Brecon and Merthyr Tydfil Junction Railway

The Brecon and Merthyr Tydfil Junction Railway (B&MR) was a railway company in Wales. It was originally intended to link the towns in its name. Finding its access to Merthyr difficult at first, it acquired the Rumney Railway, an old plateway, and this gave it access to Newport docks. This changed its emphasis from rural line to mineral artery.

It opened at the Brecon end to a point near Dowlais in 1863, and in 1865 it opened a disconnected section from Rhymney to Newport. In due course the company connected the two sections and reached Dowlais and Merthyr, but had to concede sharing a route with the powerful London and North Western Railway.

The was always short of money, and was notable for its prodigious gradients, but it survived until the grouping of 1923, when it became part of the Great Western Railway. Its network declined steeply after 1945, and passenger operation ceased in 1962. Goods and mineral operation also lost its market, and as of 2020, only a short stub to a quarry at Machen remains rail connected.

History

thumb|System map of the Brecon and Merthyr Railway in 1884

Brecon was an important regional centre in mediaeval times, due to its location at the confluence of the River Honddu and the River Usk. Its relatively remote location meant that transport was always an important consideration.

The difficult terrain southwards would require crossing the ridge of the Brecon Beacons into the high ground at the head of the South Wales Valleys, and the first turnpike connected eastward to Abergavenny and south-westward to Swansea.

The Brecknock and Abergavenny Canal, later part of the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal, was opened to Brecon in 1800 continuing the alignment to the east.

In 1816 the Hay Railway was opened; this was a horse-drawn plateway 24 miles long, connecting Brecon to Hay, and later Eardisley.

Industry south of the Brecon Beacons was linked in to the canal when the Brinore Tramway (or Bryn Oer Tramway opened in 1815. It connected the industrial site of Brinore, near Trevil, north of Tredegar, to Talybont-on-Usk, on the Brecknock and Abergavenny Canal.

Brecon and Merthyr Railway Act 1859

In the 1859 session of Parliament, the Brecon and Merthyr Bill was considered. It proposed a railway from a junction with the Dowlais Railway of 1851 near its terminus at Dowlais, to Brecon near the head of the canal. The Dowlais Railway was built chiefly to serve the Dowlais iron company, so that the proposed would provide an outlet, via the canal, for its products. It also connected Dowlais and Merthyr in difficult terrain—it included a rope worked incline—that might save expense for the in reaching Merthyr.

During the progress of the bill the Brecon to Talybont section was dropped, conceding the part of the route to another planned railway company; this failed to get authorised, but this was too late for the to reinstate the omitted section. The railway as authorised by the (22 & 23 Vict. c. lxviii) on 1 August 1859 was from Dowlais to Talybont.

A railway further north got authorised: the Hereford, Hay and Brecon Railway (HH&BR). It had made arrangements with the larger Newport, Abergavenny and Hereford Railway to work it.

The Hay Railway was intent as this stage on selling its line, and the Hereford, Hay and Brecon Railway proposed to purchase it, simplifying the issue of land acquisition. After considerable negotiation, the agreed to partition the Hay Railway, conceding part to the Mid Wales Railway and the southern section from Talyllyn to Brecon was granted to the B&M. These arrangements were ratified by the Hay Railway Act 1860 (23 & 24 Vict. c. clxxix) of 6 August 1860.

Accordingly, relying on the confirmation of the agreement, the was able to get powers to extend from Talybont through Talyllyn to Brecon, by (23 & 24 Vict. c. xvii) of 15 May 1860. A triangular junction would be formed at Talyllyn with the Mid Wales Railway. Mutual running powers arrangements were agreed.

The had got hold of an obsolescent railway but with it came access to Newport over the Monmouthshire Railway from Bassaleg. The now had to set about the modernisation of the line itself, including a considerable amount of easing of the sharp curves. Captain Rich, after two refusals, agreed to reopening for passenger operation following his inspection on 7 June 1865, and the line opened to passenger operation between Pengam and Newport Dock Street (Monmouthshire Railway) on 14 June 1865; the operation was extended up to Rhymney from 16 April 1866, and in 1867 coal traffic started running.

Financial danger

The company's trains were being worked by Thomas Savin and John Ward, who paid the proprietors 5% on their capital, but early in 1866 [or 1865] the contractor failed. Suddenly the was unable to deal with its own financial commitments and it starting to miss debenture payments, and the company went into administration. This meant that it was unable to complete the Merthyr branch, and the restrictive clauses in its acts of Parliament meant that it oriented from opening the line through to Newport. was to use the from Machen to Bassaleg, but needed to pass over a mile or so of the Monmouthshire Western Valley line to reach Newport Docks, and the did not make the facility available at first, on 7 July 1884. After a stand-off the use of the line was conceded.

In 1882 the Newport Docks company reconstituted itself as the Alexandra (Newport and South Wales) Docks and Railway and was clearly in the lead over the affairs of the , and it obtained powers in 1883 to build an additional double track alongside the Western Valley line from Bassaleg. This opened in April 1886.

The approach to Machen on the Caerphilly branch was on a steeply graded single line, and working the heavy mineral traffic over it was inconvenient; the obtained powers to build a second, nearly parallel single line on easier gradients: the Machen Loop. This was opened on 14 September 1891 of the new Great Western Railway; the change took effect on 1 July 1922.

There had, of necessity, been capital reconstructions in 1882 and 1902. In the twentieth century interest was paid on preference shares, and in 1918 – 1921 this was as high as 4%, but on preference shares only.

From 1923

Many of the ironworks of the Merthyr and Dowlais areas were declining steeply or indeed closing in this period, and the network's dependency on those industries made it extremely vulnerable. A traffic pooling arrangement for mineral traffic between the and the London Midland and Scottish Railway was agreed in 1933, and this resulted in a switch for much traffic to more efficient routes, avoiding the long and difficult climb through the Brecon Beacons and Talyllyn, and this reduced the volume of traffic.

The hillside above New Tredegar had shown itself to be unstable resulting in temporary closure of the line in 1916,

{| class="wikitable sortable"

|+Later locomotive classes of the Brecon and Merthyr Tydfil Junction Railway

!Wheels ||Quantity ||Final nos. ||Builder ||Year ||To ||First nos. ||To ||Extinct ||Notes ||Ref

| 2-4-0 || 2 || 10, 21 || Sharp, Stewart & Co. || 1865 || – || – || – || 1904 || Ordered by Savin. No. 21 originally 9 ||

| 0-6-0ST || 12 || 18–29 || Sharp, Stewart & Co. || 1865–72 || – || – || – || 1905 || Ordered by Savin ||

| 0-6-0ST || 2 || 30–31 || Avonside Engine Co. ||1874 || – || – || – || 1921 || Ex-Neath and Brecon Railway, acquired 1877 ||

| 0-6-0ST || 2 || 17–18 || Sharp, Stewart & Co. || 1881 || 2 || 2190–1 || – || 1934 || No. 18 originally 11 ||

| 0-6-0ST || 12 || 1–8, 13–16 || || 1884–86 || 12 || 2177–88 || – || 1934 || ||

| 2-4-0T || 6 || 9–12, 21, 25 || Robert Stephenson & Co. || 1888–89, 1898, 1904 || 5 || 1402/12/52/8/60 || – || 1924 || ||

| 0-6-2ST || 4 || 19, 20/3/6 || Vulcan Foundry || 1894, 1905 || 4 || 1674/7/92, 1833 || – || 1928 || ||

| 0-6-0ST || 5 || 22, 24, 27–29 || || 1896, 1900 || 5 || 2169–73 || – || 1932 || ||

| 0-6-0ST || 3 || 32–34 || Swindon Works || 1886–87 || 3 || 1685/93/4 || – || 1934 || Ex-GWR 1661 Class, acquired 1906–07 ||

| 4-4-0PT || 1 || 35 || Swindon Works || 1898 || – || – || – || 1916 || Ex-GWR No. 1490, acquired 1908 ||

| 0-6-2T || 8 || 36–43 || Robert Stephenson & Co. || 1909–10, 1914 || 8 || 11, 21, 332, 504, 698, 888, 1084, 1113 || 7 || 1951 || Allotted 421–8 in 1946; except for 11, 332, 504, 1084 these were renumbered in 1947. ||

| 4-4-2T || 1 || 44 || Beyer Peacock & Co || 1879 || 1 || 1391 || – || 1922 || Ex-LSWR 46 class, acquired 1914 ||

| 0-6-2T || 6 || 45–50 || Robert Stephenson & Co. || 1915, 1921 || 6 || 1372–5, 1668/70 || 6 || 1954 ||Renumbered 431–6 during 1947–50 ||

| 0-6-0T || 1 || 35 || Kerr, Stuart & Co. || 1917 || 1 || 2161 || – || 1929 || Ex-Railway Operating Division, acquired 1920 ||

Whilst the was absorbed by the on 1 July 1922, its locomotives were not taken into stock until the four-week period that ended on 8 October that year. At the time, there were 47 locomotives allocated to five depots: Bassaleg (29 locomotives), Brecon (13), Dowlais (2), Rhymney (2) and Talyllyn (1). All were tank locomotives: most were of the 0-6-0T (23 locomotives) and 0-6-2T (18) wheel arrangements, there were also 2-4-0T (5) and 4-4-2T (1). Many of the locomotives were withdrawn by the end of 1934, leaving 14 0-6-2T; of these, one was withdrawn in 1947 and the remainder were inherited by British Railways in 1948, the last two being withdrawn in 1954.

Bassaleg locomotive depot opened in 1875. The gave it the code BSG, and it closed in 1926 – the locomotives were transferred to Newport (Ebbw Junction) depot.

Brecon locomotive depot was shared with the Cambrian Railways, it opened in 1863 on the southern side of Watton station. The gave it the code BCN and number 39. At the end of 1947, it had 14 locomotives: nine 0-6-0, four 0-6-0PT and one 0-4-2T. British Railways initially gave it the code 89B but in November 1959 it became a sub-shed of Oswestry, so the locomotives allocated to Brecon carried the 89A code of Oswestry. Regional boundary changes at the end of 1960 moved Oswestry into the London Midland Region, but Brecon remained in the Western Region, and again gained its own code, this time 88K. It closed in December 1962.

Dowlais locomotive depot was on the western side of Dowlais Central station; it opened in 1898. The gave it the code CVU and number 78, altering the code to DLS in 1940. At the end of 1947, it had a single locomotive – ex-TVR O4 class 0-6-2T no. 292. British Railways made it a sub-shed of Merthyr, so the locomotives allocated to Dowlais carried the 88D code of Merthyr. It closed in May 1960.

Rhymney closed by 1930. Talyllyn was a sub-shed of Brecon, and closed in 1922.

There were 114 coaching stock vehicles (76 four-wheel and 38 six-wheel) taken into stock on 24 July 1922, of which 91 (60 third-class, 18 composite, 11 brake third and two saloons) were passenger carrying, and the remainder (17 brake vans, three horse boxes, two carriage trucks and an inspection car) non-passenger. There were also three "market vans", authorised to run in passenger trains. Virtually all of these were withdrawn within a few years of grouping – only two were still in stock at the end of 1928: a third-class coach, withdrawn in 1930; and a brake van (used as a breakdown van), withdrawn in 1948.

Goods vehicles (mainly coal): 629. By 1913, the line carried nearly 3.5 million long tons a year of coal and 227,000 long tons of other minerals.

The main workshops for locomotives, carriages and wagons were at Machen; it was open by 1863, and was reconstructed in 1875. The works was about half a mile east of Machen station on the northern side of the line (). Although overhaul of the whole rolling stock fleet was carried out there, new construction was confined to wagons, including the three "market vans". One locomotive, no. 25, part-built by Robert Stephenson & Co., was completed at Machen during 1898. After the Grouping, the rationalised the workshops inherited from the various railways of South Wales, and the Caerphilly works of the former Rhymney Railway was selected for enlargement. The work was completed in 1926, and Machen works, just a few miles to the north-east, was then closed.

Traffic managers and general managers

Alfred Henshaw, 1863 – 1894.

John Gall 1894 – 1903.

Herbert R. Price 1903 – 1922. – February 1922 (died in office) Exiting from south-east portal of the tunnel, the line descended for along a 1:38 (2.6%) gradient by the side of Glyn Collwyn and the (later: 1931) Talybont reservoir.

Remaining vehicles

Only one coach has survived into the present day; the body (only) of coach No.111 stands in a private residence at Armscote. (2017) A goods wagon, no.197 is currently (2017) at the Severn Valley Railway.

National Cycle Network

Some sections of the route have become part of the National Cycle Network. These routes are NCN 4 (Celtic Trail) between Machen and Trethomas, NCN 469 between Bargoed and Fochriw and NCN 8 (Taff Trail) between Torpantau and Talybont Reservoir. NCN 468 runs from Aberbargoed northwards.

Notes

References

External links

The Brecon Mountain Railway
Alan George's The Photographic History Of Merthyr Tydfil
Lost Railways - Last train from Newport to Brecon 1962 – television film