 passenger and 18 goods vehicles; advantage was taken of the free use of other companies’ wagons given under the common user arrangement. The passenger coaches were secondhand vehicles fitted with the vacuum brake, and had third class accommodation only.
“Seven BP&GVR locomotives still [survived in 1953], Nos. 2162, 2165, 2166, 2168, 2176, 2196 and 2198. No. 2164 was withdrawn in 1929, No. 2163 in 1944, No. 2192 in 1951, Nos. 2193 and 2197 in 1952, and Nos 2167, 2194 and 2195 in 1953. No. 2195, Cym Mawr, the nameplate of which was removed by the GWR because of a controversy over the spelling, was condemned in March. 1939, but was reprieved during the war, and withdrawn in January [1953].
“Eight locomotives, all 0-6-0 tanks, [were] allocated to Burry Port shed. In 1953, they [consisted] of ‘1600’ Class Nos. 1609, 1613, 1614 and 1644; ‘2021’ Class No. 2081; and ex- BP&GVR Nos. 2162, 2165 and 2198. Engine working [included] the operation of the two ex- BP&GVR lines, two daily freight trips between Burry Port and Llandilo Junction, and one daily trip between Burry Port and Lando R.A.F. Station. The ’16xx’ Class engines worked all the passenger services and also freight trips, and BP&GVR engines and No. 2081 [were] used on goods trains and for yard shunting. The Kidwelly freight [was] operated either by a ’16xx’ engine or BP&GVR. No. 2198.” [1: p744]
As we have noted above, “D2000 Class (later 03 Class) locomotives were deployed on the BP&GVR. The cabs were cut down to pass under the low bridges on the line. The original reason for the use of the 03 Class was the frequent flooding on the line which would interfere with the low-slung auxiliary equipment on the more powerful 08 Class; however in June 1984 the affected section of line was closed and there was no longer an objection to the 08 Class; three locomotives were modified to lower the profile for the low bridges and were designated Class 08/9.” [10]
The Railway Hub has an article about these diesel locomotives which can be found here. [18]
The Route
We start at the most easterly extent of the BP&GVR – at Sandy Junction.
Sandy Junction as it appears on the 6″ Ordnance Survey of 1913, published in 1921. Significant locations which appear on this extract are: the rail-served Llanelly Steel Works (bottom-left); the rail-served Old Castle Iron & Tin Plate Works (bottom-right); the Llanelly & Mynydd Mawr Railway which runs North to South across the right side of the extract; and the single track Burry Port & Gwendraeth Valley Railway which leaves the Llanelly & Mynydd Mawr Railway centre-right and runs West on the South side of Pembrey Road/Sandy Road. Note the first passing loop on the single-track line which can be seen at the left of the image. [19]The same location in the 21st century. The route of the BP&GVR follows the backs of the gardens of the houses on the South side of Sandy Road. [Google Maps, September 2026]Looking East along the line of the old railway towards the location of the junction with the Llanelly & Mynydd Mawr Railway. [Google Streetview, April 2025]Looking West along the line of the old railway. [Google Streetview, April 2025]The BP&GVR continues West on the South side of Sandy Road. [19]The tree-line on the image marks the line of the old railway. [Google Maps, September 2026]The railway ran very close to the road (now the A484) over a length as shown on the left of this extract. [19]The same area in the 21st century. The lake is Ffynon Helig and the pathway running to the North of it is close to but to the South of the line of the old railway. [Google Maps, September 2026]This view looks West along the A484. The fence line marks the boundary between railway land and the highway. The old railway ran West just below the road. Beyond the last house visible here, the road turns away from the line of the railway. [Google Streetview, April 2025]The blue line shows the line of the old railway where it crosses the access road from the A484 to Pwll Pavilion. [Google Streetview, September 2026]
Railmaponline.com shows that the BP&GVR mainline left the side of what is now the A484 and crossed what is now the access road to the pavilion before turning Northwest. Two short branch lines at one time left the main line at this location, both shown in blue. There were once brickworks at this locationand a colliery (Pwll Colliery) between the road and the railway to the East of Tramway Road. [20]
Pwll Colliery can be seen at the bottom right of this extract from the 25″ Ordnance Survey of 1913, published in 1916. The old railway continued Northwest behind the rear fences of properties on what is now the A484. [21]The line continued Northwest with a short branch from Crown Colliery joining it from the Southeast. [21]New Pool colliery was passed on the other side of the line adjacent to a passing loop. The colliery had its own short Tramway. [21]This railmaponline.com satellite image shows a similar length of the line to that covered by the two map extracts above. [20]The line continued West. [21]Another passing loop sat alongside New Lodge Brickworks. [21]This extract from railmaponline.com’s satellite imagery takes us as far West as the passing loop at New Lodge Brickworks. [20]The 25″ Ordnance Survey shows that the brickworks had a small yard with a dedicated siding. [21]The 6″ Ordnance Survey from 1878/1879, published in 1889 shows that there was also a colliery at the same site. [22]The Brickworks/Colliery were located at the top-right of this satellite image – the passing loop and the single siding entering the yard are shown in blue. The colliery’s internal tramway linking to the spoil heap is shown in turquoise. [20]The Burry Port & Gwendraeth Valley Railway (BP&GVR) enters this extract, top-right and appears to cross the GWR main line on the level and continue in a southwesterly direction. Another passing loop appears bottom left. This is an extract from the 6″ Ordnance Survey of 1879, published in 1889. [23]Approximately the same area as shown on the extract above. [20]
Given that the BP&GVR was built on the line of the Kymer’s Canal it is much more likely that, rather then crossing the GWR at level, the BP&GVR passed under the GWR main line making use of the canal tunnel/bridge. As we have already noted, because the railway replaced a canal network, it inherited very low bridge clearances originally meant for horse-drawn canal boats. This forced the railway to use uniquely modified, low-profile steam locomotives with cut-down cabs and boiler fittings to squeeze under the structures.
This would seem the appropriate point to pause in our journey along the BP&GVR main line to look at the Cwm Capel Branch.
The Cwm Capel Branch of the BP&GVR
The Cwm Capel branch of the BP&GVR left the port area of Burry Port in a northerly direction, passing under the GWR main line to the East side of the GWR Railway Station. It then crossed Station Road and Parkes Street, and ran North-northeast through, what was in the early 20th century open ground. [26]
The satellite image below [Google Maps, September 2026] shows that the line of BP&GVR is now occupied over this length by a road named ‘Old Tramway’. It appear to run alongside the Nant Dyfatty. Some open ground remains but much has been built over.
Looking South across Station Road towards the railway. This view looks along the line of the old BP&GVR branch line. [Google Streetview, April 2025]Looking North from Station Road along the line of the old BP&GVR branch line. [Google Streetview, April 2025]Looking North from Parkes Street along the line of the old BP&GVR branch line. [Google Streetview, April 2025]
Looking North along the old Cwm Capel branch from the top of the modern ‘Old Tramway’ highway. [Google Streetview, April 2025]
The next length of the Cwm Capel Branch. [26]
The line as far North as Colby Road. [20]
looking South from Colby Road along the line of the old railway. [Google Streetview, April 2025]Looking North along the line of the Cwm Capel Branch. [Google Streetview, April 2025]
The next length of the line runs through the area of Achddu Colliery which appears on the 6″ Map extract above. [20]
Small-scale coal workings in the area date back to around 1814. Separate local pits were combined into the unified Achddu Colliery in 1903 by the Achddu Colliery Co. Ltd. Operations were primarily focused on working the Gwscwm Coal Seam/Vein. Coal was transported via the Cwm Capel branch to Burry Port harbour.
The main colliery phase ended in 1917, though minor related local industrial activities and subsequent reopening attempts or re-workings occurred into the late 1920s. [27]
The Cwm Capel Branch of the BP&GVR was once a horse drawn tramway taking coal from Cwm Capel (Kenross) Colliery down to the wharves at Burry Port. More information can be found on the Pembury and Burry Port Heritage Website. [28]
This interpretation board provides details of the tramway and later railway that transported coal from Cwm Capel (Kenross) Colliery down the valley past the site of Achddu Colliery. More information can be found here and on associated webpages. [29]
The remaining length of the Cwm Capel Branch led North to Cwm Capel Colliery. [26]
Cwm Capel Colliery sat at the bottom end of another tramway which followed the Nant Dafatty valley towards its source. [26]
The tramway ran first East and then North towards Rhiw-las Colliery. [30]
These map extracts are piecemeal as the tramway crossed between OS Sheets. [31][32]
Railmaponl;ine.com shows the length of the old tramway that was converted into the Cwm Capel branch of the BP&GVR but not the extended tramway up to Rhiw-las Colliery. [20]
Cwm Capel colliery was first mentioned around 1761, a larger colliery was later developed on the site by George Bowser around 1830. Its expansion by 1840 completely engulfed the site of a medieval chapelry named Capel Cynnor.
Operated by multiple owners over its lifetime, coal was extracted from the Cenrhos and Coed Rhyal coal seams.
The colliery finally closed in 1952, ending nearly 200 years of recorded mining activity in the valley. [29][33]
The BP&VR main line again – just a short length!
We now continue our journey along the Burry Port & Gwendraeth Valley Railway to the West of Burry Port.
This next length of the BP&GVR main line curves around the Ashburnham Hotel. Before reaching Stanley’s Bridge at the top-left of this extract from the 6″ Ordnance Survey of 1913, published in 1921, another branch line left the main line and headed North alongside what became Furnace Road. Furnace Road bridged the main line of the BP&GVR which itself continued on to the West passing underneath an Old Tramway at Stanley’s Bridge. [26]
Looking East from the bridge carrying Furnace Road over the line of the BP&GVR. [Google Streetview, April 2025 & March 2009]
Looking West from the bridge carrying Furnace Road over the line of the BP&GVR. [Google Streetview, April 2025 & March 2009]
The old tramway, noted at the left of the map extract above, was not part of the BP&GVR network. It connected Stanley’s Pit to the old Pembury Harbour which was replaced by the facilities at Burry Port. As can be seen above both the GWR and the BP&GVR had to provide bridges to carry the old tramway over their right of way.
The BP&GVR provides the formation level for the National Cycle Route No. 4 which follows the route of the old railway. This tunnel takes the cycle route under Stanley’s tramroad and was provided for the BP&GVR. It sits at the top-left of the map extract above and is marked by the lilac flag on the top-left of the satellite image below, (c) David B. W. Rees (2024). [Google Maps, September 2026]
Google Mpas satellite imagery shows the route of the old railway curving gently round from the Northwest to just South of West. Furnace Road is a more significant highway in the 2st century. [Google Maps, September 2026]This next satellite image shows a very similar area with railmapsonline.com’s annotation. As before the blue lines are the BP&GVR and the green line marks the route of the GWR main line which is still in use in the 21st century. The old tramway can still be seen on the left of this image and appears on the tramway layer of Railmaponle.com as a turquoise line. [20]
The Furnace Branch
In the satellite image above and on the previous 6″ extract from the 1913 Ordnance Survey a branch line can be seen leaving the BP&GVR to the East of Furnace Road. This branch line was short leading to the furnace that gave the name to the adjacent road.
This extract from the 6″ Ordnance survey of 1913, published in 1921 shows the full length of the short branch. [26]Railmaponline.xom shows the branch against the backdrop of modern satellite imagery. The site of the furnace is now a modern housing estate. [20]Looking North along Dwynant towards the site of the furnace. [Google Streetview, April 2025]
In 1810, an attempt was made to establish an iron works called Pembrey Iron Works, probably in the area now known as Furnace in Burry Port, but it didn’t last long and was closed by 1816. The site of it was likely re-developed by the Pembrey Iron and Coal Company in 1824. [34]
The Pembrey Iron and Coal Company was formed by George Bowser and Thomas Gaunt, who leased marshland from Lord Ashburnham to develop local industry. Pembrey Harbour was built in 1819 at Carreg Edwig to export coal from local mines like Gwscwm and Cwm Capel, and to serve the iron foundry. The Pembrey Canal was a two mile canal opened in 1824 to connect the harbour to the Kidwelly and Llanelly canal network, transporting coal and iron ore via horse-drawn barges. Years later, John Stanley took over management of the company (around 1845) as the area’s industrial focus shifted toward nearby Burry Port development and copper smelting. For more information about the tramroad, please click here. [35]
The BP&VR main line again – West of Stanley’s Bridge
Both the B&GVR and the GWR passed to the South of Pembrey. [26]The line passed under Ashburnham Road (B4311) as it approached the centre of Pembrey and then Dan Lan Road (close to the top-left of this image. [20]Looking North towards Pembrey on the B4311 – the parapets of the old bridge over the BP&GVR remain, as does the structure below which now spans National Cycleway No. 4. [Google Streetview, April 2025]Looking East from the bridge carrying Ashburnham Road/ Randal Square (B4311) over the line of the old railway. [Google Streetview, April 2025]Looking West from the bridge carrying the B4311. [Goggle Streetview, October 2021]The parapets of the bridge carrying the A 484 (Dan Lan Road) over the old railway route. [Google Streetview, April 2025]
Looking Southeast from the bridge carrying the A484 over the old BP&GVR. [Google Streetview, April 2025]
Looking Northwest from the bridge carrying the A484 over the old BP&GVR. The height at which the photograph was taken does not allow the tarmacked formation of the National Cycle way to be seen. [Google Streetview, April 2025]
The line turned North, roughly parallel to the GWR, both map extracts are from the same OS Sheet. [26]
Looking Northeast along the minor road which bridges the old railway. These are the rough stone parapets of the bridge. [Google Streetview, April 2025]
Looking Southeast over the wingwall parapet of the same bridge. The tarmac of the cycle way can just be made out. [Google Streetview, April 2025]
Vegetation growth by 2025 meant that nothing other than vegetation could be seen over the Northwest parapet by that date. This image from 2009 shows the condition of the cycleway prior to being tarmacked. [Google Streetview, March 2009]
The next 6″ Ordnance Survey sheet from 1913/1914 was not published until 1946. It shows the line heading North and then turning Northeast. [36] Railmaponline has the same details [20]
A closer view of the first crossing location above. [20]
The line crossed the next minor road on the level. [Google Streetview, April 2025]
Looking back South from the old crossing point on the BP&GVR. [Google Streetview, March 2022]
Looking North along the line of the BP&GVR from the same crossing location.The old railway ran to the left of the portable building which is prominent in this photograph. [Google Streetview, April 2025]
The next significant location heading North along the old railway is shown here. This bridge is at the top of the map extract above. [20]
The same location as shown on the 6″ Ordnance Survey of 1913/1914 which was not published until 1946. [36]
The humpback bridge at this location, no longer appears to have its parapets and the span below may well have been filled. There is nothing to see at the location looking either direction along the old railway. [Google Streetview, April 2025]
The Trimsaran Branch
Just to the South of a bridge over the Gwendraeth Fawr a branch line headed East away from the BP&GVR main line. It is shown on the map extracts and Railmaponlin.com satellite images below.
The main line of the BP&GVR heads North-northeast before turning to the North across the Gwendaeth Fawr. A branch line head East from a point on the South bank of the Gwendraeth Fawr. This branch serves Trimsaran and [36]The first length of the Trimsaran Branch reaches the village of Trimsaran. [20]
The next length of the Trimsaran Branch as shown on the 6″ Ordnance Survey of 1913/1914 published in 1946. [36]
The final length of the Trimsaran Branch as shown on the 6″ Ordnance Survey of 1913/1922. [37]
This railmaponline.com satellite image covers the length of the line shown in the two map extracts immediately above which are taken from adjacent OS sheets. [20]
In the Trimsaran valley, small-scale surface mining and bell pits (such as those found near Coed y Clun) date back to the 1600s or earlier to supply local smiths. By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, large-scale operations at Trimsaran Colliery grew into a network of drift and slant mines—principally the Caedean (deepest), Waunhir, and Upper Slants (Coal Seams). Employment at the colliery grew from 144 men in 1896 to a peak of over 700 workers by 1931. It produced valuable anthracite and fireclay. The last traditional drift mine closed in 1954, though large-scale open-cast mining operations (operated by firms like Sir John Jackson, Jackson, and Wimpey) continued until 1997. [38]
An ironworks operated around 1900, employing hundreds of local workers. Local brickworks produced durable, hard-fired bricks until 1967, which were used to build garden suburbs and homes throughout Llanelli, Pontyates, and Pontyberem. [39]
The first significant location on the branch was the level-crossing adjacent to Collier’s’ Cottage on what is now the B4317. There is no longer any evidence of the railway at this location. [36]
The same location in the 21st century. [20]
Further East, the line bridged the Afon Morlais twice in quick succession. [36]
The same location in the 21st century. [20]
The road – Bryncaerau(B4308) – to the Northwest of the centre of Trimsaran. [36]
The same location in the 21st century. [20]
Looking Southeast down Bryncaerau, the old railway crossed the road at this location entering the image a little above bottom-right and running along Swn Y Nant (off the image centre-left. [Google Streetview, April 2025]
Looking West along the line of the old railway. [Google Streetview, April 2025]
Looking East along the line of the old railway, along Swn Y Nant. [Google Streetview, April 2025]
Trimsaran Ironworks on the 6″ Ordnance Survey of 1879, published on 1889. [40]The same area in the 21st century. Photographs of the remains of the Ironworks/Steelworks taken by David B. W. Rees can be found here. [20][41]
The branch line continued East beyond the Steelworks. …
Looking back West towards Swn Y Nant from the location of the steelworks. [Google Streetview, April 2025]
Looking ahead to the East along the line of the railway from the location of the steelworks. [Google Streetview, April 2025]
The road crossing over Culla Road (B4317). [36]
The same location in the 21st century. [20]
Culla Road seen looking North from Jenkins Crescent. The line of the old railway is highlighted by the blue line. [Google Streetview, April 2025]
Looking back West from Culla Road along the line of the old railway. [Google Streetview, December 2021]
Looking East along the line of the railway. [Google Streetview, August 2011]
Trimsaran (Waun-hir) Colliery. The location spans the joint in two OS Sheets. [42]
Trimsaran (Waun-hir) Colliery – this map extract sows the remaining length of the colliery sidings. The line continued on the the East beyond this mine. [37]
This railmaponline.com extract shows the full extent of the colliery sidings imposed on modern satellite imagery. It also shows the locations of some of the earlier tramways/tramroads adjacent to the colliery. [20]The remaining length of the Trimsaran Branch which served Trimsaran Upper Colliery. [37]The same length of the old line as shown by railmaponline.com’s satellite imagery. [20]
The BP&VR main line again – North of the Gwendraeth Fawr
A short length of the Burry Port & Gwendraeth Valley Railway runs North from the Trimsaran Junction, across the Gwendraeth River (Fawr). [36]
The Kidwelly Junction sits just to the North of the Gwendraeth Fawr. Its location spans the join between two adjacent 25″ OS Sheets. [43]
This extract from railmaponline.com’s satellite imagery covers the length of line shown on the two map extracts above. The sidings to the North of Kidwelly Junction served … [20]
From 1953 opencast coal extraction gathered pace in the Gwendraeth Valley, and this coupled with economic factors gradually led to closure of most of the deep mines. By 1961 only the Capel Ifan Colliery at Pontyberem continued deep mining, and that pit ceased to forward coal by rail in 1970. The sidings shown here were associated with the changes which occurred in the 1950s and handled local coal traffic and storage. [20][10]
The Line to Kidwelly
A short branch line connected the BP&GVR to the GWR and the Gwendraeth Valley Railway at Kidwelly. [44] The line to meet the GWR was literally quite short. Just these two extracts (this and the one immediately above) from the 25″ Ordnance Survey cover the majority of its length. [45]The line between Kidwelly Junction and Kidwelly as shown on railmaponline.com. [20]The railway junctions to the Southeast of Kidwelly. The line leaving the extract, bottom-left serves Kidwelly Quay. The GWR line runs diagonally top to bottom (or vice-versa). The line exiting the extract top-right is the Gwendraeth Valley Railway – a different company ,(not the BP&GVR). [46]Kidwelly Railway Station is top-left. The other lines are as described above. [20]The Kidwelly Quay Branch. [47]
Railmaponline.com’s satellite imagery shows the Kidwelly Quay Branch. [20]
Kidwelly Quay and railway terminus. The railway followed the line of the earlier canal. This extract is taken from the 25″Ordnance Survey of 1913, published in 1915. [50]
Kidwelly Quay was originally the transfer point between the barges used on Kymer’s Canal and ocean-going coasters. Kymer’s dock at Kidwelly continued to be used for the export of coal by coasters well into the 20th century. It was used as a rubbish dump during the 1950s, but together with a short section of the canal was restored in the 1980s. A few of the structures of the canal can still be traced in the landscape, and the route of the now closed railway can be followed for most of its length.
Kidwelly Quay in the 21st century. [49]
The BP&GVR Northeast of Kidwelly Junction
The 25″ Ordnance Survey of 1913, published on 1915 shows that the line headed Northeast from Kidwelly Junction and passed under what is the B4308 in the 21st century. [51]
The same area as shown on railmaponline.com’s satellite imagery. [20]
Looking Southeast along the B4308 over the line of the railway. The metal bridge parapets remain in place. [Google Streetview, April 2025]
Looking Southwest from the bridge carrying the B4308. Even in this wintertime view, it is impossible to see the formation of the old railway which is hidden by tree-growth. [Google Streetview, December 2021]
The same is true looking Northeast from the bridge carrying the B4308. [Google Streetview, December 2021]
The line continued running Northeast. [52]The same area as shown by railmaponline.com. [20]The rails remain at the level-crossing on Capel Teilo Road. This view looks Southeast along the road. [Google Streetview, April 2025.
Looking Southeast as late as 2009, the furniture associated with the level-crossing also remained in place.In both 2009 and 2026, the route of the line was overgrown in both directions from the crossing. [Google Streetview, March 2009]
The Carway Branch/Siding
On this next extract from the 1913 25″ Ordnance Survey the line turns a little further towards the North-northeast and a short siding (Carway Siding) heads East from the line of the BP&GVR. [52]This railmaponline.com extract shows that the Carway Siding once continued further to the East. [20]
The old tramway/railway bridge over the Gwendraeth Fawr. [Google Maps, October 2026]
Looking back West along the line of the old railway which in the 21st century is an access road to Pwll-y-llygod Farm. There is nothing to see looking East but dense vegetation, with a golf course beyond. [Google Streetview, April 2026]
This extract from a considerably older 6″ Ordnance Survey shows a significant length of the old Carway Branch – the map extract comes from the 6″ Ordnance Survey of 1879, published in 1887. [53]At the time of the 1878/79 Ordnance Survey the Carway Branch extended as far as Carway Old Colliery. The remains of tramways can also be seen on this extract from the 1878/1879 6″ Ordnance Survey, published in 1888. One line links to Carway New Colliery (bottom-right) in this extract to Old Carway Colliery and on to the North to meet the BP&GVR main line/sidings. A second line headed east, leaving the extract top-right. It led only a short distance further east to a group of old small pits to the Northeast of Carway Farm. the location of Carway Old Colliery is now under Glyn Abbey golf-course as can be seen below. [54]This extract from railmaponline.com’s satellite imagery shows the Carway Branch entering from the left and the two tramway routes referred to above. Glyn Abbey Golf-course stretches across the top of the image. [20]
The BP&GVR main line again. …
The line passed close to Pont-newydd, as shown on this extract from the 25″Ordnance Survey of 1913, and the line then curved away to the East. [52]It ran East following the line of the old canal. [52]The next significant location along the BP&GVR was a series of sidings introduced early in the 20th century which serve Carway Colliery. By this time the Carway Branch had been truncated and an industrial tramway ran north from Carway Colliery to the screens on sidings owned by the BP&GVR. The tramway can be seen leaving the BP&GVR siding and leaving the map extract at the bottom-right. [56]This extract from railmaponline’s satellite imagery covers the length of the line shown on the three OS map extracts above. [20]
The Carway Colliery Tramway
Earlier in this article we noted the Carway Branch which in 1879 was the rail link running West from Carway Old Colliery to meet the BP&GVR. By 1913, that line had been curtailed to a short siding connected to the BP&GVR. In its place was a line running from the colliery to screens
As we have noted the industrial tramway ran North/South between Caraway Collieryand its screens. [57][20]
On the adjacent map extract, which shows the Colliery, the route of the old Carway Branch remains fenced/walled off towards the bottom-left, but with the track lifted. The newer private industrial line heads North from the Colliery. [57]
The BP&GVR continuing Northeast. …
We have noted that a loop left the BP&GVR to serve the screens of Carway Colliery. As of 1913, that loop was no more than a series of sidings serving Carway Colliery Screens.
The sidings serving Carway Colliery Screens in This extract from the 6″ Ordnance Survey of 1948, published in 1953 shows the local network serving Carway Colliery and includes the completion of the loop back to the BP&GVR. This extract shows the line North from the BP&GVR as an abandoned line to an old shaft. [58]The short siding which connected Pum -cwart Colliery (Pumpquart Colliery) to the BP&GVR via a bridge over the Gwendraeth Fawr. The name refers to a particular coal seam – the Pump-quart seam – a prominent and high-quality vein of anthracite coal heavily mined throughout this region of the South Wales Coalfield. This extract comes from the 6″ Ordnance Survey of 1879, published in 1888. [54]The same areas as shown on the three map extracts above. [20]This is the next length of the line as shown on the 6″ Ordnance Survey of 1948, published in 1953. [58]The same area – around the location of Plas-bach Colliery – in the 21st century. [20]Plas-bach Colliery in the late 19th century. [60]
Plas-bach Colliery sat just to the Southwest of Pontyates. It was opened in 1856 by Roberts and Evans, the colliery featured two shafts, including one measuring 130 metres deep. The colliery extracted coal from three primary seams: the Gwendraeth, Gras, and Pumpquart. The Pumpquart seam was notorious for hazardous outbursts of methane gas and fine coal dust. Despite 20 recorded outbursts between 1920 and 1926, the mine maintained a record of zero fatalities during this period due to strong management and being one of the first in the valley to install underground electric lighting. It was linked both underground and via a surface tramway to the nearby Gwendraeth mine. Employment dropped from 202 workers in 1918 down to 19 men by 1923, and the site officially closed in 1928. So by the date of the 1948 survey it was long closed. [59][60]
The road crossing in Pontyates Th crossing gates were still in place in 2025 as the images below show. The rails also remain in place and can be made out in this image. [Google Maps, October 2026]Looking Northwest along Heol Llanelli (B4309). The crossing gates either side of the road which becomes Heol Y Meinciau. The rails can be seen running through the road surface just nearer to the camera than the road vehicle. [Google Streetview, May 2025]Looking Southwest along the line from the level-crossing in Pontyates. [Google Streetview, May 2025]Looking Northeast along the line. The crossing gate was of a significant width. [Google Streetview, May 2025]The line to the Northeast of the road crossing as shown on the 25″ Ordnance Survey of 1913 published in 1915. [61]The earlier 6″ Ordnance Survey of 1878/1879, published in 1888 shows an incomplete loop with the more southerly arm serving as series of smaller pits. [54]The same area on modern satellite imagery. [20]The full length of the tramway recorded on railmaponline. This tramway does not appear on the earliest Ordnance Survey sheet. It does appear on a later Ordnance Survey sheet. As shown below. [20]The tramway ran between Cae-pontbren Colliery and its screens which sat over the branch from the BP&GVR. This extract is taken from the 6″ Ordnance Survey of 1903, published in 1907. [62]
Cae-pontbren Colliery operated through various phases between 1887 and 1913. Two initial Shafts were sunk in 1887 to work the Braslyd and Gwendraeth seams, but operations failed and were abandoned in 1896 due to local faulting. A new drift opened in 1900 opposite the New Inn pub to work the Green Vein/Felen seam. By 1907 and 1908, the pit employed around 157 to 160 men. But its life was short. It was finally abandoned in 1913. [63][64]
The main line of the BP&GVR continued in a North-northeast direction and a branch turned East and followed the valley of the Afon Hafren. [20]This extract from the 6″ Ordnance Survey of 1878/1879, published in 1888 shows the full length of the branch which served Ffou Colliery and had a short siding service Ynys-Hafren Brick Works. However, by the time of the 1903 Ordnance Survey, published in 1905, the link to Ffou Colliery was abandoned. Only that to the Brick works remained. [65]This extract from railmaponline’s satellite imagery shows the siding and the main branch line and includes the first lengths of associated tramways. [20]The old branch line crossed the B4317 a short disatnce in front of the camera, possibly at or near to the field agte which appears in this image on the left side of the road. [Google Streetview, April 2025]
Ffou Colliery (also known as Ffoy Colliery) was an historic anthracite mine which sat just east of Pontyates, near the road running from Cynheidre to Pontyates. Historic records from the British Geological Survey note that operations at Ffou encountered specific geological variations, such as a parting in the notable Carway Fawr Vein. The BP&GVR line extended to exchange siding to the Northwest of Fou Colliery. An ‘internal tramway linked the exchange sidings to the Colliery. This length of line appears on the railmaponline satellite image above and again on that immediately below.
Ynys-Hafren Brick Works was active by 1809, originally associated with Cwmgelwr, an area corresponding to land later mapped in the 1840s Tithe Maps. Rai
The tramway connecting Ffou Colliery (bottom-right) with exchange sidings (top-left). [20]A little to the East of Ffou Colliery another tramway appears on the railmaponline satellite imagery. [20]
This extract shows that the tramway recorded by railmaponline was already abandoned at the time of the 1878/1879 Ordnance Survey. [65]
This extract from railmaponline’s satellite imagery shows two tramways which appear to have been associated with the Ynys-Hafren Brick Works. These do not appear on the 6″ 1878/1879 or 1903 Ordnance Surveys. The shorter tramway does however appear on the 1913 Ordnance Survey. [20]
One of the tramways shown by railmaponline appears on this map extract from the 1913 6″ Ordnance Survey which was published in 1922. The longer of the two tramways does not appear on these Ordnance Survey sheets [66]
However on the next 6″ OS sheet to the North (of 1878/1879) an old tramway is shown linking to T’yn-y-Wern Colliery. [67]
T’yn-y-Wern Colliery was a small operation which clearly was abandoned before 1878.
The BP&GVR main line continued North-northeast towards Pont Henry (Pont Henri). [20]Pont Henry: the line was in cutting through the village and began to curve to the Northeast after passing under the bridge in the village. Northeast of Pont Henry was Ty’n-y-Waun Colliery. (Pont Henri) [20]
The railway cutting and bridge at Pont Henry as it appears on the 1878/1879 6″ Ordnance Survey, published in 1889. [67]
Looking West across the route of the old railway along Heol Y Pentre, The Incline Inn is just beyond the bridge parapets. [Google Streetview, April 2025]Looking South-southwest along the old railway from the bridge carrying Heol y Pentre over the line. This vegetation has grown considerably since 2009 and this view is no long easy to see. [Google Streetview, March 2009]Looking Northwest along the old railway, also in 2009. [Google Streetview, March 2009]Ty’n-y-Waun Colliery in 1878/1879. [67]The same location as shown on the 6″ Ordnance Survey of 1905, published in 1907. The Colliery was by that time known as Ponthenry Colliery. The BP&GVR had by this time been doubled through the site. A short tramway can be seen within the confines of the colliery site. [68]The same location in 1913 as shown on the 6″ Ordnance Survey of 1913, published in 1922. The internal tramway system has developed and crosses the BP&GVR and the river. [69]
Pont Henry Colliery operated from the 1820s/1865 until its final closure in 1936. the colliery had three main slants: Glynhir, Gwendraeth, and Stepney and a central coal washery. It extracted high-quality anthracite from the Gwendraeth, Braslyd, Gras, Pumpquart, Green, and Big Vein seams. Manpower peaked at 833 workers in 1927, producing around 200,000 tons of coal annually in both 1930 and 1935. [70]
The BP&GVR continues Northeast towards the Capel-Ifan Colliery. [20]Railmaponline shows the track layout at Capel-Ifan Colliery. The BP&GVR ran very close to the pithead. tramways circulated around the site. [20]Caepel-Ifan Colliery was in the bottom right of this next extract from railmaponline.com. [20]Capel-Ifan Colliery in 1905. Tramways served the site of the colliery. [68]Capel-Ifan Colliery in 1913. The BP&GVR sidings are more extensive than in 1905. [69]
The Capel-Ifan Colliery (was also known as Pentremawr Colliery) and sat to the Southwest of Pontyberem, It was a drift mine (slant mine) due to the angle and depth of the anthracite seams. It opened in 1870, the site faced early setbacks from geological faults before opening slants (Capel Ifan Nos. 1–4 and Pentremawr). It was absorbed into the Amalgamated Anthracite Combine in 1927 and nationalized under the National Coal Board (NCB) in 1947. The seams worked were: Gwendraeth, Braslyd, Gras, Trichwart, Pumpquart, and the 8-foot-thick Big Vein seam discovered in 1939. [71]
The line continues to the Northeast through Pontyberem. The tramway shown on the right side of this image served early collieries near Coalbrook. Details of those early collieries are given further down this article. The later Pontyberem Slant Colliery location is at the very right side of this image and to the Northeast of this extract. [20]Pontyberem in 1878/1879 – the 6″ Ordnance Survey, published in 1889. [67]The same area in 1905. [68]And again, … in 1913. [69]And in 1948. [72]
Before looking at the 6″ OS sheets which cover the Pontyberem collieries, we take a quick look at the line of the old railway through Pontyberem village. …
The line was in cutting through Pontyberem. The first bridge encountered carried Heol Y Pentre over the line. [Google Maps, October 2026].
Looking South along Heol Y Pentre across the bridge carrying the road over the BP&GVR. [Google Streetview, April 2025]
The bridge seen looking Southeast from Railway Terrace. [Google Streetview, April 2025]
The second bridge carried Heol Y Parc over the railway. The purple lines mark the location of the parapets of the old bridge at this location. [Google Maps, October 2026]
Looking East along Heol Y Parc: the terraced houses faced out across the old railway, with the old road running through the location of the trees to the left of the more modern road and its bridge parapets. {Google Streetview, April 2025]
Looking back West along the railway cutting. [Google Streetview, March 2009]
Looking Northeast beyond the modern bridge parapet, the alignment of the railway cutting is marked by the blue line. [Google Streetview, March 2009]
The BP&GVR to the Northeast of Pontyberem in 1878/1879 – the 6″ Ordnance Survey, published in 1889. [73]The same area in 1905. [74]And again, … in 1913. [69]And in 1948. [72]The tramway which serves Pontyberem’s early collieries. [20]
Pontyberem Collieries in the late 19th century as they appeared on the 1878/1879 6″ Ordnance Survey which was published in 1888. [73]
Pontyberem Collieries (later Gwendraeth Collieries) were listed in 1878 as consisting of the Pontyberem Five-Quarter pit and the Pontyberem South pit and in 1882 as the Pump Quart Pit and South Pit. [75]
The collieries were first operational as early as 1845. They were operated by the Pontyberem Colliery Company. In 1907, the name was changed to the Gwendraeth Colliery. [75]
Along with the other collieries in the Gwendraeth Valley, this colliery was nationalised in 1947.
Northern Mine Research Society points out that the South Pit was sunk to a depth of 245 ft., and the Gwendraeth/Pumpquart Pit to a depth of 450 ft. Working seams include the Pumpquart, Trichwart, and Big Vein. Employment reached a high of 824 workers in 1927. Final closure took place on 15th October 1949.
The Pontyberem Slants Colliery is marked on the Ordnance Survey sheet of 1948, as closed. [75]
The level-crossing at Furnace Terrace, seen from Station Road. The single track rails can be seen between the crossing gates.[Google Streetview, May 2025]
Looking West, back down the line towards the centre of Pontyberem. [Google Streetview, May 2022]
Looking East into what was the railway station site. [Google Streetview, May 2022]
The BP&GVR continues heading Northeast through the site of the Pontyberem Slants Colliery. this colliery appears at the right side of the Ordnance Survey extracts above. An additional OS extract is provided below which covers the full area of the Colliery. After having passed through the Colliery site, the BP&GVR turned North. [20]Pontyberem Slants Colliery in 1913. [69]Looking East across what was once the Pontyberem Slants Colliery! [Google Streetview, May 2025]On reaching Clyn-hebog Colliery, the mainline began to turn East-northeast. Just before that curve began a short branch headed away to the East of the BP&GVR – that branch line does not appear on the 1905 nor the 1913 Ordnance Surveys. It does, however, appear on the 1878/1879 Ordnance Survey and appears in the first map extract below and is marked as a tramway. [20]The 1878/1879 Ordnance Survey published in 1888 shows a tramway leaving the main line of the BP&GVR near what were Groes-Faen Chemical works. The tramway appears primarily to have served Dynant Colliery, and perhaps Glyn Bedwast Coal Pit too. Note that the BP&GVR is show running north from this tramway only to a point where it would, in future, bridge/replace the old canal shown on the top-left of the map extract. The absence of the BP&GVR at the top of this map extract (and similarly at the top of the OS map sheet, may indicate that itn was under construction. The next OS sheet to the North shows the line. [73]
Dynant Colliery must have been closed in the late 19th century as it does not appear on later editions of Ordnance Survey mapping. Note, in the railmaponline satellite image above, that for a short distance the modern B4317 follows the route of the old tramway. A more minor road occupied the line of the tramway further to the East.
Looking East along the line of the old tramway which is buried under the B4317. [Google Streetview, May 2025]
The tramway route continues East as the B4317 turns to the North. [Google Streetview, April 2025]
AQ very short distance along the BP&GVR brings us to the location of another colliery – Clyn-hebog Colliery. …
Clyn-hebog Colliery as it appears on the 6″ Ordnance Survey of 1913, published in 1922. Note the sidings alongside the BP7GVR main line and the standard-gauge line under colliery screens. North of the screens are a series of tramway lines which feed the screens form the pit/slant head and give access to spoils heaps to the West of the screens. There also appears to be a single tramway line which meets the standard-gauge line Northeast of the screens, which presumably allowed for other loads to be moved between the tramway and the railway. Finally, note the tramway which starts alongside the exchange sidings next to the BP&GVR main line and heads Northeast. [69]
The remaining length of the tramway which appeared on the right of the map extract above. It served a small colliery – Clos-uchaf Colliery. [69]
Clos-uchaf Colliery was located at the top right of this extract from railmaponline.com’s satellite imagery. Clyn-hebog Colliery was at the centre of the network of tramways to the left of this image. [20]
Continuing East-northeast the BP&GVR leaves behind the Clyn-hebog Colliery. …
The BP&VR continues Northeast. [20]
Looking North across the line of the railway along the minor road to the left of the image above. [Google Streetview, April 2025]
A penultimate length of the BP&GVR as it appears on the 6″ Ordnance Survey of 1878/1879, published in 1889. [76]
Looking West across the line of the old railway along the minor road shown crossing the line to the right side of the satellite image above, and to the right side of the map extract immediately above. [Google Streetview, April 2025]
A final length of the BP&GVR brings it to Pontyfelin. [20]A similar area to that included in the satellite image above. This extract is taken from the 6″ Ordnance Survey of 1905, published in 1907. [75]By the time of the 6″ Ordnance Survey of 1913, the scene had changed dramatically! New Dynant Colliery was very active and as a result the rail head and station at Pontyfelin/Cwm-mawr was a busy location. [69]
New Dynant Colliery and Cwm-mawr (Pont-y-felin) sat at the northern railhead of the BP&GVR. New Dynant Colliery was an anthracite coal mine. In the early 1900s it was operated by the New Dynant Anthracite Collieries Co. and later reorganized as New Dynant Anthracite Colliery (1914) Ltd. In 1924, it became part of United Anthracite Collieries Limited (UAC), a group that combined several regional anthracite mines. In 1926, UAC merged with Amalgamated Anthracite Collieries Limited (AAC). It was nationalised in 1947. [77]
‘Cwmmawrfor Tumble‘ railway station, (Cwm Mawr railway station or Cwmmawr railway station) was opened in 1913 to timetabled passenger services. It continued to serve the inhabitants of the Cwmmawr area and hinterland between 1913 and 1953; it was one of several basic stations opened on the Burry Port and Gwendraeth Valley Railway. Passenger service ended in September 1953. The line remained open for coal freight until 29th March 1996.
Cwmmawr Railway Station in 1947. Two 0-6-0PT were active in the station, Bourne says that the pannier locomotives are No. 1957 in the sidings, and No. 1967 at the platform on. Burry Port train. I cannot find these two running numbers and wonder whether they are correct. (H. C. Casserley). [1: p741]Also taken in 1947, this photograph shows the single-platform terminus at Cwmmawr. The photographer stood beyond the small signal box seen in the last image. [1: p741]The 6″ Ordnance Survey of 1905, published in 1907 shows a tramway running from Pont-y-felin/Cwm Mawr, Northeast to Clos-yr-yn-Colliery. The tramway is also present on the 6″ 1913 Ordnance Survey (published in 1922). [69]The same area in the 21st Century. [20]
Clos-yr-yn-Colliery was a small anthracite coal mine that opened in 1903. It was closed/abandoned by 1924/1925. Seams worked included Pumpquart and Trichwart (Triquart). In 1905, the colliery employed 19 men. Numbers were 66 underground and 12 at the surface by 1908, and 125 in total by 1913. From 1914-1922, the colliery was owned by New Dynasty Anthracite Colliery (1914) Ltd. In 1918, it employed about 126 underground and 21 at the surface. Between 1923 and 1924 it was owned by Great Mountain Collieries Co. Ltd. and employed 121 underground and 32 surface workers before it was abandoned on 30th May 1924.
It was truly the end of the line!
References
John Bourne; The Burry Port & Gwendraeth Valley Railway; in The Railway Magazine, Volume 99, No. 631, Tothill Press, London, November 1953, p737-744.
After Easter 2026, we spent a few days at Borth on Cardigan Bay, North of Aberystwyth. We took the opportunity to visit Aberystwyth and to travel on the Cliff Railway.
Aberystwyth Cliff Railway is the longest electrically operated cliff railway in the UK. It sits at the North end of Aberystwyth’s promenade. Constitution Hill provides views over the town and Cardigan Bay. On a really good day, as many as twenty-six mountain peaks can be seen from the summit. [1]
Aberystwyth Cliff Railway has been transporting visitors to the summit of Constitution Hill since 1st August 1896. It is a 778 feet (237m) long funicular railway, and is the second longest funicular railway in the British Isles after the Lynton and Lynmouth Cliff Railway. Since November 1987, the Aberystwyth Cliff Railway has been a Grade II listed structure. [1][2]
The Cliff Railway as seen on the 6″ Ordnance Survey of 1904, published in 1906. [3]
For the first 25 years of its life the railway operated via a water balance system. Electrification occurred in 1921.
The cars have a maximum capacity of 30 passengers, permanently connected via a continuous cable. The original water balance system used a Worthington Corporation compound steam engine water pump housed in the lower station to move water to the upper station. Each passenger car had a tank in its chassis that could hold 4 tonnes of water. Water was added to the tank of the top car, which descended under gravity, hauling the lighter lower car on the parallel track to the top station. [5]
The railway is straight, ascending about 430 feet (130 m) over a horizontal distance of 778 feet (237 m), a maximum gradient of more than 1 in 2 (50%). The 4 ft 10 in (1,473 mm), slightly broader than standard gauge, and laid on timber sleepers. [5]
“The unique design of the undulating track and tilted carriages is the work of George Croydon Marks. A man who played a key role in several projects during the golden age of funicular construction. He would later make his name in politics as Lord Marks, the liberal peer.” [1]
As we have already noted the railway was electrified using a 41 kW ATB AG [de] Morley DC motor in 1921. In 1934, after changes to the town’s electricity supply, a mercury arc rectifier and transformer were installed in the lower station to provide a 440V DC power output. The cars are moved using a high-tensile steel cable attached to both vehicles. It passes around a drum, mounted on a vertical axis between the tracks at the top. The motor drives the drum controlled by an automated cut-off which stops the motor and the cars when required. [5]
“The carriages are brought to the summit at a stately 4 miles per hour. They are powered by a powerful motor and high-tensile steel cables supported by a sophisticated electronic safety system. At the midpoint of the journey, the railway ventures through a deep cutting, where 12,000 tons of rock was excavated to allow the winding footpath to cross via a series of bridges overhead.” [1]
Its twin carriages are named Lord Geraint and Lord Marks. [6]
The Cliff Railway as seen on the 6″ Ordnance Survey of 1948, published in 1953. [4]
“Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, the cliff railway was popular with visitors but during and after the Second World War, passenger numbers declined significantly. In 1948, seeking to revive its fortunes, the Aberystwyth Pier Company bought it and carried out repairs and upgrades. The new owners were unable to increase passenger numbers.” [5]
In 1976, a fault developed in the railway’s braking system and it was closed briefly. In the late 1970s, “a local mining company acquired a majority stake and formed the Aberystwyth Cliff Railway Company to operate it. In 1978 a new electrical system was installed which is used to the present day. It takes its power from and returns surplus energy to the National Grid.” [5]
More recent key dates:
1987 – recognised as Grade II listed structure.
1998 – purchased by Constitution Hill Ltd.
2005 – upper station refurbished (with café and gift shop).
2014 – roof repairs undertaken and ramps and other adaptations made to improve accessibility – better protection from the elements, a small car park at the station (very small!), wheelchair and guide dog friendly trains, a passenger lift providing wheelchair access from the train to the summit, and once there, wheelchair friendly pathways across the site. [1]
Following on from a couple of articles about the Tanat Valley Light Railway written some years back, I was reading some older rather tatty magazines and found an article entitled “Rails up the Tanat Valley” in an issue of the Ian Allan publication ‘Railway World‘ – the June 1990 edition. [1]
The Tanat Valley Railway and associated lines. [1: p365]
In his article, Colin Ganley recounted the rise and decline of the minor lines running west from Oswestry, the last remnant of which by 1990 had been ‘mothballed’.
Colin Ganley wrote: “In October 1988, the last train ran between Gobowen and Biodwell Quarry in Shropshire. For some years the line had carried only stone trains, bringing out ballast to the requirements of the Area Engineer. The trains, normally Class 31-hauled, traversed the remains of five different branch lines, which in their heyday provided Oswestry and the eastern end of the Tanat Valley with a fascinating and complicated array of lines to serve local industry. With the decision to cease using ballast from Blodwell, traffic on the line came to an end, marking the final cessation of all rail services connected with the delightful one-time Tanat Valley Light Railway.” [1: p364]
He continued: “For the present, this surviving section is in suspended animation. As there is a possibility that the stone traffic may restart in the future, the railway is being left in place. Traffic will resume if BR returns to this source of ballast. If not, eventually a decision will be made to lift the track and dispose of the land: unless the Cambrian Railways Society, based at Oswestry, is in a position to take an active interest in its future.” [1: p364]
Parts of the derelict line at Nant Mawr which were once the western end of the Old Potts Railway are now owned by ‘The Tanat Valley Light Railway’ which is a modern charity that aims to preserve and restore this line.
“The original Tanat Valley Light Railway was the first cross border light railway crossing from England into Wales, meandering up the fantastic Tanat Valley from Llynclys Junction to Llangynog and providing links to Llanymynech and Llanfyllin via its other branches.” [2] It was opened in 1904, mainly as a direct result of the 1896 Light Railways Act, but, says Ganley, “before taking up its story it would be useful to look at its associated lines and also earlier schemes to provide the picturesque village of Llangynog with railway transport. At the height of railway mania in 1845, the Shrewsbury, Oswestry and Chester Junction Railway obtained powers to build a line from Shrewsbury to Chester with a branch from Gobowen to Llanymynech. All that was built of the branch was the 2.25 miles from Gobowen to Oswestry, which opened on 23rd December 1848. In 1854 this line became part of the Great Western Railway.” [1: p364]
He continues: “The second portion of line to be constructed was the Oswestry & Newtown Railway, which was incorporated in 1855. to link these two towns. The section between Oswestry and Pool Quay opened on 1st May 1860 with the remainder to Newtown opening on 14th August. … The company, which was to be the foundation of the later Cambrian Railways, opened a 1.25-mile freight-only branch from Llynclys Junction, some 3.5 miles south of Oswestry, to Porthywaen. This branch served important quarries, some of which are still operating today, and became the railhead for the industries of the Upper Tanat Valley, Shortly after the Porthywaen branch was opened, a mineral line was built from it to serve some collieries at Trefonen. These collieries however were not very successful and this line was abandoned as early as 1881.” [1: p364]
“In the meantime there had been several proposals to build a line up the Tanat Valley. One such proposal envisaged a great trunk line from Worcester to Porth Dinllaen, near Nefyn on the Caenarvonshire coast, with the object of providing an alternative route for Irish Mail traffic. In 1860, a similar proposal was put forward as the West Midlands, Shrewsbury & Coast of Wales Railway which planned a railway from Shrewsbury to Portmadoc via Llanymynech, Llangynog and Bala. This route would have included a 1.5-mile tunnel under the Berwyn Mountains between Llangynog and Bala.” [1: p364]
“However, the project had trouble raising support and money. … Proposals for a similar route were resurrected in 1862 as the Shrewsbury & North Wales Railway. Powers were obtained by 1865 to build a line from Abbey Foregate, Shrewsbury, to Llanymynech but before this section was completed the company had merged with another scheme to provide a railway from Stoke-on-Trent to Shrewsbury. The combined efforts brought forth the grand title of the Potteries, Shrewsbury & North Wales Railway (or POTTS for short) and extended the original plans to include an extension from Llanymynech to Nantmawr over which passenger trains were to run as far as Llanyblodwell (later renamed Blodwell Junction). The financial troubles of the POTTS and its rebirth as the renowned Shropshire & Montgomeryshire Light Railway [3] are outside the scope of this article, but the result was the working of the Llanymynech to Nant Mawr section by the Cambrian Railways from 1881. At this time goods traffic only was operated, the passenger service between and Llanymynech and Lianyblodwell having ceased in 1880.” [1: p364-365]
“The Light Railways Act of 1896 made possible the construction of railways to remote agricultural areas that hitherto had had difficulties in raising capital and several places along the Welsh border benefited from such schemes, one being the Tanat Valley. The Act saw the birth of two schemes to provide, at last, rail transport to the Upper Tanat Valley and the industries of Llangynog. The unsuccessful proposal was for a 2ft 6in gauge railway from the Llanfyllin terminus of the Cambrian branch from Llanymynech.” [1: p365]
“This plan, the Llanfyllin & Llangynog Light Railway, was to cross sparsely populated country between Llanfyllin and Penybontfawr and would not have benefited the lower part of the Tanat Valley. It nevertheless could have been a fascinating line had it been constructed, though the change of gauge at Llanfyllin would have proved a disadvantage.” [1: p365]
“The scheme that was selected by the Light Railway Commissioners was for a standard gauge line from the Cambrian’s Porthywaen mineral branch straight up the valley Liangynog. The plan also envisaged using a short section of the Nantmawr branch. The Tanat Valley Light Railway received its Light Railway Order in 1898 and was constructed by J. Strachan of Cardiff who employed about 125 men on the work. The total cost of the line proved to be about £92,000 which was around £20,000 more than the company had hoped for. This shortfall, not helped by a delay in construction, meant that the Tanat Valley Co was impoverished from the outset and had to approach the Treasury for more grant aid. During construction in 1903 some directors found that the contractor was giving a ‘free’ train service over the partially finished railway but as the contractor was allowed to finish the job it can be assumed that any quarrel was rectified.” [1: p365] For the earlier articles about this line, please follow these two links:
Colin Ganley continues: the Tanat Valley Light Railway “opened on 5th January 1904 to both passengers and freight and was worked by the Cambrian from the start. It became wholly part of the Cambrian in 1921, passing to the Great Western Railway and then to the Western Region of British Rail. The length of the linc from Llynclys Junction to Llangynog was some 15 miles 71 chains and included 11 stations or halts, one of which was former POTTS station of Llanyblodwell which was renamed Blodwell Junction. The stations were of typical light railway pattern with rather mean corrugated iron clad buildings and, except for Liangedwyn and Llanrhaiadr Mochnant, had only one platform. Original plans for some stations did consider refreshment rooms in effort to build up tourism but the company’s lack of capital put an end to such plans.” [1: p365-366]
“With the opening of the Tanat Valley line, passenger services were restored between Llanymynech and Blodwel Junction as this had been a condition of securing support from potential opponents during the planning stages. The opening of the Tanat Valley line also restimulated the slate quarries at Llangynog which had all but closed by 1900. Slate quarrying continued intermittently until 1939 but lead mining, which had effectively ceased in 1877, was never to resume on any commercial scale. The railway also assured the development of granite quarrying at Llangynog, the Berwyn Granite Co. providing much traffic until World War 2. The quarry survived into the mid 1950s but at the end offered virtually no traffic to the railway.” [1: p366] Berwyn Granite Quarries Ltd. remains an active company with headquarters in Wellington, Shropshire. [4]
Colin Ganley continues: “Initially the passenger service consisted of four trains each weekday with an extra trip on Wednesdays. Many trains were mixed and the journey to Oswestry took no less than 75min on some trains. Two trains a day carried a through coach to Llanymynech, detached at Blodwell Junction, but this practice ceased in 1915 and was replaced by a connecting service. The Blodwell Junction to Llanymynech service ceased completely as from 1st January 1917, having been hardly ever used and only operated to fulfil an agreement. Freight traffic over this section ceased in 1925, the Nantmawr traffic then being worked via Porthywaen, and most of it was lifted between 1936 and 1938.” [1: p366]
By 1923, “the number of passengers being carried was half the level of 1913 and continued to decline during the GWR years. By 1925 services, which normally consisted of two four-wheeled carriages, were reduced to three trains each way, though certain extras ran on Wednesdays and Saturdays. In 1929, the GWR introduced a rival bus service which was taken over by Crosville in 1933. The bus served the centres of villages far better than the train as certain stations. Llanrhajadr Mochnant in particular, were badly situated. This, coupled with the elongated journey times caused by the adherence to light railway practices, reduced traffic even further.” [1: p366-367]
“During World War 2 the passenger service was reduced to two trains each way, by now composed of a single Cambrian brake third. After the war, despite petrol rationing, few people were making the delightful trip up the Tanat Valley by rail. Goods traffic was also on the wane and on 15th January 1951 passenger services ceased because of a grave coal shortage, never to return. Official closure took place on 1st July 1952 and at the same time freight traffic was also withdrawn between Llanrhaiadr Mochnant and Llangynog. The track on this section remained in situ for several years, not being lifted until 1958. Freight traffic to Llanrhaiadr Mochnant ceased abruptly on 5th December 1960 after the river bridge near Pentrefelin was badly damaged by flooding,” [1: p367]
“Services on neighbouring lines were savaged in the mid-1960s. All passenger traffic between Welshpool and Whitchurch and also over the Llanfyllin branch were withdrawn on 18th January 1965, leaving Oswestry with the Gobowen diesel shuttle service, which ceased in November the following year. By 1967, just the single track South of Oswestry to Porthywaen and Nantmawr was left, along with the line from Gobowen. Reduction in traffic over the ensuing years left just the Blodwell Quarry service. All the sidings at Oswestry and Porthywaen disappeared. The section west of Blodwell Junction had been lifted by 1965 and though the Nantmawr branch has not seen a train for 20 years the track is still in-situ, although with sturdy trees growing between the sleepers.” [1: p367]
“No account of the Tanat Valley would be complete without a brief mention of its quaint motive power. From the outset, the Cambrian normally provided three Sharp Stewart 2-4-0Ts, Nos 57, 58 & 59 of 1866 vintage. They became GWR Nos. 1192, 1196 and 1197 respectively, and although No 1192 was withdrawn in 1929 after being sent to Devon, Nos 1196 & 1197, both in a rebuilt state, survived at Oswestry until 1948.” [1: p367]
Sharp, Stewart and Co. “was a steam locomotive manufacturer, originally based in Manchester, England. The company was established in 1843 following the dissolution of Sharp, Roberts & Co.. In 1888, it relocated to Glasgow, Scotland, where it later amalgamated with two other Glasgow-based locomotive manufacturers to form the North British Locomotive Company.” [5]
Ganley tells us that the two surviving Sharp Stewart locomotives were “assisted by No. 1308 Lady Margaret, an Andrew Barclay 2-4-0T built in 1902 for the Liskeard and Looe Railway and taken over by the GWR in 1909. This locomotive also did yeoman service in the Tanat Valley until it too was withdrawn in 1948.” [1: p367]
“Other locomotives were seen up the Tanat Valley at various times, including old Cambrian Sharp Stewart 0-6-0s dating from 1875 and the odd Dean Goods. In the latter years passenger traffic was the preserve of ‘5800’ class 0-4-2 tanks, numbers 5808 & 5812 being particular regulars. Goods traffic that remained was normally entrusted by the early 1950s to the Ivatt Class 2 2-6-0s.” [1: p367]
“Various types of diesels handled the surviving quarry services, including Classes 25, 31 and 37. A Class 31 had the privilege to be the last railway locomotive to operate a commercial train (so far) in this region of complex and fascinating railway history. It remains to be seen whether the Cambrian Railways Society will be able to continue the railway traditions of the area if they can successfully launch a private steam service from their Oswestry base.” [1: p367]
Ganley was writing in 1990, things have moved on over the past 36 years. Cambrian Heritage Railways, in the 2020s, operate a service on selected days from their Oswestry Station to Weston Wharf, featuring steam, vintage diesel and diesel multiple units. The 1.75-mile scenic route leads to Weston Wharf with its period station with a café, picnic area, and railway artifact displays. Cambrian Heritage Railways also operate the ‘Llynclys Railway Centre’ which is open on select dates – at Llynlcys South Station. [6][7]
References
Colin Ganley; Rails up the Tanat Valley; in Railway World; Ian Allan, June 1990, p364-367.
In the first article [4] in this short series, we finished the first part of our journey from Oswestry along the Llanfyllin Branch just after passing through Carreghofa Halt with its adjacent combined canal aqueduct and road bridge. Just beyond the bridge we noted the Nantmawr Branch heading away to the North while trains for Llanfyllin ran round a short chord to meet what was the original alignment of the Llanfyllin Branch.
This photograph was taken from the road/canal bridge to the Northwest of Carreghofa Halt. Trains for Llanfyllin took the chord to the left. The Nantmawr Branch heads away to the North. [4]This extract from the 6″ Ordnance Survey of 1900, published in 1902, shows the relationship of the old and new routes taken by branch trains for and from Llanfyllin. The earlier alignment is shown as dismantled and runs to the North of the later alignment. The chord linking the two is on the left of this extract with the line to Llanfyllin leaving the left side of the extract. [5]This satellite image picks out the routes of the lines discussed as they appear in the 21st century. Just to the North of Llanymynech, the original line of the Llanfyllin Branch can be made out. A line of trees gives way travelling westwards to field boundaries that follow the route of the old line. To the South of Llanymynech, the more recent alignment is highlighted by field boundaries becoming tree lined as it approaches the location of Carreghofa Halt and then passes under the modern B4398 and the line of the canal. Immediately to the North of the Canal/Road Bridge the chord connecting the newer line to the older alignment of the Llanfyllin Branch is still described by a line of trees and then by field boundaries. [Google Earth, 28th February 2025]
After leaving the 26-chain chord trains headed due West for Llansantffraid across “a tract of pleasant agricultural countryside.” [3: p635] Within a short distance the Grove Viaduct was reached. It was a 90-yard long viaduct which sat about 7.7 miles from Oswestry.
This extract from the 6″ Ordnance Survey of 1900, published in 1903, shows the Llanfyllin Branch heading West over Grove Viaduct which is close to the centre of the image. The Afon Vyrnwy can be seen on the left side of the extract. [6]This satellite image covers approximately the same length of the Llanfyllin Branch as does the 6″ OS map extract above. [Google Earth, March 2025]
A minor road bridged the line to the East of Grove Viaduct. The railway cutting has been infilled but the bridge parapets and the deck under the road remain.
Looking North along the minor road in April 2024. [Google Streetview, April 2024]Looking East along the old railway from the bridge towards Llanymynech. [Google Streetview, April 2024]Looking West along the line of the old railway towards Grove Viaduct and Llansantffraid. [Google Streetview, April 2024]This is how the Grove Viaduct is shown on the 6″ OS map published in 1885 and surveyed during the years before that date. [9]The location of the Grove Viaduct over the Afon Tanat as it appears on modern satellite imagery. [Google Earth, March 2025]The line continues towards Llansantffraid. [6]A similar length of the line as it appears in Google Maps in March 2025. [Google Maps, March 2025]An aerial image looking Southeast showing Bryn Vyrnwy Holiday Park in the 21st Century. The access road running diagonally across the image follows the line of the old railway. [13]Looking West across Bryn Vyrnwy Holiday Park – the line of the old railway is paved, running between the two hedges. [13]Looking Southwest towards the hills the two hedge lines define the extent of the old railway land. [13]Llansantffraid-ym-Mechain Railway Station was the only passing place on the Branch. It is a large village about 7 miles (11 km) south-west of Oswestry (9.2 miles along the line) and 8 miles (13 km) north of Welshpool. It is at the confluence of the River Vyrnwy and the River Cain. The station can be seen just below the centre of this map extract. [6]
Llansantffraid-ym-Mechain
Jenkins tells us that Llansantffraid Railway Station was “the principal intermediate station on the branch. Its facilities included a single platform for passenger traffic on the up side of the line with a crossing loop immediately to the west, and a gated level-crossing to the east. The well-equipped goods yard included accommodation for coal, minerals, livestock, vehicles, and general merchandise traffic.” [4: p635]
The village of Llansantffraid-ym-Mechain as it appears in Powys Council’s local development plan. [12]A closer view of the railway on the OS map of 1885 where it crossed what is now the B4393 to the North of the river bridge. [6]The same location as it appears on the NLS ESRI satellite imagery in the 21st century. [14]Looking North from the river bridge towards the A495. The old railway crossed the road at the near side of the white walled property on the left of this image. [Google Streetview, April 2024]Looking East, the line of the old railway is marked by the driveway protected by the green gates. [Google Streetview, April 2024]Looking West, the old railway ran to the left of the buildings. [Google Streetview, April 2024]
Llansanffraid (Llansantffraid) means “Church of Saint Bride” in the Welsh language; ym-Mechain refers to its location in the medieval cantref of Mechain and distinguishes it from other places with the same or similar names. [7]
“The name is based on the story of St Bhrid, who is said to have floated across the Irish Sea on a sod of turf, or to have been carried to Scotland by two oystercatchers. The followers of St Bhrid possibly set up new settlements known by the Welsh as Llan Santes Ffraid, Church of (Lady) Saint Bhrid. In recent years the spelling of the village name, with or without a ‘t’, has been a contentious issue (as it has been at Llansantffraid Glyn Ceiriog).” [7]
Approaching the railway station, the old line crossed Lletty Lane on the level.
Looking East from Lletty Lane away from the site of the station. The level crossing location is off to the left of this image. [Google Streetview June 2021]
Jenkins continues: “Llansantffraid was the only crossing place between Llanymynech and Llanfyllin, although it was not [ideal] for passing two passenger trains because the loop was sited beyond the platform. It was nevertheless possible for one passenger train and one freight train to pass here, although the timetable in force in later GWR days ensured that this was not normally necessary. In the 1930s this only took place on Wednesdays when the 9.05 am (WO) passenger service from Llanfyllin to Oswestry passed the 9.12am (WO) light engine from Oswestry to Llanfyllin at 9.27 am.” [3: p635]
“The station building at Llansantffraid was a brick-built structure incorporating a two-storey residential portion for the stationmaster and his family. Although, like many Welsh stations, it was of comparatively plain appearance, the facade was enlivened by the provision of a bay window in the house portion, together with elaborate barge-boards and tall ‘ball & spear’ finials at the end of each gable. The stationmaster’s house was to the left (when viewed from the platform), while the booking office was to the right; the house was an L-plan structure with its gabled cross-wing facing the platform and a subsidiary wing that was parallel to the track.” [3: p636]
To the immediate West of the station building, a SPAR convenience store and a small industrial estate are built over the line of the old railway. A little further to the West, what is now the A495 turned South and bridged the line of the railway.
A closer view of the bridge at the West end of the village of Llansantffraid-ym-Mechain as shown on the 1885 6″ OS Map. [15]The same location in the early 21st century, as it appears on the NLS ESRI satellite imagery. The road (A495) has been widened, the bridge carrying the highway is long-gone. [15]This more recent satellite image shows a small new estate being built over the line of the old railway to the West of the A495. The route of the railway on the East side of the road is better defined in this image and the road Maes Y Cledrau sits on the line of the railway on the West side of the road. [Google Maps, March 2025]Looking East from the A495 along the line of the old railway. It passed to the left of the house visible on the right of the image. [Google Streetview, July 2024]Looking West from the A495 along Maes Y Cledrau. The old railway ran on the left side of the trees on the right of the image. In the distance, the newly built houses sit over the line of the railway. Closer to the camera it centre-line approximated to the kerb line of the road. [Google Streetview, July 2024]
The B4393 ran parallel to the line to the North. The line climbed towards Llanfechain on a gradient of 1 in 75.
The old railway closely followed what became the B4393. The road ran on the North side of the railway. [16]The same area as it appears on Google Earth satellite imagery in the 21st century. [Google Maps, March 2025]Looking West along the B4393 the line of the old railway can be identified, delineated by the two hedge lines on the left of this photograph. [Google Streetview, April 2024]The road and railway continued West immediately adjacent to each other. [17]The same area on 21st century satellite imagery. [Google Maps, March 2025]Again the old railway formation continues West alongside the B4393. [Google Streetview, April 2024]On this next extract from the 6″ Ordnance Survey a side road to the B4393 crosses the line of the railway. [18]The same area in the 21st century. [Google Maps, March 2025]Looking North across the bridge noted above. [Google Streetview, April 2024]Looking East along the old railway alignment from the road bridge. [Google Streetview, April 2024]Looking West along the old railway formation from the road bridge. [Google Streetview, April 2024]This next map extract shows Llanfechain Railway Station. [19]The same area in the 21st century. Note the way that the old railway turns away to the Southwest after passing through the station. [Google Maps, March 2025]The station at Llanfechain was a good walk from the centre of the village and not at the closest road crossing to the village. [21] The facilities at the station were limited, although the main station house was as substantial as that at Llansantffraid-ym-Mechain. The station site was framed by a road bridge. [21]
Llanfechain
Llanfechain was near to 11 miles from Oswestry. Jenkins tells us that “The layout at Llanfechain echoed that at neighbouring Llansantffraid in that there was just one platform on the up side. A small goods yard was able to deal with coal, livestock, and other forms of traffic. … The station building was of ‘Victorian house’ design incorporating residential quarters for the local stationmaster. The presence of a two-storey house portion made these stations appear much bigger than they actually were, the booking office and waiting-rooms being only one portion of the main structure.” [3: p636]
Leaving Llanfechain Railway Station “heading south-westwards, the single line climbed steadily through pastoral countryside towards the penultimate stopping place at Bryngwyn” [3: p636] which was a little over 12.5 miles from Oswestry.
Looking West-southwest along the line of the old railway in 2024. [Google Streetview, April 2024]The line headed Southwest as it left Llanfechain. Note the footbridge in the top-right of this map extract, the road bridge just below and to the left of the centre of the image and the accommodation bridge in the bottom-left. [20]The same area in the 21st century. At the top-right of this image what was once a footbridge over the old railway has been converted into an access road. On both this image and the map extract above another minor road can be seen bridging the line of the old railway just below the centre of the image. The line was in a cutting at this point. [Google Maps, March 2025]The road bridge seen from the Northwest. [Google Streetview, April 2024]Looking Northeast along the line of the old railway towards Llanfechain Railway Station. [Google Streetview, April 2024]Looking Southwest along the line of the old railway. [Google Streetview, April 2024]In this next 6″ map extract the accommodation bridge noted before, appears top-right and a further bridge bottom-left. The line remained in cutting along this length. [25]This extract from Google’s satellite imagery covers a similar area to the map extract above..It also shows the bridge noted above which carried another local access road over the old railway. [Google Maps, March 2025]On this next extract from the 6″ Ordnance Survey of 1880s the line begins to turn towards the West, from a southwesterly heading. What becomes the B4393 crosses the line at Bryngwyn Flag Station (a halt at which passengers had to signal the train to stop to collect them). The road curving round the bottom-left corner of the extract was to become the A490. [26]Much the same length of the line appears on this 21st century satellite image. The A490 can be seen on the bottom-left of this image. [Google Maps, March 2025]A closer view of the location of Bryngwyn Halt. The old railway can be seen bridging the old road which had to dog-leg to pass under the line. [26]Looking Northeast along the line of the old railway from the B4393. The bridge at this location was removed and the road was realigned after the closure of the railway. The level difference between the two is still evident. [Google Streetview, April 2024]Turning through 180°, looking Southwest along the line of the old railway. The realignment of the road required the removal of the bridge abutment and a short length of embankment which once also supported the Bryngwyn Halt. [Google Streetview, April 2024]
Bryngwyn Halt
Bryngwyn did not open with the line. Jenkins tells us that “having been opened by the Cambrian Railways as an unstaffed halt in the mid-1860s. The single platform was sited on the down side of the line with access from a nearby road. Interestingly, Bryngwyn was an early example of a ‘request stop’, a semaphore stop-signal being worked by intending travellers. The platform was originally of timber trestle construction with a small open-fronted waiting shelter, although a concrete platform and corrugated-iron shelter were later provided.” [3: p636]
“From Bryngwyn the route continued westwards for the final two miles to Llanfyllin. With the A490 road running parallel to the left, the line passed beneath a minor road bridge and, slowing for the final approach to their terminus, branch trains passed an array of parallel sidings before finally coming to rest beside a single-platform station some 8 miles 41 chains from Llanymynech, and 14 miles 48 chains from the start of the through journey from Oswestry.” [3: p636-637]
Over this next stretch of the old railway, the line continues to curve round towards the Northwest. The road that became the A490 runs parallel to the line but to its South. An access track Plas-ywen crossed the line at an un-manned crossing. A little further West the line was bridged by a lane running North from the main road. [27]Much the same area on modern satellite imagery. [Google Maps, March 2025]Looking North along the lane which crossed the old line. The railway was in cutting at this location so there are no significant gradients on the approaches to the bridge. The brick parapets of the bridge remain in place. [Google Streetview, Summer 2022]Looking East, the line of the old railway is camouflaged by tree growth. [Google Streetview, Summer 2022]Looking West, it is possible to see the old formation with the hedge following the old railway boundary. [Google Streetview, Summer 2022]The road and railway continued in parallel across this next extract from the 6″ Ordnance Survey. The River Cain runs just to the North. [28]The same area on modern satellite imagery. At the left of both these images a farm access track crosses the line of the old railway. [Google Maps, March 2025]The old line continued to curve towards the Northwest. [29]A very similar length of the old railway in the 21st century. The route of the railway can still be seen easily curving to the Northwest on the South side of the River Cain. [Google Maps, March 2025]The final length of the line which terminated to the Southeast of the centre of Llanfyllin. [30]The same area of Llanfyllin as it appears on satellite imagery in the 21st century. [Google Maps, March 2025]The centre of Llanfyllin in the 21st century. [Google Maps, March 2025]
Llanfyllin
Jenkins says that “Llanfyllin was a surprisingly spacious station, and although its track-plan was relatively simple, the goods yard and other facilities were laid out on a generous scale, the distance from the turnout at the eastern end of the run-round loop to the terminal buffer stops being around 34 chains, or slightly less than half a mile. The passenger platform was situated on the down side, and it had a length of around 385ft. The platform was flanked by two long parallel lines, one of which functioned as an engine release road while the other formed a lengthy goods reception line. These two lines were linked by intermediate cross-overs which allowed greater flexibility during shunting operations.” [3: p637]
The goods yard contained two goods sheds, one of these being situated on a loop siding that was laid on a parallel alignment to the passenger station. A long siding for “coal and other forms of wagon-load traffic extended along the rear edge of the goods yard; this siding branched into two shorter sidings at its western end, the second goods shed being served by one of these short spurs. The main goods sidings ended at loading docks at the western extremity of the station, while a further siding to the east of the platform on the down side served a cattle-loading dock. The latter siding was entered by means of headshunt from the engine shed siding, a reverse shunt being necessary before vehicles could be propelled into the cattle dock.” [3: p638]
Nearby the “engine shed was single-road structure with a length of about 50ft, … this normally accommodated just one locomotive. Water was supplied from a stilted metal tank beside the engine shed, this structure being fitted with flexible hoses through which the water could be delivered.” [3: p638]
The station throat at Llanfyllin Railway Station is framed by the road bridge carrying Derwlwyn Lane. This map extract comes from the 25″ Ordnance Survey of 1900, published in 1901. [33]
The image above is embedded from the Flickr site of Katerfelto, who comments: “Trains arriving at Llanfyllin passed a ground frame and then passed under a single-span iron bridge which carried Derwlwyn Lane over the line. From the south side could be seen the engine shed and water tower followed by some cattle pens and Llanfyllin signal box, before the single platform and its substantial station building announced the journey’s end.” [34]
Opposite the platform were the goods shed, a warehouse, several buildings and the run-round loop.
The terminal buffers were in a shallow cutting and short approach road led from the station building to the public road.
Jenkins continues: “Llanfyllin station building was similar to the other station buildings on the branch, being a typical ‘Victorian house’ design with a two-storey stationmaster’s house and attached single-storey booking-office wing. The window and door apertures were simple square-headed openings with large-paned window frames, but this otherwise plain brick building was enlivened by the provision of decorative barge-boards and elaborate pointed finials. The front of the booking office was slightly recessed to form a covered waiting area, and this feature contributed further visual interest to this former Oswestry & Newton Railway building.” [3: p638]
Llanfyllin had a population of around 2,000. Wikipedia tells us that “the community … population in 2021 was 1,586 and the town’s name means church or parish (Llan) of St Myllin (‘m’ frequently mutates to ‘f’ in Welsh).” [30]
The Llanfyllin Branch was featured in an article by Stanley Jenkins in the October 2003 issue of Steam Days magazine. [3]
The immediately adjacent Tanat Valley Light Railway is covered elsewhere on this blog. The articles about that line can be found here [4] and here. [5]
The two lines ran into the hills to the Southwest of Oswestry. The local Cambrian network is shown diagrammatically in the image below.
Trains on the branch ran from the Welsh border town of Oswestry to Llanfyllin in the Berwyn Mountains. The branch left the Oswestry & Newtown Railway at Llanymynech, where the station nameboard called on passengers for Llanfyllin and Lake Vyrnwy to disembark and change trains. The lake is a nearby beauty spot where there is a reservoir supplying water to Liverpool.
In July 1864, the Oswestry & Newtown Railway joined with other local concerns to form the Cambrian Railways Company with its headquarters at Oswestry.
Llanfyllin’s townfolk formed a company to secure a rail link to the Cambrian network. The Cambrian began to show some interest when ideas of an East-West mainline came to the fore.
A 10-mile branch was agreed from Llanfyllin to Llanymynech which, in the view of the companies which would soon form the Cambrian, would hinder any rival’s attempt to construct a mainline between the Midlands and the Welsh coast.
The modest scheme received Royal Assent on 17th May 1861 and the Act empowered the Oswestry & Newton Railway to build branch lines to Llanfyllin and Kerry. The Llanfyllin Branch was soon pegged out in advance of construction. It presented few engineering challenges as “for much of its length the proposed branch line would follow a comparatively easy course along convenient river valleys, and with few physical obstacles to impede [the] work.” [3: p627]
“The line was substantially complete by the early months of 1863, a significant event being the arrival of the locomotive Nant Clwyd at Llanfyllin in March of that year. The railway was opened on 10th April 1863 and branch trains began running through to Oswestry on 17th July 1863.” [3: p627]
The railway “was single track throughout, with intermediate stations at Llansantffraid and also Llanfechain. At Llanymynech the junction was situated to the North of the station, and this necessitated an awkward reversal when trains entered or left the branch. There were no tunnels on the branch, although several overbridges or underbridges were required including a 90-yard viaduct between Llanymynech and Llansantffraid. An additional stopping place was opened at Bryngwyn in the first few months of operation, although this new station was merely a request stop with no provision for goods traffic. The trains travelling eastwards to Oswestry were regarded as up workings, while westbound trains were down services.” [3: p627-628]
The new railway was soon functioning as a typical country branch line with a modest service of around five trains each way. “Minor changes took place at Llanymynech in 1866 in connection with the opening of the Potteries, Shrewsbury & North Wales Railway, but in the event this undertaking was more or less a total failure. Much later, in 1896, the Llanfyllin branch junction was re-aligned using part of the PS&NW route.” [3: p628]
“The Llanfyllin branch found a welcome, unexpected source of heavy freight traffic in the 1880s when Liverpool Corporation obtained powers for the construction of a massive dam at Llanwddyn, about seven miles to the west of Llanfyllin. By this means the surrounding valley was turned into a reservoir known as Lake Vrynwy from which water was supplied to Liverpool via a 75mile-long aqueduct. Materials needed in connection with this gigantic feat of Victorian engineering were delivered by rail to Llanfyllin, which became an important railhead while the reservoir scheme was under construction.” [3: p628]
In 1922, the Cambrian became an integral part of an enlarged GWR as part of the grouping required by the Railways Act of 1921.
Road competition led the GWR to become “a large-scale user of motorised road transport, with railway-owned lorries being employed for local cartage work in urban areas and as ‘country lorries’ for collection and delivery work in rural areas. Certain stations were selected as ‘country lorry centres’, while others were down-graded in various ways so that, by the later 1930s, many smaller stations were handling very little carted freight traffic. Oswestry and Llansantffraid, for example, both became ‘country lorry centres’, and a large rural area was then served by road transport, with GWR vehicles running on regular routes. In this way the railway could fight back against the road-transport operators.” [3: p628]
The GWR was also a pioneer in the use of motorised road passenger services. “By the post-Grouping period the GWR had introduced road feeder services on a very large scale, rural Wales being regarded as an ideal area for the employment of such vehicles. Oswestry emerged as an important centre in the company’s motor-bus network, with services radiating to towns such as Llangollen, Welshpool, and to Llanfair Caereinion. These extensive road services needed a relatively-large allocation of motor vehicles, among the buses working from Oswestry during the 1920s being Burford 30cwt buses Nos. 801, 807, and 861, and Thornycroft 30cwt vehicles Nos. 911 and 936. The GWR buses … worked in close conjunction with the trains as useful feeders for the railway system.” [3: p628] This was an early example of an integrated transport network!
To regularise its practice, the GWR obtained new legal powers “under the provisions of the Great Western (Road Transport) Act of 1928. This new legislation enabled the GWR to own, work, and use motor vehicles in its own right, and to enter into arrangements with other parties for the operation of road transport services. By virtue of these powers the railway company at once entered into detailed negotiations with certain road transport companies, and by 1933 all of the GWR motor-bus services had been handed over to ‘associated’ bus companies such as Crosville Motor Services Ltd.” [3: p629]
“This arrangement was supposed to lead to greater co-ordination between road and rail transport, but there is no doubt that in many areas the buses began to compete with the railways for what little transport was available in rural areas. The situation in respect of the Oswestry area seems to have been particularly disadvantageous as far as the GWR was concerned in that many buses ran on a Llanymynech-Oswestry-Gobowen axis in open competition with the rail service.” [3: p629]
“In some instances Crosville (or the other railway-associated bus companies) assisted the GWR by collecting and delivering parcels traffic, while goods traffic was handled by GWR motor lorries, some of which had been converted from former railway buses. Oswestry-based road motors Nos. 891, 897 and 861 … were adapted for use as lorries between 1926 and 1929. …They retained their old GWR fleet numbers. … Buses were more flexible than the railways, … to mitigate this the GWR opened numerous unstaffed halts. … One of these … was established in 1938 at Carreghofa in the Llanfyllin Branch, near Llanymynech.” [3: p629]
Jenkins tells us that the train services on the branch were similar throughout the years of its operation with five up passenger services to Llanymynech from Llanfyllin each weekday and five down trains. Occasionally these services worked through to Oswestry but, with the exception of the 1.43pm service, such movements were not always timetabled. The reverse workings, often unadvertised, ran from Gobowen through Oswestry and Llanymynech to Llanfyllin. Wednesdays and Saturdays, market days in Oswestry, were different, with two morning trains running through to Oswestry and two early afternoon trains back to Llanfyllin. There was no Sunday service. A daily branch goods train “generally departed from Llanymynech at 12.25pm and arrived at the terminus at 1.35pm, having called intermediately at Llansantffraid where half an hour was allowed for shunting operations. The return working left Llanfyllin at 2.30pm and, after spending another half an hour at Llansantffraid, … arrived at Llanymynech at 3.42pm.” [3: p629]
Jenkins comments that “the line was worked by short-wheelbase coaching stock for many years, although in GWR days 2-coach ‘B-sets’ and other formations were employed.” [3: p629]
The Cambrian Railway had very few small tank engines which meant that tender engines worked many of their small branch lines. Usually these would be ‘Queen’ class 0-6-0 locomotives. Following the grouping, GWR locos began to appear on the branch lines around Oswestry, particularly Armstrong and Collett 0-4-2Ts. Jenkins tells us that “these newcomers included ‘517’ 0-4-2T No 848 which worked on the branch at various times until its withdrawal in 1945, being out-stationed in the branch sub-shed at various times. The familiar Collett 0-4-2Ts were introduced by the GWR in 1932 as replacements for the veteran ‘517’ class 0-4-2Ts on local passenger services.” [3: p630]
The first examples of the non-auto ’58XX’ locomotives appeared on the branch in the 1930s. Jenkins notes that No. 5816 was sent to Llanfyllin shed as early as August 1933, while by 1947, the resident branch engine was No. 5806. The auto-fitted ’48XX’ class also arrived at Oswestry in the mid-1930s. These locos could also be seen on the Llanfyllin Branch. [3: p630] Dean goods 0-6-0 locos were also seen at times on the branch. Jenkins notes appearances of Nos. 2482 and 2535. No doubt the branch was served by a number of pannier tank (0-6-0PT) locomotives of different classes that were stabled at Oswestry. After nationalisation, by the mid-1950s, a group of Ivatt ‘2MT’ 2-6-0s were allocated to Oswestry and were employed on the branch. “As there was no turntable at the terminus the Ivatt Moguls generally ran tender-first towards Llanfyllin and then returned to Oswestry facing in the right direction. Several Llanfyllin branch services were at this time through trips to Gobowen which continued northwards over the Great Western branch to connect with the Shrewsbury & Chester main line. … At Gobowen it was found that the clearance between the stop block at the end of the down bay platform was insufficient for an Ivatt 2-6-0 running tender-first, and drivers were therefore instructed to enter the bay running chimney-first; this instruction probably explains why the engines normally faced northwards when they were running on the Llanfyllin route!” [3: p631]
The Route
We commence our journey at Oswestry Railway Station. We noted first that from 1860 onwards there were two separate stations in Oswestry – a GWR station and a Cambrian station.
The first 25″ OS map extract below shows the general arrangement of railway facilities in the centre of Oswestry at the turn of the 20th century. The second focusses on the two railway stations.
A series of photographs of the railway station can be found on the Disused Stations website. [32]
Oswestry Railway Station (at the top of this image) and the Cambrian’s Works (nearer the camera) seen in an aerial view looking from the Northeast across Oswestry (EAW056424, 1954). Historic England. [30]
After the grouping in 1922 the GWR set about rationalising their inheritance. The old Cambrian station became the town’s passenger facilities and the GWR station was converted into the hub of an enlarged goods yard. “The Cambrian platforms were extended by 300ft, and a new branch bay was created on the west side of the station on a site that had previously been occupied by a large goods shed. At the same time the main up and down platforms were equipped with new canopies, and electric lighting was installed in place of gas in the goods yard and engine sheds. … Goods facilities were provided on a lavish scale, with sidings at both the north and south ends of the station. The main goods yard, which incorporated the original Great Western terminus, was situated to the north of the passenger station; the former terminus remained largely intact after its conversion to a goods depot, although part of the platform canopy was boxed-in to form a goods loading area.” [3: p632]
Goods facilities extended both to the North and South of the enlarged passenger station. Oswestry engine shed contained six terminal roads and sat to the North of the station complex, between the lines to Whitchurch and Gobowen. Jenkins tells us that a “standard GWR raised coaling plant was erected as part of the post-Grouping improvements, and this replaced an earlier Cambrian coaling stage. The Great Western coal stage was surmounted by a 45,000gallon water tank, while the old 45ft-diameter locomotive turntable was taken up and a new 65ft-diameter GWR one erected.” [3: p632]
South of Oswestry, trains for Llanfyllin travelled along the GWR Whitchurch to Aberystwyth main line as far as Llanymynech, passing Llynclys junction where the Tanat Valley Light Railway diverged westwards on its way to Blodwell Junction and Llangynog. Llynclys Railway Station was situated a short distance beyond the junction. It “was a wayside station with a small but substantial station building on the up side and a waiting shelter on the down platform. In architectural terms the station building, with its two-storey stationmaster’s house and single-storey booking-office wing, was very typical of Oswestry & Newton practice. The nearby goods yard contained facilities for coal, livestock, and general merchandise traffic.” [3: p633]
The length of the line from Oswestry to Llanymynech is covered by the next sixteen extracts from the 25″ Ordnance Survey of 1900 and accompanying satellite images and photohgraphs.
A short distance to the South of Oswestry town centre the line passed under Salop Road adjacent to the gates of the town cemetery. [9]The same location in the 21st century. [Google Earth, February 2025] The line South from Oswestry is single track, it is part of the Cambrian Heritage Railways based at both Llynclys and Oswestry in the restored Oswestry Railway Station. It was formed after the 2009 merger of the Cambrian Railways Society and the Cambrian Railways Trust, it aims to reinstate the infrastructure required to operate trains from Gobowen to Llynclys Junction (for Pant) and to Blodwel. Cambrian Heritage Railways also operates the Cambrian Railways Museum in the Oswestry railway station’s former goods depot. [17]This schematic map shows the lengths of the line between Gobowen and Welshpool that have been restored as of the end of 2024. [17]
The Cambrian Heritage Railway is extending and repairing track from Llynclys South northwards towards Oswestry to enable trains to run into the former Cambrian Railway headquarters at Oswestry. [17]
Looking North from Salop Road bridge in the first quarter of the 21st century. [Google Streetview, April 2024]Looking South from Salop Road bridge in the first quarter of the 21st century. [Google Streetview, April 2024]The line continued South from the Salop Road bridge. [9]Further South, the line continued to track South-southeast. [9]The line passed to the East of the small village of Weston. [10]The same location in the 21st century. This is Weston Wharf Station on the Cambrian Heritage Railway. [Google Earth, February 2025]Looking North from Weston Road in the 21st century. [Google Streetview, April 2024]
Weston Wharf Railway Station on the Cambrian Heritage Railways’ line to the South of Oswestry. “Plans to extend the line from Oswestry were reported in January 2016. The work was scheduled to proceed in three stages: phase one from Oswestry to Gasworks Bridge which carries the B4579 Shrewsbury Road over the line, phase two to make Gasworks Bridge passable and phase three to reach Weston Wharf. [24] At Gasworks Bridge, the track had to be lowered to allow trains to pass under the steel girder frame installed to strengthen the bridge. Funding was received from Shropshire Council and Oswestry Town Council.” [25][26][28]
“By April 2022 the 2 miles (3.2 km) of track from Oswestry to Western Wharf, which lay abandoned for more than 50 years, had been reinstated. The station was officially opened on 2 April 2022 by Helen Morgan MP and Vince Hunt, Chairman of Shropshire Council. It consists of a single platform, a run-around loop and a siding. Previously, there was no station here, only a goods depot.” [27][28]
Weston Wharf Railway Station development proposals as shown in the Cambrian Heritage Railway’s newsletter in 2019. [27]
Looking South from Weston Road in the 21st century. [Google Streetview, April 2024]The line continues South-southwest [10]The modern day A483 crosses the line of the railway a little to the South of Weston Wharf. [Google Earth, February 2025]Looking North from the A483 in the first quarter of the 21st century. [Google Streetview, July 2024]Looking South from the A483 in the 21st century. [Google Streetview, July 2024]The line continued South-southwest. [10]And passed under one minor road and then over another (just at the bottom edge of this extract. [11]The first of the two bridges in the 21st century. [Google Earth, February 2025]Looking North from the minor road bridge in the 21st century. [Google Streetview, April 2024]Looking South from the same minor road bridge in the 21st century. [Google Streetview, April 2024]The second of the two bridges in the 21st century. [Google Earth, February 2025]Looking South through the bridge spanning Albridge Lane. [Google Streetview, April 2024]Looking North through the bridge spanning Albridge Lane. [Google Streetview, April 2024]Beyond Albridge Lane Bridge, the line continued Southwest passing under another minor road bridge which carried Church Lane and which can just be seen at the bottom of this extract from the 25″ Ordnance Survey of 1900. [11]Church Lane Bridge as it appears on satellite imagery in the 21st century. [Google Earth, February 2025]Looking North-northeast from Church Lane Bridge. [Google Streetview, April 2024]Looking South-southwest from Church Lane Bridge. [Google Streetview, April 2024]On this next extract, the minor bridge appears at the very top. South of that bridge the village of Llynclys was passed after the Tanat Valley branch left the main line heading West. [12]The same location as it appears on the ESRI [satellite imagery provided by the National Library of Scotland (NLS). [20]
The Tanat Valley Light Railway is covered by two articles which can be found here [18] and here. [19] The route of the main line and that of the Tanat Valley Light Railway are defined by the lines of trees in the 21st century. The village has extended across the railway line.
Looking North from the B4396 at Llynclys. The building is Llynclys Railway Stationmaster’s House and booking office which are now in private hands. Jenkins describes the station as a “wayside station with a small but substantial station building on the up side and a waiting shelter on the down platform. In architectural terms the station building, with its two-storey stationmaster’s house and single-storey booking-office wing, was very typical of Oswestry & Newton practice. The nearby goods yard contained facilities for coal, livestock, and general merchandise traffic.” [Google Streetview, April 2024]Looking South from the B4396 at Llynclys along the preservation line. … Llynclys South Railway Station was built by the preservation railway to replace the original Llynclys Railway Station. [Google Streetview, April 2024]
Llynclys South Railway Stationis located just South of the original located Llynclys station, “on the other side of the B4396 road bridge. During the original commercial operation of the line, the site was used for goods handling. … The station was built as an alternative to the original Llynclys station, which has become a private house. Work on the South station began in 2004 and opened to the public in 2005. CHR currently keeps the bulk of its rolling stock here, on a number of sidings, and a new carriage shed is set to be built after having gained planning permission in 2007.” [23]
More photographs and maps of Llynclys Railway Station can be found on the Disused Stations website. [33]
South of Llynclys trains ran on through Pant to Llanymynech which was nearly 6 miles South of Oswestry.
The old line continues South-southwest from Llynclys Railway Station. [12]And then ran parallel to and on the West side of the Shropshire Union Canal. Close to the mid-point on the West side of this image the line is bridged by Penygarreg Lane. [13]The same area in the 21st century as it appears in the NLS ESRI satellite imagery both highlighted by the lines of trees. Penygarreg Lane and bridge can be seen quite easily on this image. The length of the Montgomery Canal (Shropshire Union Canal) in the vicinity of the village of Pant is known as the Shropshire Gap. The Shropshire Union Canal Society is working to renovate the derelict length of the Canal. [21][22]The view North-northeast from Penygarreg Lane. The bridge forms the end of the heritage line. The view South from the lane is completely blocked by a high Leylandii hedge. This is the Southern limit (in 2025) of the preservation line. [Google Streetview, April 2025]A little to the South of Penygarreg Lane, Pant Railway Station is at the centre of this next extract from the 25″ Ordnance Survey of 1900. [14]A closer view of the immediate area around the station at Pant is worthwhile. It shows the wharf at the canal side and transshipment facilities for the standard-gauge line. The tramway served Crickheath Quarry. By the 21st century, much of this area has changed significantly. [14]The same location in the 21st century. A comparison of this satellite image with the map extract immediately above is illuminating. Access to the canal wharf from the West was a shared underbridge. Both the tramway and the road passed under the bridge. The road then turned sharply to the South running parallel to the canal before turning East to cross the bridge over the canal which is still in place in the 31st century. Removal of the railway had meant that a new alignment of the road on the West side of the canal has been possible. [Google Earth, February 2025]Looking North along the line of the railway towards Llynclys and Oswestry. [Google Streetview, April 2024]Looking South along the line of the railway towards Llanymynech. [Google Streetview, April 2024]The line continued South towards Llanymynech bridging the Montgomery Canal on a skew bridge. [14]The location of the bridge over the Montgomery Canal. Well house Lane runs on the South side of the old canal.The remains of the railway bridge over Wellhouse Lane seen from the Northeast. The northern abutment is hidden by vegetation. The Montgomery Canal, in its overgrown state, is off the right side of this image. [Google Streetview, April 2024]The remains of the railway bridge over Wellhouse Lane seen from the Southwest. The northern abutment is hidden by vegetation (on the left of the road). The Montgomery Canal, in its overgrown state, is further to the left. [Google Streetview, April 2024]After crossing the Canal and Wellhouse Lane, the line passed through a shallow reverse curve and bridged another lane. [14]
The location of the bridge in the map extract above is shrouded by the tree canopy. A modern satellite image would show very little as does the Streetview image below.
Looking Northwest through the location of the bridge at the centre of the map extract above. The bridge, including its abutments, is no longer present. The road leaving the lane to the left climbs onto the old railway embankment and follows the route of the line for a few hundred metres, giving access to a private dwelling and a sewerage farm. [Google Streetview, April 2024]The 25″ Ordnance Survey of 1900 shows the original junction between the Cambrian’s Whitchurch to Aberystwyth line and the Llanfyllin Branch to the North of Llanymynech Railway Station. With this junction facing North, trains from and to Llanfyllin were required to undertake and awkward reversal along the main line into Llanymynech Station. The replacement alignment can be seen towards the bottom of this extract. It followed the line of the old extension to the Potteries, Shrewsbury and North Wales Railway (PS&NWR) By the time of this survey the length of the original branch just to the West of this map extract had been abandoned. A short chord (also off the left of this extract) linked the branch to the PSNWR. [15]This extract from the 6″ Ordnance Survey from before the turn of the 29th century shows the alterations necessary close to the main line. The PS&NWR crossed the line to Newton from Oswestry on the level at a diamond crossing. A new chord was necessary to allow trains access to and from the main line. That chord was placed to the South of the original line (the earthworks of the original line can be seen to the North of the new chord). [35]The same area shown on Google Maps’ satellite imagery. Station Road crosses the site of the old station at the top-right of this image. The mainline runs South down the right side of the image. The route of the Llanfyllin Branch is marked by the track marked in grey running West from the location of the junction to the A483. [Google Maps, February 2025]Looking from the West along Station Road (B4398) on its approach to the bridge over the old railway. The railway station was under this bridge. [Google Streetview, April 2024]Looking West along Station Road from the location of the East abutment of the bridge over Llanymynech Railway Station. [Google Streetview, April 2024]This extract from the 6″ Ordnance Survey of 1900, published in 1902, shows the relationship of the old and new routes taken by branch trains for and from Llanfyllin. The earlier alignment is shown as dismantled and runs to the North of the later alignment. The chord linking the two is on the left of this extract. The bridge which carried the main road South from Llanymynech over the branch can be seen at the right of this map extract. [16]
Llanymynech Railway Station was the point of departure for Llanfyllin Branch trains from the main line. In early year this required trains serving Llanymynech from Oswestry to undertake a reversal in order to travel along the branch. The same applied to trains from Llanfyllin needing to call at or terminate at Llanymynech.
This was addressed by providing a short chord line from the Llanfyllin Branch to what was once part of the Potteries, Shrewsbury and North Wales Railway (PS&NWR). “This remodelled layout enabled branch trains to serve Llanymynech station without reversing, although the new junction arrangements necessitated the abandonment of a small portion of the original Oswestry & Newton branch. … Further changes ensued in 1911 when a connection was established between the former PS&NW line and the Tanat Valley route at Blodwell Junction. This new line created a useful loop line between the Llanfyllin and Tanat Valley branches, although in the event the two-mile connecting line between Llanymynech and Blodwell Junction had a comparatively short life, and it was closed in the mid-1920s.” [3: p635]
Llanymynech grew as a Victorian village after the opening of the Montgomeryshire Canal in 1797. This length of Canal became part of the Shropshire Union Railways and Canal Company and then part of the LNWR. The Canal was only abandoned after the LNWR became part of the LMS. The Canal was not abandoned until towards the end of the Second World War (1944). Although Llanymynech has a Welsh name it sits on the English side of the border with Offa’s Dyke running through the parish. [3: p635]
The Oswestry & Newton Railway “constructed a simple two-platform station southeast of Llanymynech, plus an adjacent goods yard, to enable shipping of locally quarried limestone, and created products of quick lime and lead. However, under its Act of Parliament, it had agreed not to disturb the operations of the existing local tramways or canals, and hence access across each would either be over (bridge) or under (aqueduct). … The Hoffmann kilns were located on the opposite side of the canal to the chosen station site, and if accessed on the level would have required an aqueduct to be built under the canal. Not having the money to achieve this, the O&NR agreed to junction with the local tramways north of its station at “Rock Siding”. It hence built a bay platform on the northwest side of the station, from which line extended to the “Rock Siding”. To access the Hoffmann kilns, trains would firstly enter the bay, then reverse up the slope to the “Rock Siding”, where they would then change direction again by pulling forward over a bridge to the Hoffmann kilns.” [34]
Details and more photographs of Llanymynech Railway Station can be found on the Disused Stations website. [36]
Once the chord linking the old Llanfyllin Branch and the PS&NWR had been built and the chord between the main line and the PS&NWR was complete, trains from Oswestry and Llanymynech diverged West off the main line just South of Llanymynech Railway Station.
The Llanfyllin Branch
After running off the main line, trains for Llanfyllin passed under what would become the A483. The bridge appears on both of the last OS Map extracts above.
Looking South along the A483. There is nothing to see, at road level, of the bridge over the old railway. The line ran on the near side of the terrace visible on the right. [Google Streetview, July 2024]
Carreghofa Halt was the first stop on the Branch, it was just a short distance from the mainline close to the chord which served to link the old branch and the PS&NWR line. It was an unstaffed stopping place, opened by the GWR on 11th April 1938, “its facilities comprised a short platform on the down side of the running line. The platform was of earth & cinder construction with revetting of old sleepers. A small wooden shelter was provided for the comfort of waiting travellers, while the simple platform was fenced with tubular metal railings. … Other features of minor interest at Carreghofa included a sleeper-built permanent-way hut to the east of the platform and an unusual overbridge immediately to the west of the halt. The bridge, which crossed the railway on a skewed alignment, was a single-span structure carrying the B4398 road and the Montgomeryshire Canal.” [3: p635]
Having passed beneath the road/canal bridge, “trains reached the junction between the Potteries, Shrewsbury & North Wales branch to Nantmawr and the short connection which gave access to the original Llanfyllin route. This 26-chain curve was opened on 27th January 1896 as a means of linking the PS&NW route to the original 1863 branch.” [3: p365][4][5]
A relatively low quality view from the road bridge/canal aqueduct looking Northwest. The stored wagons on the right sit on the Nantmawr Branch. The chord to Llanfyllin heads off to the left. [40]
Now heading pretty much due West the branch sets off for Llansantffraid. We will pick up this next length of the route in the second article in this short series.
Before resuming our journey along the Whitland & Cardigan Railway, just a few comments about Locomotives and Rolling Stock. …
Locomotives
In early days the line operated with three locomotives. These were all constructed by the same company, Fox, Walker & Co. of Bristol.
“The company was founded by Francis William Fox and Edwin Walker who opened an engineering works at Atlas Locomotive Works in Bristol in 1864.
They built four and six-coupled saddle tank engines for industrial use. They also built stationary engines and pioneered steam tramcars, the first being tested in Bristol in 1877.
Much of their output was exported.
By 1878 the company had made over 400 small tank engines.
In 1878 they produced six narrow gauge 2-4-2 trench engines for the Royal Engineers at Chatham using Henry Handyside’s steep gradient apparatus. They also produced nine 0-6-0 saddle tank engines for the Somerset and Dorset Railway.
They were taken over by Thomas Peckett in 1880, becoming Peckett and Sons, Atlas Engine Works, Bristol.” [1]
These locomotives were:
No. 1, John Owen, (Works No. 170 of 1872).
No. 2, (Works No. 271 of 1875) – sold by GWR to Bute Works Supply Co., and East Kent Light Railway in 1911. Working until the early 1930s, last known in steam on 22 September 1934, scrapped by September 1935. [10][11][6: p91]
No. 3, (Works No. 340 of 1877) – rebuilt by GWR in 1896; rebuilt again and renumbered 1331 in 1926. Withdrawn in 1950. [11] A story about the building of a model of this locomotive in 00 Gauge can be found here. [12]
Two images of the rebuilt GWR No. 1331 which appeared on ‘X’. [13]
Nos. 1 and 2 were 0-6-0ST locos of a similar design. No. 3 was a larger 0-6-0ST locomotive. All three were rebuilt by the GWR. No.1 was rebuilt in 1894. [6: p91]
“Soon after the GWR began operating the railway in 1886, a valuation of W&CR stock was made.No.1 was valued at £450, No. 2 at £600 and No. 3 at £850.” [6: p97]
M.R. Connop Price tells us that:
“Small Great Western tank locomotive types soon put in an appearance and the Whitland and Cardigan engines were moved away. Amongst the designs in evidence at the turn of the century were ’19XX’ 0-6-0 saddle tanks and Armstrong 0-4-2 tanks of ‘517’ class. Pannier tanks were frequently seen as well, but during World War I one of the 0-6-0 saddle tanks, either No. 1939 or No. 1999, was stationed at Cardigan. On the freight side a ‘Dean Goods’ 0-6-0 regularly arrived at Crymmych with the monthly cattle train. This was probably the only working to bring a tender engine onto the branch with any frequency, but tender engines were never common. About 1950 a ‘Dean Goods’ was seen standing on the Cardigan line at Cardigan Junction, in the company of a composite coach and a Siphon ‘G’ van: this is the last known instance of the class on the W&C route. Larger tender locomotives were prohibited by virtue of the line having a yellow colour weight restriction.
For many years ‘2021’ class pannier tanks were active on the line, and between the wars the more powerful ’45XX’ 2-6-2 tank locomotives appeared. These held sway on the Cardigan branch until the complete closure in 1963, although latterly they were supported by more modern pannier tanks in the ’16XX’ series. Amongst the engines seen on the railway in the post-war period were 0-6-0PTs Nos. 2011, 1637, 1648, 1666 and 2-6-2Ts Nos. 4550, 4557, 4569, 5550, 5571. In the final weeks of operation Nos. 4557 and 4569 were the most common performers on the railway.” [6: p99]
Carriages
Connop Price tells us that, “The Whitland & Taf Vale Railway owned six four-wheeled carriages, all constructed by the Gloucester Wagon Co. The first four were completed in June 1875, and comprised two composite coaches each having a first and two second class compartments, and a luggage compartment. The other two were brake thirds – that is to say comprising three third class compartments and a compartment for the guard. … Two more coaches were supplied by the Gloucester Wagon Co. in September 1875, and these vehicles comprised three third class compartments and a luggage compartment.” [6: p99]
After the GWR takeover of the line, standard GWR coach types began to appear.
Wagons
The Company’s wagons were all constructed by the Bristol Wagon Co. In October 1872, “in anticipation of the opening of the line, the W&TVR ordered a 4-wheel goods brake van and six 4-wheel open goods wagons. … In May 1874, as traffic developed, it was decided to order four more 4-wheel open wagons. … A 4-wheel covered van [was] … Ordered by the company in October 1974, for use on the Crymmych freight service.” [6: p101]
Records of the Gloucester Railway Carriage and Wagon Co. Ltd show that a number of private owner wagons were in use on the line. Connop Price mentions: a five-plank wagon obtained by William Thomas, Coal, Lime & Manure merchant in March 1903; a seven-plank wagon delivered to the Cardigan Mercantile Co. Ltd. in March 1904. A near identical seven-plank wagon was supplied to G.D. Owen, Coal and Lime Merchant of Cardigan in April 1904. Another seven-plank wagon was supplied to S.J. Phillips of Crymmych Arms, Coal and Lime Merchant in September 1908. [6: p101-103]
Connop Price continues: “One other vehicle had a claim to be an item of Cardigan line rolling stock, although at a later date. This was the water tank wagon provided by the GWR in the 1920s or early 1930s to convey water to Cardigan where the supply was sometimes too low to fill the tank. … It was a standard 4-wheel tank wagon, painted white with the initials GW painted in black on the side. The underframe was also black.” [6: p103]
This unusual short goods at Cardigan contains a tank wagon between two coal wagons. There are stories of water supply problems at Cardigan. Although the station sits on the bank of the River Teifi, being tidal water was only available at low tide as salt water damaged the locomotives. A tank wagon was used to bring water down to Cardigan presumably from Glogue. This image was shared on the Login Railway Station Facebook Page on 12th March 2018. [9]An enlarged extract from the image above. The tank wagon referred to in the text above is between the two mineral wagons. Connop Price indicated [6: p103] that no photograph of this tank wagon had been identified by the date of the 2nd Edition of his book (August 1990). This image may therefore be the only one of the tank wagon! [9]
Llanglydwen to Whitland
We restart our journey to Whitland at Llanglydwen Railway Station. …
Wikipedia tells that “the original station only had a wooden shed as a station building. A new station was built in 1886. This had a two-storey station building, incorporating the station master’s house, the booking office and a waiting room. The down platform had a timber waiting shelter. Behind this platform was the goods yard, which had one siding. Access to this was enabled by the signal box, which also controlled the level crossing and was at the south end of the up platform. There was also a busy coal yard near the station. The station closed to passengers on 10th September 1962 but remained open for goods until 27th May 1963. The coal depot closed on 2nd February 1963.” [17]
This extract from the 6″ Ordnance Survey of 1887 shows the old railway left Llanglydwen following the Southeast bank of the Afon Taf. [23]The same area on railmaponline.com. [3]Continuing on the Southeast bank of the Afon Taf. [24]And the same length again on railmaponline.com’s satellite imagery. [3]Continuing alongside the Afon Taf, the old railway ran past the Dol-Wilym bridge which appears close to the top of this extract from the 6″ Ordnance Survey of 1887. [25]The same area as shown on the railmaponline.com satellite imagery. An area of forest close to the Dol-Wilym Bridge. [3]
The first significant location South of Llanglydwen is the Dol-Wilym bridge over the Afon Taf. This appears at the top of the OS Map extract above and is shown below.
Connop Price says that between Llanglydwen and Login “the gradients continued to change often as the track followed the lie of the land; the steepest grade on this section was 1 in 40. About half a mile north of Login was the tightest curve on the railway: it was short but built to a mere 8 chains radius.” [4: p68]
Further to the South the old railway curves around to the West before beginning to switch back to the South. The 6″ Ordnance Survey of 1887. The Dol-Wilym woods sit on the far side of the Taf. [26]Heavily camouflaged by the forest this railmaponlone.com extract does the same area. [3]Further South still and the OS map shows the mileage from London – 266 miles. [27]The same area as shown on the railmaponline.com. Rather than being in the middle of the woodland, it now proves the eastern border of the area of trees. [3]Still on the East side of the Afon Taf, the old railway continues to head for Login. [28]Again, the same length of line as shown on railmaponlone.com’s satellite imagery. [3]Now on the run down to Login Railway Station the old railway heads due South. [29]The same length of line on the railmaponline.com satellite imagery. [3]Login Railway Station appears at the bottom of this next extract from the 1887 6″ Ordnance Survey. [30]The open area at the bottom of this extract from the railmaponline.com satellite imagery is the station site. [3]Login Railway Station as it appeared on the First Edition of the 6″ Ordnance Survey. [19]The same area on the ESRI satellite imagery from the NLS. [19]
At Login, “a short platform was dignified by the large station building serving the tiny hamlet perched on the hillside just across the river. The goods loop was protected by a ground frame at each end, that at the south end being just a single lever unlocked by the Cardigan Junction – Llanglydwen electric tablet. The ground frame at the north end, however, also controlled the level crossing, and it was housed in a wooden hut of typical Great Western design.” [4: p68]
South of Login the valley of the Taf begins to widen out and the hillsides become less steep. However, gradients continued to change. On the East of the Taf, the railway ran through Penclippen level crossing and past its wooden crossing keeper’s hut.
The Whitland & Cardigan Railway continued South to Llanfalteg (3 miles 48 chains from Whitland). “In the early years of the line … this place had some importance. Until the reconstruction of the mid-1880s the layout consisted of a loop, with a siding parallel to it to serve the goods shed, and a further siding for the locomotive shed and for coal traffic. In its heyday, the locomotive shed had a forge for day-to-day repairs, but it was not big enough to be able to undertake major overhauls. After the Great Western took over the W&CR the shed at Whitland assumed most of the responsibilities of Llanfallteg shed, and gradually the latter fell into disuse. For a while it was occupied by Mr J. Williams’ carpenter’s shop, but this ceased and decay set in until eventually the shed fell down in about 1939.” [4: p68]
Llanfallteg Railway Station as it appeared on the First Edition of the 6″ Ordnance Survey. [37]The same location on the ESRI satellite imagery provided by the National Library of Scotland (NLS). [37]
“At closure in 1962, the station building and the wooden ground frame box were intact, and a dilapidated iron goods shed still stood by the level crossing. The layout, however, was reduced: the loop had been replaced by a siding, and although the siding to the goods shed remained the rest of the trackwork had long gone. A length of rusting cable in the undergrowth provided the only evidence of the practice at Llanfallteg of cable-shunting. The site was cramped and inconvenient, and for many years the most effective way of moving wagons in and out of the sidings was by a cable linking them to a locomotive on a parallel track.”
0-6-0PT at Lanfallteg Railway Station in May 1959, (c) Unknown. [38]A similar view of Llanfallteg Railway Station in 1961, from the Rokeby Album IV ref 5a. [47]Looking North from the location of the level-crossing in Llanfallteg. {Google Streetview, November 2021]Looking South from the location of the level-crossing. Residential properties have been built over the line of the old railway and the station site. [Google Streetview, November 2021]
South of Llanfallteg a run of just over a mile brought the single track line to its junction with the main line known latterly as Cardigan Junction. There were no significant features on this length of the line. It remained on the Northeast bank of the Afon Taf.
Taf Vale Junction as shown on the 6″ Ordnance Survey. The name of this junction was changed to ‘Cardigan Junction’ later in the life of the old branch line. [39]The same location on the NLS ESRI satellite imagery. [39]
“At Cardigan Junction the signal box, opening in 1873 and closed in 1964, was whitewashed, pebble-dashed and austerely domestic in appearance, being built entirely in stone or brick. The window overlooking the tracks was a modest rectangle with two uprights in the window frame. The name-board ‘Cardigan Junction’ was located directly under it. The door was on the east side of the box, with another window, and the pitched roof was surmounted by a single chimney. A gaslight was situated outside.” [4: p68]
Cardigan Junction (formerly Taf Vale Junction) where the Cardigan Branch left the main line. This photograph was taken on Saturday 25th May 1963, significant because the goods only rail service on the branch was withdrawn on the following Monday (27th May 1963). This picture was shared on the Login Railway Station Facebook Page on 20th June 2024. It looks Southeast. [8]
The last 2 miles 21 chains of the route was along the main line from Cardigan Junction (originally Taf Vale Junction) to Whitland.
Close to Taf Vale Junction (Cardigan Junction) the main line crossed rivers twice. This is the location of the first of the bridges (Sarn-las Bridge) which crossed the Afon Daulan, a tributary of the Afon Taf. [40]The same location on the ESRI satellite imagery. [40]The second bridge crossed the Afon Taf (Tre-wern Bridge). [41]The same location in the 21st century. [41]The line then crossed what was a minor road. [42]The crossing and it’s keeper’s cottage remain in the 2st century. [42]The crossing seen from the South in the 21st century. [Google Streetview, November 2021]What is now the A40 then bridged the mainline. [43]The same location on the NLS ESRI satellite imagery. [43]Looking East from the A40 roadbridge towards Whitland Railway Station. [Google Streetview, March 2022]
There were no further significant features on the line before it entered Whitland Station.
Whitland Railway Station as it appeared on the 6″ Ordnance Survey from the turn of the 20th century. [44]A similar area as shown on the map extract above as it appears in 2024. [Google Maps, September 2024]
“After the opening of the Pembroke and Tenby and Whitland and Taf Vale Railways the station at Whitland had four platform faces. Two of these served the main line, one served a loop round the down island platform and the other a bay behind the up platform, access to which was from the west. The main station buildings were on the up side and nearby, close to the bay platform, there was a goods shed and a few sidings. All these changed little until British Railways’ days when the station was extensively modernised. In addition, in the 1960s the down loop was disconnected and became a bay for Pembroke Dock trains. On the down side, too, there was a small goods vard originally constructed for the use of the Pembroke and Tenby Railway, and for the exchange of traffic between that company and the GWR before the Great Western took over the working of the P&T in 1896. A short distance west of Whitland station the locomotive shed stood until the mid-1960s. Passenger trains from Cardigan ran into either the bay or the up main platform at Whitland, but trains departing for Cardigan customarily shared the outer face of the down island platform with P&T line trains.” [4: p61]
Whitland Railway Station in 1971 (c) Roger Griffith (Public Domain). [45]Whitland Railway Station in 1979, (c) John Mann Collection and used with the kind permission of Nick Catford. [46]Whitlad Station seen from Station Road, the B4328 in 2021. This view looks West along the modern railway line. [Google Streetview, November 2021]
The Whitland & Cardigan Railway was a 27.5 miles (44.3 km) long branch line, “built in two stages, at first as the Whitland and Taf Vale Railway from the South Wales Main Line at Whitland to the quarries at Glogue. It opened in 1873, at first only for goods and minerals and later for passengers. The line to Cardigan opened in 1886; reflected in the company name change.” [2]
“The Company was always short of cash. Huge borrowings made it unable to pay its way; it was taken over by the Great Western Railway in 1886. Still considerably loss-making, it closed to passengers in 1962 and completely in 1963.” [2]
This is the second in a short series of articles about the line. The first of the articles can be found here. [4]
My interest in this branch line stems from reading an article by M.R. Connop Price; Before the Railways: The Early Steamers of Cardiganshire; in the Railway & Canal Historical Society Journal in July 2022. [1] And from staying North of Cardigan in 2023 and walking part of the route of the old line.
We restart our journey from Cardigan to Whitland at Boncath Railway Station.
Boncath Railway Station as it appears on the 6″ Ordnance Survey of 1887 (published in 1888). [5]
“The station had a passing loop served by two passenger platforms and a goods loop on the down side where there was a small goods yard and shed. A siding from the yard served a saw mill nearby to the north of the station. The single-storey stone-built main station building was on the up platform and, along with the goods shed, still survives, as does the nearby Station House.” [6] The line serving the saw mill can be seen in its entirety in the map extract above.
M.R. Connop Price says that Boncath “was a crossing place and a tablet exchange station. The goods yard was quite sizeable, comprising three sidings on the down side, one forming a loop behind the down platform. Traffic consisted mostly of timber from the adjacent saw mills, rabbits and agricultural goods. Apparently the level crossing gates were demolished so often by accident that there was talk of doing away with them. In his two articles on the Cardigan line J.F. Burrell has pointed out that from the platform at Boncath it was possible to see the smoke of a freight train coming up from Cardigan for as long as a quarter of an hour before arrival. The many curves caused it to disappear and reappear at frequent intervals on the way. This was one of the most remarkable sights on a remarkable railway, because the line fell away from Boncath towards Cardigan on a gradient of 1 in 40 for nearly three miles. Climbing up this incline was hardly less exciting than the ever steepening climb up the Taf vale to Crymmych! Had the original route north of Boncath been built it would have kept to some higher ground and been more gently graded. It might also have been less attractive because the line as built ran for a mile and a half above a beautiful and heavily wooded valley towards Kilgerran” (Cilgerran). [15: p82 & 90]
These two extracts from the railmaponline.com satellite imagery cover the full extent of the Boncath Railway Station site. The old railway is shown by the green lines on the images from railmaponline.com. And these green lines include the siding serving the saw mill. [3]
The Southwest end of the Boncath Station site was framed by the highway bridge which carried what was to become the B4332. [5]An enlarged segment of one of the two images shared on the coflein.gov.uk website. This is the best image that I have been able to find of the bridge at the Southwest end of the station site. [6]The view along the B4332 from the East through what was the location of the bridge carrying the road over the old railway. [Google Streetview, March 2022]
Shaun Butler’s TT gauge model of Boncath can be seen in photographs here. [27] Other views of the station can be seen here [28] and here [29]. The station has a page of its own on the Disused Stations website, here. [30]
M.R. Connop Price covers the route of the line from Whitland to Cardigan travelling towards Cardigan – the ‘down’ direction on the line. His description is quite evocative of the line’s rural and meandering nature. He describes the length of the line between Boncath and Crymmych Arms stations but in the ‘down’ direction: “North of Crymmych the [line] … climbed through a deep rock cutting to the summit before descending briefly on a gradient of 1 in 80 and rising again at 1 in 200 to a secondary summit about a mile and 30 chains beyond the station. By now the track was winding round a ledge on the hillside and giving magnificent views westwards to the Prescelly mountains. … On a clear day the view extended across the valley of the Afon Nyfer to the sea near Newport. … Meanwhile, [the line] negotiated a horseshoe bend and a remarkable series of sharp curves across the desolate countryside as it began its steady descent. Just over two miles from Crymmych the railway passed Rhyd-du, where once it was proposed to build a station. … Just beyond Rhyd-du the [railway] passed near Blaenffos and under the main Cardigan-Tenby road for the second time. A short distance further on a tributary of the River Teifi could be seen running through woods far below on the east side of the line, giving confirmation to the traveller that he was now across the watershed” and close to Boncath. [15: p82]
The railway first headed South as it left Boncath and then turned to the West above a wooded valley. [7]This extract from the ESRI satellite imagery from the NLS covers approximately the same area as the 6″ OS map extract above. Once again, the route of the old railway can be followed by tracing the field boundaries, hedgerows and trees. [7]The line then turned West. [8]The route of the old railway was a little difficult to see on the Google mapping, so it is good to have the green line on this railmaponline.com satellite image. [3]
On both of the two images above the Whitland & Cardigan Railway crosses the A478. The next couple of images show enlarged views of the location, on the 6″ OS Map and the railmaponline.com satellite imagery. …
The story of an N Gauge project to model Crymmych Arms Railway Station can be found here. [14] The station is covered in some detail in text and photographs on the Disused Stations website. [16]
The station was, for a time the terminus of a branch line from Whitland which was extended by the GWR to Cardigan.
M.R. Connop Price says that Crymmych Arms station was “situated near the source of the [Afon] Taf and in the shadow of the 1,297 ft high Freni Fawr, on the edge of the Prescelly mountains. The buildings were substantial, and right up to the 1960s a pillar box was provided on the wall of the large station house on the up platform. Another facility on the up platform was a well that always gave ice cold water; a GWR cup was available for drinking purposes. After the tablet instruments were removed from Llanfyrnach [further South down the line], Crymmych Arms became [a] … tablet station on the line. Latterly it was the only intermediate station to be in the charge of a station master.” [15: p82]
C.J. Gammell notes that Crymmych Arms, “as well as being a crossing point and block post was closed to the summit of the line, reached by steep gradients from both sides. Up goods and mineral trains had to stop to pin down brakes on the 1 in 35 decent from Crymmych Arms as well as the 1 in 60 rise from the North to the station.” [18: p233]
M.R. Connop Price notes that South of Crymmych Arms “there was a 500 yd stretch at 1 in 35. Train crews [on down trains] undoubtedly entered Crymmych Arms with a great sense of relief!” [15: p77]
The station has a page on the Disused Stations website. [31] The Coflein record for the station notes that when “the station closed in 1962, the wooden station buildings and water tower were demolished although Station House nearby still survives.” [33]
Glogue Quarries were served by a short branch from the Whitland & Cardigan Railway which terminated in two sidings. The quarries had an internal tramway system which included a number of inclines and tunnels. A better map of the quarries can be found in M.R. Connop Price’s book about the old railway. [15: p73][20]
The Coflein record, written by David Leighton, RCAHMW in February 2015, talks of a single quarry formed by “the merging of two early, perhaps seventeenth-century, workings. Material was lowered by two inclines, the upper one abandoned when work deepened and a tunnel was cut to bring material out to the head of the lower incline. The workings were handicapped by a lack of transport. Originally slate was was carted to Blackpool on the Eastern Cleddau, and after 1853 to Narberth Road on the South Wales Railway. Expansion only became possible when in 1873 a siding on the Whitland & Cardigan Railway was laid.” [21] There was a mill, powered by steam and later electricity, at the Western edge of the site. “Roofing slates of good colour were produced but as they were heavy the main output was slab. During the 1920s attempts were made to make bricks from slate dust. But these became uncompetitive when, in 1927, the GWR demanded a transport premium due to their weight; forcing closure. Bulk working has left little to be seen aside from vestiges of buildings in the mill area and the stone-built lower incline. Notably, a terrace of family dwellings was built by the company and is still occupied (in 1991).” [21]
Wikipedia says: “Glogue quarry was a slate quarry … worked from the late 1700s, by the mid-1800s it was owned by John Owen, who wanted to make higher profits by improving his distribution. This led to the construction of the Whitland and Cardigan Railway. The advent of the railway led to Owen expanding his workforce to over 80 men. … After sale to a local consortium, the quarry was worked until 1926.” [32]
The 6″ Ordnance Survey of 1887 shows the old railway continuing East alongside the Glogue Corn Mill before turning South. All the while, it ran alongside the Afon Taf, although as it turned South it bridged the river, as shown here in the central part of the image and in the enlargement which is a few images below. [22]The same area on the railmaponline.com satellite images. [3]A combined image which shows both the view across the line of the old railway to the buildings of Glogue Corn Mill, in the upper part of the image, and the location of the camera on the lane to the East of Glogue, in the lower portion of the image. [Google Maps/Streetview, November 2021]An enlarged extract from the 6″ OS map above which shows the location where the railway bridged the Afon Taf. [22]As the railway continued heading South it curved round the Llanfyrnach Sliver Lead Mine on the approach to the railway station at Llanfyrnach. [23]A very similar length of the Whitland & Cardigan Railway shown on the railmaponline.com satellite imagery. Both these images show that the old railway ran alongside Wellstone Lane as it travelled South. [3]Looking Northwest from Wellstone Lane, the railway ran on the shoulder next to the lane. The land dropped away into the adjacent field, the other side of the line. The sheds visible in this picture are at the lower level beyond the line of the old railway. [Google Streetview, November 2021]
As its name suggests, Llanfyrnach Silver Lead Mine was a 19th century silver/lead producer; on site in the 21st century there are ruins of Cornish engine house and other mine buildings. [34] It was, “an important lead mine with a number of shafts, extensive tips and tailings heaps, buddle pits, together with a number of mine buildings including the remains of a Cornish engine house and boiler remaining on the site. … [It was] by far the largest of the Pembrokeshire mines, and of the south Wales mines, second only to Carmarthenshire’s Nantymwyn Mine in terms of the recorded output. A reference in the Mining Journal (1879) notes a well-defined east-west lode made up of sugary quartz and containing a good deal of lead, and about 150 tons of lead ore being delivered monthly from this and the old lode. Very little sphalerite was sold until the final few years of its working. Silver was extracted from the galena.” [35]
Llanfyrnach Railway Station has its own page which includes text and photographs on the Disused Stations website. It can be viewed here. [36] The Disused Stations page for the railway station suggests that the building in in a considerably worse condition in 2024. Two images showing its condition can be viewed here [38] and here. [39]
This final image taken looking Southwest along the platform at Llanfyrnach Station shows the siding which provided a small goods facility at the station. This image was shared on the Login Railway Station Facebook Page on 8th November 2019. [43]
Southwest of the station the old railway is now followed by a modern single track access road.
The Llanfyrnach entrance to the modern track following the route of the old railway. [Google Streetview, March 2022]Google Maps shows the track running along the formation of the Whitland & Cardigan Railway Southwest from Llanfyrnach. [51, Google Maps, July 2024]
A short distance along the access road/old railway route, the line crossed the Afon Taf again. An enlarged extract from the 6″ Ordnance Survey is shown below.
This enlarged extract from the 6″ Ordnance Survey of 1887 shows the location of the bridge across the Afon Taf which was to the Southwest of Llanfyrnach Station. [24]Continuing to the Southwest, the Whitland & Cardigan Railway followed the North bank of the Afon Taf. [44]This extract from Google Maps shows the track running along the formation of the old railway. It covers a slightly larger area than the extract form OS mapping above. In the bottom-right of this image the modern track can be seen terminating at a T-junction with another track. [52, Google Maps, July 2024]Again, continuing to the Southwest, the Whitland & Cardigan Railway followed the contours on the North bank of the Afon Taf, crossing a farm access road. The length of the line Northeast of the access track at the centre of this image is shown on the modern Google satellite image above. That to the Southwest is shown below. [45]The access track which followed the line of the old railway terminated in a T-junction with the farm access road at the top right of this extract from the railmaponline.com satellite imagery. The line continues in a southwesterly direction from that point. [3]Continuing to the Southwest, the Whitland & Cardigan Railway continued to follow the North bank of the Afon Taf as far as Aber-Elwyn. An enlarged extract from the 6″ Ordnance Survey of 1887 below shows the location more clearly [46]A similar length of the old railway is covered on this next extract from the railmaponline.com satellite imagery. [3]An enlarged extract from the 6″ Ordnance Survey of 1887 shows the old railway bridging the Afon Taf to the Northwest of Aber-Elwyn and then a tributary of the Taf to the Southwest of the hamlet, close to Waun-Bwll. The next station on the line sits just off the bottom-left of this extract – Rhyd-Owen Station. [47]This next extract from the 6″ 1887 Ordnance Survey shows Rhyd-Owen Station, top-right and the Pen-celli Quarries, bottom-left. [48]A similar length of the old railway is covered on this next extract from the railmaponline.com satellite imagery. [3]An enlarged extract from the 6″ Ordnance Survey of 1887 focussing on the Rhyd-Owen Railway Station. [49]
The Coflein record for Rhyd-Owen Station, written in 2010, notes that there was a through line with a passing loop; the passenger platform was on the up side. The station closed in 1962; although the wooden station buildings have been demolished, the nearby station house survives. [53]
Rhydowen Station in 1961, seen from the road at the North end of the station site, from the Rokeby Collection III ref 25c. It is authorised for use here by Coflein. [53]Rhydowen Station in 1961, seen from the South end of the platform, from the Rokeby Collection III ref 25b. It is authorised for use here by Coflein. [53]Another view of Rhyd-Owen Station. The train is on a down service to Cardigan and consists of a single Hawkesworth Corridor Brake 3rd coach pulled by an unidentified 16xx 0-6-0PT.The station house just appears at the extreme left of this image. This image was shared on the Login Railway Station Facebook Page on 11th February 2022. [54]A view through the station from the North shows the loop siding at Rhyd-Owen. This image was shared on the Login Railway Station Facebook page on 16th September 2015. [55]The site of Rhyd-Owen Railway Station, seen from the road at its northern end. The station itself was on the left side of this image with the station house on the right side. It appears as though the station house has been significantly extended and modernised. [Google Streetview, November 2021]
Rhyd-Owen Railway Station has its own page on the Disused Stations website. Click here. [60]
Another enlarged extract from the 6″ Ordnance Survey which shows the site of the Pen-celli Quarries. A single siding was provided for the quarries on the down side of the line. [50]Another length of the old railway which was still heading in a southwesterly direction. [56]This extract from the railmaponline.com satellite imagery covers a similar length of the line to that shown on the map extract above. [3]This next extract from the 6″ Ordnance Survey of 1887 covers the length of the line as far as Llanglydwen Station. [57]This extract from the railmaponline.com satellite imagery covers a similar length of the line to that shown on the map extract above. Llanglydwen Railway Station was sited towards the bottom of this image to the south side of the road through the village. [3]An enlarged extract from the 6″ Ordnance Survey of 1887 which focusses on Llanglydwen Railway Station. [58]The Llanglydwen station site as it appears in the 21st century. [Google Maps, July 2024. [59]Llanglydwen Railway Station in the 1950s. This photo was shared on the Login Railway Station Facebook Page on 9th October 2014. [63]View of Llanglydwen Station in 1962 from the Rokeby Collection III ref 3b. [64]View of Llanglydwen Station in 1962 from the Rokeby Collection III ref 4b. [64]The station building in 1982 when the crossing gates were still in place. This photo was taken by John Gale and was more recently shared on the Login Railway Station Facebook Page on 23rd June 2015. [61]The erstwhile station site at Llanglydwen. The station building remains in place. The white gated driveway is on the line of the station platform and the white fence marks the approximate location of the main running line through the station. The station yard is, in the 21st century, occupied by Dickman’s Sawmill. [Google Streetview, July 2021]A better view of what was the platform elevation of the station building as it appears in 21st century. [Google Streetview, July 2021]
Llanglydwen Railway Station has its own page on the Disused Stations website. Please click here to access that site. [62]
References
M.R. Connop Price; Before the Railways: The Early Steamers of Cardiganshire; in the RCHS Journal, Vol. 40 Part 8 No. 244 July 2022, p471-477.
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