right|thumb|: By Fire and Water, the company's motto. Plaque in the [[National Railway Museum, York, England]]

From 1839, the trustees of the Marquis of Bute, operated a large dock operation in Cardiff, the "Bute Docks". This was very successful, but was overwhelmed by the huge volume of coal exported through Cardiff. At the same time, it was seen that railway companies, especially the Taff Vale Railway (TVR), were making money conveying the coal to the docks.

The Bute Docks company decided to build a railway from Pontypridd to their dock; they obtained an act of Parliament, the Cardiff Railway Act 1897, giving authority for part of the route, and changing the company name to the Cardiff Railway. To be successful, they needed to make a junction with their main rival, the TVR, at Treforest. A single mineral train traversed the junction in 1909 but legal challenges prevented any further use. The Cardiff Railway had built an expensive railway line that failed to connect with the collieries beyond Pontypridd. The company became part of the Great Western Railway (as did the TVR) in 1923.

A low-key passenger service was operated, and a colliery at Nantgarw was served until 1952. The passenger service was cut back to Coryton in 1931 and continues to operate today.

Bute Docks

thumb|System map of the Cardiff Railway in 1911

Already in the 18th century, it was obvious that some improved means was needed to convey coal mined in the South Wales Valleys to wharves on the Bristol Channel. For many of the pits, Cardiff was the nearest and most convenient location, and in 1790, the Glamorganshire Canal opened from Navigation House (Abercynon) to Cardiff.

This represented huge progress, but the canal had 49 locks and did not directly reach the majority of the mineral sites. As iron smelting developed on an industrial scale, the demands of that industry too soon outstripped the transport facilities available.

The first large dock opened in Cardiff on 9 October 1839; it was named the Bute Dock after Lord Bute who was the principal owner. From 8 October 1840 the Taff Vale Railway opened, in stages, from Merthyr to the Bute Dock, later connecting in pits in the Rhondda and elsewhere. The Rhymney Railway too opened its line from the upper part of the valleys, also reaching the Bute Dock.

In 1850, the South Wales Railway opened part of its main line; instead of bringing down minerals from the upper part of the valleys, the South Wales Railway was a trunk line, conceived to connect London (through the developing network of the Great Western Railway) with Milford Haven, and from there to generate a transatlantic shipping connection. The South Wales Railway also required a dock connection in Cardiff, for minerals it brought there from along its own line, and this demand put yet further strain on the docks. A second dock was built, and as the Bute East Dock, it opened on 20 July 1855; the original Bute Dock was renamed the Bute West Dock.

From these years, there was continual feuding between the Taff Vale Railway and the Rhymney Railway. Finally, on 7 October 1871, the London and North Western Railway secured access to the docks by virtue of running powers over the Rhymney Railway. Further west, the small harbour at Porthcawl, and the Port Talbot docks were important alternatives, although Porthcawl never developed much. Swansea too, after a late start, became the home of an important dock operation.

Nevertheless, the huge expansion of South Wales steam coal overwhelmed the available dock facilities, and this led to corresponding hostility to the Bute Docks Trustees, who were seen with some justification as happy to take excessive charges for the use of the dock without making adequate steps to enhance the capacity, and more importantly, to modernise the mechanical handling facilities in their dock.

This feeling led to a long-standing desire to build alternative dock facilities in the Cardiff general area. These included Penarth Dock, developed by the Taff Vale Railway, Roath, also developed by the TVR and reached by the building of a new branch line opened in 1888, and Barry Docks. This last was an extensive dock facility laid out with plenty of space and the latest loading aids, with the benefit of new access railways not constrained by the capacity of the existing railways. The Taff Vale Railway had long been criticised for congestion of its lines leading to the Bute docks.

In the following session, both companies tried their proposals once again in Parliament, and this time the Bute Trustees were successful. Their act of Parliament, (60 & 61 Vict. c. ccvii), of 6 August 1897, authorised a line from a junction with the Rhymney Railway at Heath to the Taff Vale at Pontypridd, with a junction to the Taff Vale Railway at Treforest. The act authorised the change of name from the Bute Docks to the Cardiff Railway, although the dock operation was to be included in the new company's activity.

The Taff Vale Railway was alarmed at this development, as it could only result in traffic, and income, being diverted from its line to the Cardiff Railway. Having found success, the Cardiff Railway promoted a further bill in the following session, and was authorised as the (61 & 62 Vict. c. cclxii) on 12 August 1898 to build a railway from Roath Dock to its newly authorised line, joining the Rhymney Railway near the junction. Also proposed in the bill was a new line from Heath Junction to the docks, which would have made the Cardiff Railway independent of other lines at the southern end, but this was rejected by Parliament.</blockquote>

The first stations were at Heath, Rhubina (the spelling was changed later), Whitchurch, Coryton (originally intended to be called "Asylum"), Glan-y-llyn, Nantgarw, Upper Boat and Rhyd-y-felin. A "Portobello" station was proposed, between Tongwynlais and Glan-y-llyn, but this was not built. Birchgrove was built in GWR days. A station called Treforest, as close as possible to the TVR main line, was contemplated, but probably not actually built and certainly never opened; there would have been difficult pedestrian access problems.

The line was double track throughout and all the stations had "platforms" on both tracks.

There were goods sheds at Whitchurch and Glan-y-llyn, and the goods and mineral traffic was also available to operate from 1 March 1911, but there was very little demand for some considerable time. There was a colliery at Nantgarw on the line, but it too was very slow to pick up, only being commercially productive from 1920.

In 1912, the public passenger service was reduced as an economy measure.

The new company now had some passenger stations with duplicate names, so that from 1 July 1924 Heath became Heath Halt Low Level; Rhydyfelin became Rhydyfelin Halt Low Level; Whitchurch and Coryton acquired the geographical suffix "Glamorganshire" (or "Glam").

The section of line north of Rhydyfelin had been retained in operational condition for political reasons by the CR, but as the GWR now owned the TVR lines as well, there was no point in this, and the section north of Rhydeyfelin was placed out of use from 16 September 1924.

Locomotives

The Cardiff Railway had 36 steam locomotives, all built by private manufacturers, which were acquired by the GWR on 1 January 1922. For details see Locomotives of the Great Western Railway

Only one locomotive survives. Built in 1898, ex-Cardiff Railway 0-4-0ST No.5, GWR No.1338, is restored to working order, and currently preserved at the Didcot Railway Centre.

References

See also

  • Pierhead Building