In 1924 it was made a public halt called Nottage Halt. It was 5 1⁄4 miles (8.4 km) long from Brynmenin Junction, a short distance west of Tondu. The tramway then continued to Cefn Ydfa and to Tondu, where it turned west to Cefn Cwsc, Kenfig Hill, Pyle, Cornelly and finally to the harbour at Porthcawl. The area covered by the two lines combined developed considerably serving collieries and the iron and zinc smelting industries, and the L&OR system was extremely busy in conveying minerals up until 1914. You could also do it yourself at any point in time. Downwood Film Productions - Porthcawl Past & Present - YouTube The LVR abandoned its line to Margam, instead running south from Tondu to a triangular junction with the SWR at Bridgend, independently of the Bridgend Railway. Pyle railway station is a minor railway station in Pyle (Welsh: Y Pîl) in Bridgend county borough, South Wales.The station is located at street level at Beach Road in Pyle. The service from Bridgend via Cymmer Afan was transferred to Blaengwynfi station. Then in 1866, it crossed the bridge and ran into Bridgend Station, where it had its own platform and booking office. Mitchell and Smith erroneously indicate the earlier route of the main line of the L&OR as running due north from the west end of Pyle GWR station "between 1861 and 1876 when the flyunder was completed". [4], In 1840 a further Act was obtained, enabling money to be raised for the provision of coal chutes, and the construction of a new wet dock. The same report with similar wording but starting "On Friday, October 22, the Bridgend Railway was opened to the public..." is quoted from. Location: Tondu, Bridgend ... Nottage Tunnel . In the first half of the eighteenth century the area was entirely rural, but coal outcropped in the ground and was used by farmers, and some was taken away for sale by pack animal. Blaengarw; used by miners from 1877; open to public 26 May 1902; closed 9 February 1953; Pontycymmer; miners only 1877; open to public 1 June 1889; closed 9 February 1953; Pontyrhyll; opened 25 October 1886; closed 9 February 1953; divergence of Port Talbot Railway and Dock line; Llangeinor; opened 25 October 1886; closed 1 January 1917; reopened 1 January 1919; closed 9 February 1953; Brynmenin; opened 12 May 1873; renamed Brynmenyn 1886; closed 5 May 1958; convergence of Blackmill branch; divergence of Brynmenin Loop towards Pencoed; Nantymoel; opened 12 May 1873; closed 5 May 1958; Wyndham Halt; opened 10 August 1942; closed 5 May 1958; Tynewydd; opened 12 May 1873; renamed Ogmore Vale 1 January 1902; closed 5 May 1958; Lewistown Halt; opened 10 August 1942; closed 4 June 1951; Blackmill; convergence of line from Hendreforgan; opened 12 May 1873; closed 5 May 1958; Gilfach Goch Colliery Platform; miners only; open after 1915; closed by June 1954; Gilfach; opened 9 May 1881; closed 5 March 1928; reopened 26 March 1928; renamed Gilfach Goch 1928; closed 22 September 1930; Hendreforgan; opened 1 September 1875; closed 5 March 1928; reopened 26 March 1928; closed 22 September 1930; Bryncethin Junction; convergence of line from Tondu; Llanharan; convergence with Bridgend to Cardiff main line. Caerau Station, at the head of the line in the Llynfi Valley, was the last station to be opened, on 1 April 1901, following the development of the Caerau district at the turn of the nineteenth century. The mineral wealth of the Rhondda Valley proved immensely lucrative to the Taff Vale Railway, and later others, in conveying coal to Bristol Channel ports for shipment. The Rail Line - a Memory of Nottage. From Simmonds; also Barrie and Baughan, and also Jones, page 76; Carter says 26 August 1846 (page 139). This page was last edited on 31 August 2020, at 14:04. On 31 August 1897 the Port Talbot Railway and Docks Company opened its mineral line through Maesteg, on a sinuous west to east alignment crossing over the L&OR route. Abergwynfi railway station. In 1886, a second larger station replaced the first following the opening of a junction with the Mablethorpe Loop Line to Sutton-on-Sea and later Mablethorpe. … Nottage Halt closed to passengers in 1963, along with the whole of the Porthcawl branch. Malmesbury railway station served the town of Malmesbury in Wiltshire, England. The Llynvi and Ogmore Railway was opened in 1865, and the two companies amalgamated to form the Llynvi and Ogmore Railway in 1866. Time to make some memories! The intervening mountain rose to 1,138 feet (347 m). We encourage the community to register for email updates. The L&OR was absorbed by the GWR, from 1 July 1883. Snoqualmie Tunnel is part of the John Wayne Pioneer Trail in Iron Horse State Park. A regular time table was operated on the line, and the passing places were designated. The line was to use stone-block sleepers and cast iron fish-bellied edge rails,[8] and the track gauge was to be 4 ft 7 in (1,397 mm) and its length would be 17 miles (27 km). This was ratified by Act of Parliament of 1 July 1873. The project currently has a train shed at Pontycymer, and hopes to initially offer brake van rides between Pontycymer and Pant-y-Gog, a distance of 0.5 miles (0.8 km). The tunnel was part of the Nottingham Suburban Railway, a short rail line which ran from Sneinton to Daybrook from 1889 to 1951. It closed in 1963. Tondu railway station is a railway station serving the village of Tondu, Bridgend county borough, South Wales. Quite the same Wikipedia. This was followed in 1831 by the establishment by James Allen of the Spelter Works near what is now Caerau. [19] The new LVR line opened to mineral traffic on 10 August 1861. The Bridgend Railway[note 2] was authorised on 19 June 1828 to build a line from Bridgend to join the DL&PR at Park Slip, a little west of Tondu, to Bridgend. The Ogmore Valley Railway company sought an eastward outlet for the mineral products it carried, and in 1865 it acquired the company. The Llynfi Valley runs north to south, from the high mountains 3 miles (5 km) north of Maesteg down to Tondu where it joins the River Ogmore, which itself continues through Bridgend to the Bristol Channel at Ogmore-by-Sea. Spelter is an ore of zinc; it was mined in Cornwall and brought to the area for smelting. The Act authorised the re-incorporation of the company with a capital of £200,000, with powers to purchase the Bridgend Railway for £3,000, and to enter into working arrangements with the SWR. In 1898 this was upgraded to railway status as part of the Port Talbot Railway and Docks Company Ogmore Valleys Extension Railway scheme.[5]. 2009. p.110, opened (unadvertised)as Porthcawl Golfers Halt. At first this terminated at Lletty Brongu, but on 17 January 1898 the line was extended further, to Pontyrhyll, where it made a junction with the Garw branch. Tondu railway station is a railway station serving the village of Tondu, Bridgend county borough, South Wales. Northwest of the town, in the dunes known as Kenfig Burrows, are hidden the last remnants of the town and Kenfig Castle, which were overwhelmed by sand about 1400. New stations were provided at Wildmill and Sarn, just south of the site of the former Aberkenfig station, Garth, a little north of the former Troedyrhiew Garth station, Maesteg Ewenny Road, and Maesteg, a little south of the original Maesteg station. Other railway and industry locations Nottage Tunnel Grove Limestone Quarry Cornelly Limestone Quarry Cornelly Limestone Quarry Hoel-y-Sheet Crossing Junction Stormy Summit Pyle West Junction Stormy Loops Water Street Junction Waterhall Junction Colliery Newlands Colliery Margam Marshalling Yard Newlands Loop Junction Ironworks We are also available to speak via telephone (1300 794 880). The capital was £6,000. The Cefn Cwsc colliery and Ford's Works were located a short distance from the junction of the Junction Branch Railway on LVR territory, and extensions of the broad gauge were laid in to them. This is shown by them in map XXI, and they credit the Railway Magazine. Caerau itself stood at about 640 feet (200 m). The Llynvi and Ogmore Railway was opened in 1865, and the two companies amalgamated to form the Llynvi and Ogmore Railway in 1866. It became GWR 2145 and was withdrawn in 1885. The Great Western Railway took the decision to extend the line, starting from a junction with the Caerau line at Nantyffyllon, and driving a tunnel through the mountain to Cymmer, making a junction there with the South Wales Mineral Railway. [18], Passenger services between Bridgend and Maesteg commenced on 25 February 1864. [5] and connected with the LVR at Tondu Junction.[6][21]. Passengers were carried on parts of the network, but were never dominant except at Porthcawl, which declined as a harbour and arose as a holiday and residential location. Garth (Mid Glamorgan) railway station is a railway station serving the village of Garth, Bridgend, Wales.It is located on the Maesteg Line from Cardiff via Bridgend.The station is known as Garth (Mid Glamorgan) in order to differentiate it from Garth (Powys). The line was soon extended further to the Blaenllynfi Colliery, in present-day Caerau; the colliery was alongside what is now Caerau Road (and Railway Terrace). From that time coal from Duffryn Rhondda Colliery was hauled up the valley to Cymmer, and after reversal, taken down the L&OR route to Bridgend via Maesteg. At the same time a spur to Pyle, entering from the north west, was opened. Nottage Tunnel . As a south to west curve, it was used by limestone traffic between Cornelly Sidings and the Abbey steelworks, and by morning and evening residential passenger trains between Swansea and Porthcawl.[5]. [3], When the Vale of Glamorgan Railway was being constructed, ready for its opening in 1897, it had sought running powers to Tondu, but these were refused, and exchange sidings had to be built at Coity Junction.[27]. [3], On 3 December 1962 the Treherbert to Swansea passenger service on the former R&SBR was withdrawn, and replaced by a new diesel rail car service between Treherbert and Bridgend over the rearranged lines at Cymmer. Baxter refers to this as the Bridgend Railroad Company. Known afterwards as the Raglan branch, the Ogmore Junction to Wern Tarw section continued in operation but it was later closed in September 1983. Considerable mineral resources existed in that valley, which at the time was served by the South Wales Mineral Railwayc, which led by an operationally difficult route to Briton Ferry. At the same time the mineral industries were declining, and the population also was diminishing as workers moved to other parts of the country for work. The station is operated by West Midlands Trains, and is on the Birmingham to Worcester via Kidderminster Line. Pilning railway station is a minor station on the South Wales Main Line near Pilning, South Gloucestershire, England. There was a connecting line at Stormy, a few miles to the east, from 1851, removed in 1864, but there was otherwise no railway connection between the two railways at Pyle stations, and in fact they ran a hundred yards or so (100 m) apart. It was extended to run from Shrewsbury and formed part of a main line trunk route, under the title The Shrewsbury and Chester Railway. The LVR line and the South Wales Railway (now GWR following amalgamation) route were not immediately adjacent and there was no connection between them, and the stations were not close together. The poor approach to Porthcawl Dock, together with its inadequate facilities, once more made it impossible for the site to compete economically with other South Wales ports, especially as larger steamships were coming into use. From 1889 the Barry Railway opened its connection from Peterston to Drope Junction and Barry, giving a useful connection to the docks there.[5]. Sponsored by the L&OR from the outset, it was amalgamated with it in 1876, and worked by the GWR like its parent company. Tondu railway station. [8][9][5][12], The line entered Bridgend along Quarella Road and terminated at The Green; very little of this line was used for the later Tondu branch line railway. Proposed by the coalowners but underwritten by the wealthy Barry Railway Company, it opened in 1897 from near Bridgend to Barry, in Wales. Meanwhile, Troedyrhiw Garth Station was built in the 1870s during the time when the GWR was working and managing the L&OR, but the platform was lengthened in 1910, and shortened again in 1938. For information on using this template, refer to Wikipedia:Route diagram template. This station was approached by a lane behind the Coity Castle Hotel. Abergwynfi; open 22 March 1886; closed 13 June 1960; Cymmer; opened 19 July 1880; amalgamated with Cymmer Afan station as Cymmer General January 1950; closed 13 June 1960; Caerau; opened 1 April 1909; closed to public 22 June 1970; school use to 15 July 1970; Nantyffyllon; convergence with LVR main line (below). In 1876 Ada and Una became GWR 2146 and 2147 respectively. [note 7][25][26], In 1882 the alignment of the L&OR line was altered to bring it alongside the South Wales main line and connecting tracks were installed. 63 yd: 58 m . As the broad gauge system was no longer in use in South Wales, the L&OR removed the third rail that had been provided for broad gauge vehicles. The engineer was John Hodgkinson. [14], Already on 2 July 1847 the LVR had obtained authorisation to deviate from its earlier intended route. These incursions were followed on 19 December 1898 by a line—the "Ogmore Valleys Extension" of the PTR&D—from Port Talbot along the coast, turning east over the South Wales main line to a junction with the L&OR line at Cefn Junction, giving access towards Tondu. Under the original powers, the DL&PR provided a breakwater and small tidal harbour at Porthcawl. That's it. The section between Nantyffyllon and Caerau closed for freight traffic on 7 September 1976 and was formally closed on 7 March 1977. I remember as kids we used to watch the trains go past Nottage Halt, to look at the old track now it is hard to imagine anything other than a tractor using it. These included a new line from Tywith down to Ffos Toll House west of Tondu, and in addition a new line 3 miles (5 km) long from Tondu to a junction with the SWR near Bridgend station, all to the broad gauge. This prompted the L&OR (as successors to the OVR) to build the missing link, a new line from Blackmill (at the foot of the Ogmore Valley) to Hendreforgan, on the EVER. Considerable mineral resources existed in that valley, which at the time was served by the South Wales Mineral Railwayc, which led by an operationally difficult route to Briton Ferry. William Bryant took over the works in about 1825. The Tetbury branch line was a 7.5-mile (12.1 km) single-track branch railway line that connected Tetbury with the main line at Kemble on the line between Swindon and Gloucester. This is a route-map template for the Llynvi and Ogmore Railway, a Welsh railway line and/or company. Traffic from Caerau Colliery continued to travel via the Coegnant inlet to the Maesteg Colliery until the closure of Caerau Colliery on 27 August 1977. [5][3], The LVR acquired the DL&PR in 1847, ratified by Act of 22 July. [1] The line through the station closed in 1965. Measures include, but are not limited to, increased hygiene practices and limiting face-to-face contact. The station near the river was the Blaengwynfi station, which was on the Swansea Bay line. Mining output and the ironfounding businesses in the Llynfi and Ogmore valleys continued to grow, and indeed it was obviously outstripping the limited capacity of Porthcawl harbour to handle it. It is located on the Maesteg Line from Cardiff via Bridgend. Not only children are fascinated seeing a train disappearing on the one side and appearing on the other side of a tunnel. Elsewhere though, the industry had been on a small scale. Tywith Station was renamed Nantyfyllon on 1 January 1903. Much larger and better protected from prevailing winds, it cost £250,000 to build, and was engineered by R. P. Brereton, sometime the principal assistant of Isambard Kingdom Brunel. [note 3][11][3][12]. That's it. [23] The mineral line of the Cardiff and Ogmore Railway between C&O Junction and Bryncethin Junction was closed completely on 28 July 1938. Regular commuter services run to Birmingham and Worcester, with several direct daily services to/from London Marylebone. The South Wales railway companies became part of a new Great Western Railway. Cymmer Afan stood a little over a mile (2 km) away, in the Afan Valley. On 26 October 1992 the line between Bridgend and Maesteg was reopened by British Rail and Mid Glamorgan County Council for passenger trains. Simmonds refers to this as a south-to-east connection, but this is wrong; see Cooke and the remains of the alignment on 1876 Ordnance Survey mapping. [6], The line was worked by the GWR until two engines were delivered on 4 April 1862, enabling the company to work its own traffic. It opened on 1 September 1875. [5], On the same day however Abergwynfi Station, at the head of the former L&OR Extension line in the Afan Valley, was closed to passenger traffic. [5], The Ogmore Valley Railway opened on 1 August 1865 from Nantymoel to Tondu for mineral traffic through to Porthcawl. On the line of route it made a connection with several collieries. Bryncethin Junction; convergence with C&O branch. A “cut-and-cover”tunnel (similar to the one in Llanelli) could be constructed through the golf course but it would add to overall construction costs. Local businesspeople decided to promote a new railway to modernise the DL&PR and Bridgend Railway networks. It was worked by the Great Western Railway as part of the Ely Valley Railway, which they also worked. He was buried with military honours at Nottage and taken to the German War Cemetery at Cannock Chase after the war. [4] The GWR absorbed the L&OR ten years later on 1 July 1883.[6][11][5]. In the 1920s the dock itself was filled in.[5][6]. The drill-and-blast excavation work on this tunnel started from three points at the same time: from Tulfes westwards, from the Ampass access tunnel eastwards and again westwards. History. Pyle railway station is a minor station in Pyle in Bridgend county borough, south Wales. As a toll railway the line was open to private carriers who paid tolls for the use of the line; the company did not operate trains nor own wagons of their own. Just better. The Vale of Neath Railway was a broad gauge railway company, that built a line from Merthyr Tydfil and Aberdare to Neath, in Wales, chiefly to transport the products of the Merthyr iron industries to ports on Swansea Bay. [7], Freight operation in the Garw and Ogmore branches ceased on 22 March 1965, but coal traffic continued until final closure in 1980.[29]. It would run directly down the Llynfi valley to Tondu, and then run west past Pyle to join the proposed South Wales Railway at Margam. Lewknor Bridge Halt railway station was a halt on the Watlington and Princes Risborough Railway which the Great Western Railway opened in 1906 to serve the Oxfordshire village of Lewknor. The new arrangement was commissioned on 13 June 1960. Countryside Books. Duffryn Llynvi was the name of the ironworks in Maesteg—the district was also known as Garnlwyd. The L&OR line was connected into the R&SBR station, and east of the station a slue was made back into it. However Duffryn Rhondda colliery closed in October 1966. This followed the course of a tramway that had existed since before 1876.[5]. The station is located at street level at Beach Road in Pyle, 171.5 miles (276 km) from London Paddington. [5][20], In 1877 a further line was built by the L&OR from a junction between Tondu and Brynmenyn and the Llanharan line of the C&OR (Bryncethin Junction to Ynysawdre Junction); it opened on 1 May 1877. Built by Slaughter, Grunning and Company, it was similar to the South Devon Railway Eagle class. The railway, known as the Ogmore Valley Railway, was 7 miles (11 km) in length. [29], The Porthcawl branch and the Pyle to Tondu service was closed to passengers on 9 September 1963, and the entire Porthcawl branch closed to all traffic on 1 February 1965. The line of the railway to Ty Talbot Farm and through a tunnel underneath the village can still be seen. Traffic lower down the line was also lost in 1977 with the closure of the Llynfi Power Station which had been opened in 1943. [5], The Bridgend Railway route fell into disuse and later became used as a roadway; this was also the fate of parts of the DL&PR in the upper Llynfi valley. Before the diveunder of 1876 the L&OR looped round to the east of Pyle station in a broad sweep. Transport from the works and the collieries to the coast was expensive and slow, generally taking place on the backs of pack animals. The necessary authorising Act was obtained on 1 July 1873, to build from Nantyfyllon to Abergwynfi. In 1839 Allen and his partners established another iron company, the Cambrian Iron Works (later known as the Llynvi Iron Works), in Maesteg. [5][3][10], Now that the South Wales Main Line was standard gauge, the possibility opened up of taking Ogmore Valley minerals to Cardiff, or Penarth, where better shipping facilities existed. Its three letter station code is PIL. The line opened on 1 July 1878 for mineral traffic; passenger services started on 16 July 1880. Emergency tunnel. Duffryn Llynvi was reached in 1828 when the line opened; the line was extended to Allen's spelter works in 1831. Further traffic was lost in 1981 when the Bridgend Paper Mills traffic transferred to road transport; the small mines and coal yard traffic at Maesteg station ended when Coegnant Colliery ceased production in 1981. sky train tunnel in vancouver, canada - train tunnel stock pictures, royalty-free photos & images. At that time newspapers often syndicated minor news items from other periodicals without troubling to edit or update them. One day we walked through the railway tunnel that used to go under Nottage, it's … Smith says the gauge was 4 ft 7 in (1,397 mm), as do Barrie and Baughan. [5], The passenger service between Blackmill, Hendreforgan and Gilfach Goch was withdrawn on 5 March 1928, but local protests succeeded in getting the service restored; however this was now from the east instead of from Blackmill, and established travel patterns were not catered for. It first opened around 1900 as an unadvertised halt named Porthcawl Golfers Platform (or Golf Platform). As the South Wales Railway was being built on the broad gauge and was to be the only main line railway in the vicinity, the Llynvi Valley Railway was to adopt the broad gauge as well. [6], Construction of the line only began in 1826, and the line from the Maesteg ironworks at Duffryn Llynvi to Porthcawl was opened on 22 June 1828.[5][3]. Nottage Halt railway stationwas a small halt on the Porthcawl branch line, serving the village of Nottage in South Wales. The tunnel cost £47,422. The distance was 4 miles (6 km); it was sponsored by the same promoters as the DL&PR, and like the DL&PR it was a 4 ft 7 in (1,397 mm) gauge edge railway, using cast iron fish-bellied rails on stone block sleepers. They obtained an Act on 10 June 1825 to make a horse-drawn toll railway from Duffryn Llynvi to Pwll Cawl (or Porthcawl, or Pwll-y-Cawl), and to improve the harbour there by the erection of a jetty, and charge harbour dues and wharfage. For some decades the little harbour enjoyed considerable success, but the increasing size of sea-going shipping and the difficult seaward access eventually militated against it in competition with larger and better equipped ports elsewhere. Porthcawl. Charcoal had been used for smelting iron but in the second half of the 18th century, coke began to be used instead; limestone was available locally and was used in the process. Hence at the turn of the century the dock virtually ceased to function as a port, and it was closed by the GWR in 1906. A locomotive shed and workshops were erected there and Mr. J. Routledge was appointed the Locomotive Superintendent.