Railways and Industry on the Brecon & Merthyr: Bassaleg to Bargoed and New Tredegar/Rhymney B & M

By John Hodge and Ray Caston

This book, as part of the South Wales Valleys series, deals with the former Brecon & Merthyr Railway line which ran from Bassaleg (north of Newport) to Brecon and Rhymney B&M, the latter line being closed north of New Tredegar in 1930 due to a landslide, one of several in that area. The most important and lucrative traffic was of course coal from the many collieries on the line, much bound for Newport Docks, though there was a regular passenger service both to Brecon and New Tredegar which ran to Rhymney B&M before 1930. At Machen the line diverted to Caerphilly and Pontypridd again with coal and passenger services, mostly covered by auto trains. Each location along all lines in the area is covered in detail with copious photographs to illustrate, and an OS Map from the start of the 20th C. to present a detailed coverage of the area around each location. The line is still open from Bassaleg to Machen Quarry for occasional trains of stone traffic using modern traction and wagons.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Jul 20, 2022
• ISBN: 9781399096065

John Hodge

JOHN HODGE is a former railway manager during the 1960s who, since retirement in 1992, has produced many articles and books on South Wales railways.

Book preview

PREFACE

This is the first of three volumes necessary to cover the Brecon & Merthyr Railway, which consisted of four separate sections. The original section of line was from Talybont (and later Brecon) to Dowlais Lloyd Street (later Central), Dowlais then being one of the two centres, with Merthyr, of the iron making industry with a world-wide reputation. The second line was from Merthyr itself to Pontsticill where it joined with the first to access Brecon. The Dowlais line passed through Pant and the line was soon extended south from there to Bargoed and on to Aberbargoed where it met up with the fourth section of the B&M empire, the line from Rhymney (B&M) to Bassaleg, from where it accessed the Monmouthshire Railway’s Western Valley line into Dock Street and, from 1880, into High Street main line station. Also from Bassaleg it accessed the freight line into Maesglas and West Mendalgief for coal shipment and other freight traffic to and from Newport Docks. For those unfamiliar with this part of South Wales, the Rumney line ran down the east side of the River Rhymney, with the Rhymney Railway on the west bank. The original Act of Parliament for a tramroad in this area was for the Rumney Tramroad in 1825. Please note the spelling of the B&M line as the Rumney line, running through to Rhymney B&M station.

In 1927-30, serious landslides took place north of New Tredegar on the Rumney line which damaged much of the New Tredegar Colliery and resulted in the line having to be closed between there and the Rhymney (B&M) station. The service thereafter operated only as far as New Tredegar, the product of the New Tredegar Colliery being raised at Tirphil on the Bargoed to Rhymney line. New Tredegar became a passenger only station from then on.

In a devastating blow to the whole area, all these lines closed at the end of December 1962, the Western Valley passenger service itself having closed in the April of that year. An edict was issued from Paddington HQ and Cardiff Divisional Office that all services to Brecon (passenger and freight) would cease on that date, this including all the former B&M lines, the Neath & Brecon line, the Hereford to Brecon line (part of the original Hay Railway) and the Mid-Wales services from Builth and Moat Lane to Brecon, though two general freight services a day continued between Merthyr and Brecon until 1964. In railway terms, Brecon was being written off the map, and condemned to survive on road transport thereafter. For hundreds of years, Brecon had been a military garrison and is still an important training centre, but, even in advance of Beeching, its future was determined. Two years later, the Beeching axe would fall on several other South and West Wales lines, their problem being, like Brecon, that the only place of importance along the line (other than collieries) was right at the end of the line, e.g. Brecon, Aberystwyth, Cardigan, Neyland, Aberdare. One wonders whether this scenario would be allowed to exist under the aegis of the Welsh Assembly and the position 50 years later when South Wales roads have become strangled by road traffic, following the closure of much of the previous railway system.

In John Hodge’s book Six Railways to Merthyr (published by Welsh Railways Research Circle, now out of print), a section deals with two of the intra-Wales summer services which ran until 1939 and were never re-introduced afterwards, namely the through trains from Cardiff and Treherbert to Aberystwyth, and the Barry to Llandrindod Wells, both of which ran via Merthyr and were worked forward from Merthyr over the B&M line from there to Pontsticill and on to Talyllyn East Junction, by both Cambrian Railway tender engines and B&M tank engines in both directions, until the GWR took control with double-headed tank engines and 2301 0-6-0s. This was one of the very few south-north and reciprocal services in Wales, before the link with Aberystwyth was made only via Carmarthen. The present day’s service between Holyhead and Cardiff is the only surviving example and there is general criticism of the fact that there is virtually no public transport connection between South and North Wales. The most scenic service in Wales was definitely provided by the B&M north of Dowlais Top with lovely panoramas of the Brecon Beacons and the approaching Taf Fechan reservoir which had opened out by Pontsticill. Though the Brecon Mountain Railway now exists on a narrow-gauge basis between Pant and Torpantau, the Welsh Tourist Board and Y Senedd Cymru (formerly The Welsh Assembly) should commit themselves to putting the former B&M line north of Bargoed (where it would connect to and from Cardiff) back on the railway map of South Wales, and indeed to include the section below Bargoed in the South Wales Metro. The aim might well be to see a Cardiff to Brecon rail service restored. A single line would suffice with passing points north of Bargoed. Advertising such a line should be a dream.

What a fascinating place Merthyr station was in the years leading up to the Grouping and how lucky we are to have the photographic collection of Angus Lewis showing the services that ran at that time, and which have been gradually eroded away since. Following the Grouping in 1922/3, the GWR introduced a service from Merthyr to Newport which ran down to Pontypridd over the former Taff Vale Railway and then joined the former B&M lines via Caerphilly and Machen into Newport. Unfortunately, it became another example of the GW’s inability to promote local services, with an unattractive timetable and insufficient trains and it was closed in 1956 by when it had been cut short to run only between Newport and Pontypridd. It is so interesting that the only lines to have survived in the Cardiff Valleys have been those running on the Regular Interval Service basis introduced by the Operating Manager Leslie Morgan in September 1953, in the Rhondda and Rhymney Valleys through to Barry Island and Penarth, when passengers didn’t need to consult a timetable, the trains ran at the same time every hour. Though the frequency of trains is greater now, the service is not nearly so easy to understand and remember, and the present operators could learn a lot by going back to the 1953 model.

The cities of Cardiff and Newport require good rail services to and from their catchment areas in view of the businesses concentrated there. Cardiff has retained its service thanks in no small measure to the excellent regular interval service dating back to 1953; Newport has largely lost its, with the service to Ebbw Vale still not serving Newport in 2020. Abergavenny has a better rail service to Newport than does Pontypool. Machen and Bedwas and all the other small towns along the former B&M have completely lost their rail services. Will the South Wales Metro re-instate them?

I wonder.

John Hodge

Map of the southern section of the Brecon & Merthyr Railway, showing collieries and works. (Richard Harman)

CHAPTER 1

HISTORY OF THE BRECON & MERTHYR RAILWAY

It was said of the Brecon & Merthyr that it was better to journey than to arrive. This was very true, as at its north end it passed through some of the finest scenery in the country with the hills of the Brecon Beacons feeding down to the reservoirs, rivers and streams which ran for miles south of Brecon. Even far south of this area, the line ran through some fine countryside in between the industrialised areas.

The Beginnings

Unlike many of the other lines in South Wales, especially in the Valleys, the original concept for a railway was for the agricultural area of Brecon to supply the ironworks areas around Merthyr and Dowlais for their everyday life., These towns were the main suppliers of iron in the world, with Merthyr the most important town in South Wales in the first half of the nineteenth century. Also, Brecon was a military town which needed transport to move men and resources south to protect the developing seaboard of South Wales. It was a different scenario from the need for railways in other parts of South Wales which mostly related to satisfying an urgent need for transport for the iron and coal produced at the tops of the Valleys and requiring conveyance to the developing docks along the Bristol Channel, though the development of the Old Rumney line did fit that scene.

The genesis of the Brecon & Merthyr Tydfil Junction Railway (B&M) lies in the awareness of the Breconshire entrepreneurs as to the potential profits to be made from trading with the burgeoning metropolis of Merthyr, in the 1850s the Merthyr/Dowlais conurbation being by far the largest town in Wales with a population of some 70,000, most of whom worked in the local iron works. An early B&M share prospectus sets out the fact that not only did these folk need to be housed and fed, there were also hundreds of horses in use to be stabled and provided with fodder which was then being brought to the area from Ireland, a timely reminder of the need for and value of good communications. In addition, there was a large market for pitwood and timber for the ironworks and other local industry with the prospect of cheaper coal for Brecon inhabitants and industry, then brought by the circuitous canal which often froze over in winter, creating scarcity at a time of greatest need.

A proposal for a railway linking the two towns was made as early as 1838 but had come to nought, the ironmasters currently satisfied with the facilities offered by Taff Vale Railway, opened in 1841, and Glamorganshire Canal which both offered transport through to Cardiff, and by the many plateways connecting the ironworks with limestone quarries and coal pits and levels, and linked to the canals within a statutory seven mile radius. However, as the years passed, demand for railway increased and planning re-commenced, led notably by local Brecon banker J.P. de Winton and solicitor John Cobb. The de Winton family were to be involved with the B&M for many years, with the first route surveyed by engineer Henry Conybeare running down the east sides of Glyn Collwyn and Taff Fechan Valleys.

To Parliament

The B&M prospectus was issued with a proposed capital of £150,000 in £10 shares. Painting a rosy picture of its prospects, it not only outlined the expected expansion of trade, but the opportunities for pleasure trips to the north and south of Brecon in the future and the mobility to be afforded to the military based there, Brecon being recognised as a garrison town for many years. The annual receipts were estimated at around £18,000, which, less expenses of 50 per cent, would give a return of some 7 per cent on the proposed capital of £150,000.

The Company’s Bill was published in November 1858 for a line commencing near the Canal basin at Brecon and running along the route eventually built, to a junction with the Dowlais railway, about half a mile from the latter’s Dowlais terminus. Two branches were proposed, the first to connect with the already authorised extension of the Rhymney Railway into the Bargoed Rhymney Valley (Deri and Fochriw), the second across the Dowlais Moors to connect into the ‘Old Rumney’ Railway near Rhymney Iron Works.

B&M 0-6-0T 12 Cyfarthfa. (SLS)

B&M 0-6-0ST 24. (T. McCarthy Collection)

B&M 0-6-0ST Cymbeline

B&M 0-6-0ST 31. (Harold Morgan Collection)

A B&M 2-4-0T at the east end of Newport station moving its train of 1920s B&M stock into position probably for a train to Brecon, on which these engines were much used. (LCGB)

B&M No. 31, an 0-6-0ST which were used for working trains between Newport and Rhymney & Pontlottyn standing at the west end of Newport station on 2 August 1905. Originally named Tor, it was bought from the Neath & Brecon Railway in 1877, re-boilered by the B&M in 1897 and used by them until 1921 when it was withdrawn in the December. (LCGB)

B&M 31 having run round its train, the 7.50am from Rhymney, is now ready to work its 4-coach next train back to Rhymney on 2 August 1905. In pre-Grouping days, there were eight trains a day from Newport to Rhymney, two of which started from Maesycwmmer, connecting out of Newport to Brecon trains. (LCGB)

B&M 2-4-0T 25 at the Up main line platform which was also used for Valleys trains, again on 2 August 1905. (LCGB)

GW 1374 was renumbered from B&M 47 and was a modern 0-6-2T built in 1915 It was allocated to Bassaleg at the Grouping and stayed there until that depot closed in 1929. It was again renumbered to 433 in May 1947 and ended its days at Radyr from where it was withdrawn in February 1951 as one of the yard shunters. It is seen here on the Up main through line at Newport just after the Grouping. (LCGB)

The named directors included J.P. de Winton (later Chairman), John Boyle (Chairman of the Rhymney Railway), Henry Thomas (a Director of the Vale of Neath Railway) and George Clark (one of the principals of the Dowlais Iron Company). During the progress of the Bill, both the branches towards the Rhymney Valley were deleted due to objections by the Rhymney Iron Co. regarding possible interference with its operations. More importantly, the B&M came to an agreement with another provisional company, the Breconshire Railway & Canal Co. (BR&C), for joint use of the latter’s route to Talybont, as part of their proposal to convert the greater part of the Brecon & Abergavenny Canal to a railway, in conjunction with the Newport, Abergavenny & Hereford Railway Co. (NAHR).

In the event, the BR&C proposal failed to attract sufficient financial support and the Bill was abruptly withdrawn, leaving the B&M insufficient time to alter its own Bill before its first reading in 1859. When the Bill received Royal Assent on 1 August 1859, the railway appeared to commence at Talybont and finish at Pant, near Dowlais.

By this time, two other companies were looking to reach Brecon, namely the Hereford, Hay & Brecon (HH&B), and the Mid Wales Railway (MWR). At this juncture, the Hay Tramroad was put up for sale. For some forty years, horse-drawn wagons had run along much of the route proposed by the HH&B, which wanted to extend towards