The Vale of Neath Railway (VoNR) was a broad gauge railway company. It built a line from Merthyr Tydfil and Aberdare to Neath, in Wales, mostly to transport the products of the Merthyr iron industries to ports on Swansea Bay.
The railway focused on transporting coal from the rapidly developing rich colliery area around Aberdare. When the narrow (standard) gauge Newport, Abergavenny and Hereford Railway (NA&HR) made moves to link to the area, with its Taff Vale Extension line, the Vale of Neath Railway saw that there was potential in connecting up; it laid a third rail to make mixed gauge. The link was made in 1864, and coal was conveyed to London and the north-west of England by that route. By that time, the VoNR and the NA&HR had been absorbed into the Great Western Railway (GWR) system.
Connections to the docks at Swansea had not been fruitful in the early days, and the Swansea and Neath Railway, soon taken over by the VoNR, made some improvement, but the docks area remained congested and difficult.
The main line of the VoNR was always busy in GWR days, mineral traffic being intensive and difficult because of steep gradients and inadequate infrastructure. The decline of the coal industry after 1945 brought decline of the VoNR route as well, and in 1964 passenger operation ceased, followed by much of the mineral activity. The Merthyr station is in use today (by trains approaching on the former Taff Vale Railway route), rationalised and slightly relocated, and the Aberdare station was similarly treated when its passenger service was reinstated in 1988.
History
Before the railway
The Vale of Neath is a river valley descending from Pontneddfechan and Glynneath to the town of Neath, close to Baglan Bay, itself part of Swansea Bay. By the 18th century, Merthyr Tydfil was the centre of a huge iron smelting industry; excellent coal was beginning to be mined at Aberdare, and these two industries became dominant in their respective localities. The town of Neath itself became a centre of engineering industry.Gwyn Briwnant Jones and Denis Dunstone, The Vale of Neath Line from Neath to Pontypool Road, Gomer Press, Llandysul, 1996,
Until late in the 18th century, the difficulty was transporting the heavy products of the mineral industries to market, overseas and domestically. The roads were extremely poor, and the River Neath was unnavigable. Yet the demand for satisfactory transport was powerful, and eventually the Neath Canal was opened fully in 1795, running down from Glynneath to Neath itself. Even then, the canal did not immediately serve the originating point of mineral products, and some short tramways were built to make the connection. Indeed, coal from Aberdare was hauled uphill by horse power in the Cynon Valley to cross to Glynneath for the canal.Charles Hadfield, The Canals of South Wales and the Border, David and Charles, Newton Abbot, second edition 1967,
The Aberdare Canal was opened in 1812, leading instead down the valley to Abercynon, where it connected with the Glamorganshire Canal.
First railways In the 1830s it had become clear that the way forward for heavy transport was railways of a modern pattern, with steam locomotives. Although the early technology was very primitive, progress was being made following the example of the Stockton and Darlington Railway, opened from 1825.
In South Wales, the Taff Vale Railway was authorised by an act of Parliament, the Taff Vale Railway Act 1836 (6 & 7 Will. 4. c. lxxxii). This was a purely local railway, connecting the iron-producing town of Merthyr Tydfil to Cardiff Docks; it was constructed on the standard gauge, and opened in stages from 1840. In 1845 the South Wales Railway was authorised, by the South Wales Railway Act 1845 (8 & 9 Vict. c. cxc), to build from near Gloucester to Milford Haven Waterway. This was to be a trunk line, in fact connecting with the Great Western Railway and the English railway network. Engineered by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, it was to be built on the broad gauge.
The Vale of Neath Railway promoted The authorisation of the South Wales Railway brought fresh energy to the possibility of new railway lines in South Wales, but it was to skirt the southern margin of the valleys. Industrial locations in the valleys themselves would need their own railways to link to the South Wales Railway, or to harbours for onward conveyance of their production.
H. S. Coke was the town clerk of Neath, and a solicitor by profession. He was the driving force in promoting the idea of a railway following the River Neath, and connecting Merthyr with Neath; at Neath there would be the alternatives of onward railway transport on the South Wales Railway, or transfer to ships at the staithes on the river. On 21 May 1845 he put his ideas to the provisional directors of the South Wales Railway, although they had not yet secured their own authorising act of Parliament. They were supportive, provided that Coke's railway was also on the broad gauge system.
His intended route was from Neath up the relatively gentle valley as far as Glynneath; from there the line was to climb much more steeply and penetrate the mountain at the watershed, then descending the Cynon Valley to Cwmbach (near Aberdare) and turning northeast to pass through another mountain by a long tunnel to reach Merthyr. There would be a branch to Aberdare itself.
The bill for the line went to the 1846 session of Parliament; Brunel as engineer gave evidence to the committees. He was questioned in detail about the gradients on the line, as the steep and lengthy gradients were not considered suitable for mineral lines. Brunel's persuasive evidence carried the matter through, and the Vale of Neath Railway was authorised by act of Parliament, the (9 & 10 Vict. c. cccxli), of 3 August 1846. Share capital was to be £550,000.MacDermot, E.T. (1931). History of the Great Western Railway, vol. II: 1863–1921. Paddington: Great Western Railway. .
Construction
The company's act of Parliament merely authorised the £550,000 of share capital; securing commitment from subscribers proved more difficult, especially as the money market had suddenly become depressed, and by September it seemed apparent that about £127,000 of shares were going to be unissued. The South Wales Railway, by now under construction and seeing the value to them of a broad gauge connection to Merthyr, agreed to take the unallocated shares; the arrangement was ratified in an act of Parliament, the (11 & 12 Vict. c. xxvii).
By July 1847 the first construction contract was let, but the Merthyr Tunnel contract was held over for the time being. It was started the following year, but exceptional difficulties in the tunnelling led to two successive contractors failing, and the company decided to make Aberdare the interim objective, recognising now that Merthyr would not be reached for some time.
The authorising act of Parliament of the Vale of Neath Railway had specified that the Aberdare terminus was to be close to the Taff Vale Railway station (actually the station of the Aberdare Railway, sponsored by the Taff Vale). In the meantime it had become plain that a colliery at Gadlys was expanding considerably, but access to that required the VoNR line to cross the Aberdare Railway route on the level. Approaches to the Taff Vale interest met with a rebuff, and in the end the VoNR located its station across the River Cynon from the TVR/AR station. (The colliery itself built the connection in 1853, and it became an important interchange point between the VoNR and the TVR.)
The construction took much longer than expected, and this led to friction in board meetings in 1850, and this was followed by site difficulties during the following winter. Brunel now predicted a June 1851 opening, and it was time to order rolling stock. Six locomotives were ordered from Robert Stephenson, and 25 coaches and 72 wagons were ordered. The majority of the wagons for coal were flat wagons, on which coal was to be conveyed in bottom-opening iron boxes, a form of containerisation. A further earthslip took place in May 1851, frustrating the desire to open the line.
Finally on 23 September 1851 a ceremonial opening train for directors and their friends ran from Neath to Aberdare. There were stations at Neath, jointly with the South Wales Railway, Aberdulais, , , , , and . Merthyr Road was the station for reaching Merthyr by a road connection; it was located where the present-day A465 road crosses the route.
The ordinary public service started on 24 September 1851, with three trains each way daily, two on Sundays. The journey time was 70 minutes.
Passenger traffic was immediately buoyant, but at first wharves at Briton Ferry were not ready to receive coal trains; the company had been relying on these. Moreover, there was a problem with silting at Swansea, so it was not until April 1852 that coal traffic was started. Ordinary goods traffic had started in December 1851.
Construction of the tunnel to Merthyr had been resumed in February 1851, and on 2 November 1853 the Merthyr section was opened, and Merthyr Road station could be closed. Passengers for Aberdare were now required to change trains at Hirwaun to continue their journey.
The line from Neath to Gelli Tarw Junction (where the Aberdare and Merthyr lines separated) was double track. The Merthyr line was planned to be double track, and the southern end of the long tunnel to Merthyr was constructed accordingly, but that objective was given up and the majority of the tunnel was built to single track dimensions only.
There was a tunnel at Pencaedrain, near the summit above Glynneath; it was in length. Gradients were stiff; from Neath to the summit at Hirwaun was a steep climb, with of continuous slope between 1 in 51 and 1 in 47.
Early results and extensions
The passenger business was gratifyingly busy, and colliery interest in mineral transport was also high. A 1.5% dividend was distributed at the end of 1852, and at the same time a decision was taken to extend the line at Aberdare to reach the head of the Aberdare Canal, which was half a mile (1 km) below the town. For the time being tramways were used to close the gap, and the coal containers were craned at the transfer points. The extension was brought into use in June 1853.
In addition short extensions at Aberdare to the Dare and Aman valleys were to be built. Plainly now the coal resources at Aberdare outweighed the iron production output at Merthyr, and the emphasis was on developing the former. Three more locomotives were ordered as well as a few carriages, but two second-class carriages were disposed of, for lack of use.
Profits and dividends continued to increase, and although the Dare and Aman valley extensions were delayed, a further extension from Aberdare to Middle Duffryn was authorised by the (18 & 19 Vict. c. cxx). Middle Duffryn was a focus of coal-mining activity, in time controlled by the Powell Duffryn group. The being sponsored by the VoNR, which itself increased its share capital by the (18 & 19 Vict. c. xxv). The Aberdare Valley Railway was leased to the VoNR from the outset, and acquired by it on 1 January 1864; Aberdare Valley shareholders got a guaranteed 7.5% on their capital.
The Dare branch to Nantmelyn Colliery was opened on 7 November 1854. The colliery was on the mountainside west of Aberdare, but the line reached it from Gelli Tarw Junction, and reversing at Dare Junction. A short extension to the Bwllfa Colliery (part of the Merthyr Dare group) at the end of the branch was reached by June 1857.
The Cwmaman colliery branch was opened in November 1856Baughan and Barrie; Jones and Dunstone say 1858. This was reached by continuing on from Dare Junction and curving round the east side of Rhos-gwawr. Both these branches were laid in Barlow rail.