Some Early Lines – Old Railway Companies – South Wales Mineral Railway

Some Early Lines

Old Railway Companies

South Wales Mineral Railway

DMU under the old tramway viaduct South Wales Mineral Railway at Tonmawr Colliery – Flickr

A broad gauge line authorised on 15 August 1853 and engineered by Brunel, it included a rope-worked incline, a 1,109 yard tunnel at Gyfylchi, and gradients of 1 in 22. It ran from Glyncorrwg down the Afan valley to Briton Ferry, and was costly to build. Completion was delayed until 10 March 1863 by the tunnel, but it opened to that point on 1 September 1861. From 25 May 1855 it had been leased to the Glyncorrwg Coal Company for thirty years, but when that failed the railway did too – T.J.Woods, the Official Receiver, kept the line going from 1878-1880, and it remained in his hands for 29 years. By agreement the Port Talbot Railway worked and managed it from 1 January 1908 until Grouping (1923). A passenger service was introduced on 28 March 1918, and though this ceased on 22 September 1930, mineral traffic continued until 1970 on the Abercreggan Sidings – Cymmer Junction section. The tunnel closed on 13 July 1947 following a landslip.
The railway is closed but it now forms part of the Afan Valley Cycleway in the Afan Forest Park.

South Wales Mineral Railway – Flickr

 

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