The Vale of Glamorgan Railway Company was built to provide access to Barry Docks from collieries in the Llynfi, Garw and Ogmore valleys. Proposed by the coalowners but underwritten by the wealthy Barry Railway Company, it opened in 1897 from near Bridgend to Barry, in Wales.
It immediately suffered a major subsidence on Porthkerry Viaduct and was closed; a temporary by-pass line enabled reopening until the viaduct was partly reconstructed in 1900.
After 1923 the mineral traffic declined slowly, followed by a loss of passenger and general merchandise business. Passenger trains were discontinued from 13 June 1964 with signalling alterations made on 15 June as the line continued to be used for freight and occasional main line diversions but the section between Cowbridge Road Junction (Bridgend) and Coity yard north of Bridgend, was taken out of use on that date. The section between Coity Junction (where it joined the Bridgend and Abergwynfi Branch) and Cowbridge Road Junction had been part of the original Vale of Glamorgan Railway Company's territory which terminated at Barry Junction.
In 1979, the Ford Bridgend Engine Plant was established at Bridgend, served by a private siding off the line. On 10 June 2005, a passenger train service was reinstated, serving Rhoose for Cardiff Airport and Llantwit Major only.
Early transport needs The area known as the Vale of Glamorgan, the tract of land close to the north bank of the Bristol Channel between Cardiff and Ogmore-by-Sea was largely agricultural in the early nineteenth century, and it became by-passed when the South Wales Railway built its main line between Cardiff and Swansea.
Much of the mineral wealth of the South Wales Valleys—mostly coal but also iron ore and smelted iron and iron products—was taken to Bristol Channel ports for onward transport. Newport, Cardiff and Swansea were dominant in these activities. There were other small harbours but they had limitations which had discouraged development as industrialisation gathered pace.Colin Chapman, The Vale of Glamorgan Railway, Oakwood Press, Usk, 1998,
The Cowbridge Railway opened in 1865, giving a branch line connection to the market town of Cowbridge from Llantrisant station.Colin Chapman, The Cowbridge Railway, Oxford Publishing Company, Poole, 1984,
The Cowbridge Railway merely gave a railway connection to the market town, and it fell to the Ogmore Dock and Railway Company to get an act for a mineral connection, the Ogmore Dock and Railway Act 1883 (46 & 47 Vict. c. cxcvii) on 20 August 1883. However the prospective company needed substantial Great Western Railway support and this was not forthcoming, so that the scheme eventually foundered.
Barry Railway
At Cardiff the volume of minerals transported increased beyond expectation, and quickly overwhelmed the capacity of the dock installations to handle them. Moreover the railway connections to them were soon heavily congested, and this led to dissatisfaction among the coalowners and other industrialists who used them.D. S. Barrie, The Barry Railway, Oakwood Press, Usk, reprinted 1983,
In 1884 the Barry Dock and Railway Company (later simply the Barry Railway) was incorporated, with the intention of building new dock facilities with modern mechanical handling equipment at Barry, and building a new railway to bring coal and other minerals from the Rhondda down to Barry. It opened its main line in 1889.
The Barry Railway was soon successful, and built extensions to the docks and new connecting lines to existing railways.
Collieries and their traffic Colonel John North acquired six collieries in the valleys immediately north of Bridgend, and in 1889 he established a company, North's Navigation Collieries (1889) Limited, to manage them. Like other coal owners in the Llynfi, Garw and Ogmore Valleys, his company used Porthcawl to load to shipping, but the harbour there had very limited capacity. The alternative was over the Llynvi and Ogmore Railway and to Barry via Peterston and the spur to Drope Junction, or of course to Penarth or Cardiff. The GWR made some improvements to the L&OR lines, but the very severe gradients limited the value of this line. It was felt by North and others that the GWR was obstructing the development of their traffic; meetings with the GWR requesting a reduction in the carriage rate had met with refusal.
At the same time as North was establishing his company, he and others engaged in the trade met together and decided that the solution was a new railway to the Barry. They approached the Barry Railway, which agreed to work the line when built, for 60% of gross receipts.
Vale of Glamorgan Railway proposed
They promoted the Vale of Glamorgan Railway in the 1889 session of Parliament, and an authorising act of Parliament, the (52 & 53 Vict. c. clxxxviii), received the royal assent on 26 August 1889. Authorised capital was £360,000; it was to build from a junction at Coity Lower on the Llynvi & Ogmore line, a little north of Bridgend, to Barry, a distance of ; in addition there was to be a branch to the Great Western Railway station at Bridgend, and running powers into the station were included.
The Vale of Glamorgan Railway shared many directors with the Barry Railway Company. However the VoGR company found it difficult to raise the capital it needed to build its line: by 15 July 1890 less than half, at £171,000, had been subscribed for. The company approached contractors to see if they would build the line and take shares in payment, but this was unsuccessful.
Time went by without further progress, until on 2 December 1892 the VoGR directors met the Barry Railway Board again to discuss a way forward. The Cowbridge and Aberthaw Railway had opened to passenger traffic on 1 October 1892, and this company was in the rival Taff Vale Railway camp. The Barry Railway was anxious to secure its western flank against the rival, and keeping the VoGR scheme alive was strategically important. Working arrangements with the Barry Railway were arrived at, by which the Barry Railway guaranteed a dividend of 4% on the capital of the VoGR. This immediately secured the willingness of investors to take VoGR shares.
The Barry Railway made this offer conditional on its taking full control of the VoGR. The arrangement was authorised by the Barry Railway Act 1893 (56 & 57 Vict. c. ccvi) of 24 August 1893, and ratified by the proprietors of both companies on 28 May 1894. North's colliery company undertook to send 360,000 tons of coal annually over the line, and the Ocean Coal Company promised half of its output from the Garw Valley.
A tender of Pethick Brothers to construct the Barry to Ewenny section for £182,444 was quickly approved. Three successive extensions of time had to be sought from Parliament because of the delay. The local geology was limestone and much of the construction involved excavating the rocky material.D. S. M. Barrie, revised Peter Baughan, A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain: volume 12: South Wales, David St John Thomas, Nairn, 1994,
When the VoGR line had been designed, it was expected that the Ogmore Dock and Railway Company would construct a line diverging from the L&OR line from Tondu to Bridgend, and passing east of Bridgend and running south-west to a new dock at Ogmore. The VoGR would have passed to the west of Bridgend to join the Tondu line, with a spur to the OD&R and a south-to-east curve to enter Bridgend station from the west. The OD&R proposals had in fact been withdrawn and its authorisation was abandoned, so that this complex arrangement was now unnecessary. The alignment of the VoGR was therefore altered to approach the Tondu line by passing Bridgend on the east side, with a short spur to enter Bridgend station from the east. This arrangement was cheaper, and it was authorised by the (58 & 59 Vict. c. xlix) of 20 June 1895.Clive Smith, Railways of the Llynfi Valley, Alun Books, Port Talbot, 1985,
Incidentally, running powers had been sought to Tondu in the authorising act but this had been refused, obliging the company to exchange mineral traffic at Coity Junction.
It had been originally intended to construct the line as single track, taking land for subsequent widening to double track. In August 1894 it was decided to make the track in Porthkerry Tunnel double track, and on 5 October the Board decided on double track from Barry to Rhoose. By 7 June the decision was made to construct in double track throughout the line, in view of the heavy mineral traffic expected to be running. Additional capital for this work was authorised by the Vale of Glamorgan Railway Act 1895.
During the construction work, pier no. 10 of Porthkerry Viaduct, near the Barry end, subsided by several feet on 18 August 1896; it was followed by a major settlement of pier no. 11, and later no. 12. Stabilisation measures were put in hand, but this was a sign of future trouble.
Nevertheless the line was considered to be ready towards the end of 1897 and Colonel Yorke of the Board of Trade visited on 6 November 1897 to assess the line for passenger operation. He expressed himself very dubious of the stability of Porthkerry Viaduct, but he permitted the operation of passenger trains for a period of three months, subject to further appraisal then. Meanwhile speed on the line as a whole was to be limited to and over the viaduct to ; a watchman was to be employed at the viaduct. Watchmen were to be posted around the clock, and to examine the viaduct over and under after the passage of every train; special signals were provided so that they could stop traffic if necessary.Evidence given to Lt. Col. H. A. Yorke, reported to the Board of Trade on 6 April 1898
The line was accordingly opened to passenger traffic on 1 December 1897, although it is known that two special passenger trains ran over the line prior to that date.
There were further signs of ground movement at Porthkerry on 16 December 1897, and on 10 January 1898 there was a very serious slip at pier 13, the easternmost pier, closing the line.
On 3 February 1898 the board approved construction of a temporary loop line by-passing the viaduct, at a cost of £5,647. It made a large sweep to the north following the contours of the ground, although it had a maximum gradient of 1 in 40. It was single track, in extent. There was a speed restriction on it.
Colonel Yorke visited on 19 April 1898 and passed it for passenger operation, and it opened on 25 April 1898.
Reconstruction of the failed viaduct arches was paid for by the Barry Railway, the (62 & 63 Vict. c. xiv) authorising £120,000 of additional capital. It was discovered that the piers had been founded on rock that was not bedrock, but in fact a layer of stone on shale and silt. The reconstruction involved the demolition of the affected piers and the sinking of new foundations down to rock. The eastern abutment was moved back and two new spans with their own piers were constructed.
The process took until early 1900, when the viaduct was reopened for goods trains on 8 January 1900, Colonel Yorke reinspected the viaduct on 13 March 1900 and was satisfied with the remedial measures, and the viaduct reopened for passenger traffic on 9 April 1900.
The expenditure in building the line was "close on £700,000" according to the Barry Railway General Manager, Edward Lake.G. A. Sekon, "Illustrated Interview with Mr Edward Lake, General Manager of the Barry Railway", Railway Magazine, October 1906
London and South Wales Railway The Great Western Railway had long been the monopoly carrier of traffic by rail from South Wales to London, and dissatisfaction with the GWR had been a continuing issue for many.