Gwili Railway - Future Expansion

Future Expansion

Restoring the line northwards has still proven to be more difficult than initially anticipated, volunteers' high hopes of reaching Llanpumsaint constantly being hindered by the number of bridges en-route.

There are a total of seven and a half bridges to overcome, all of which are in poor condition and need refurbishment to be worthy for rail traffic once more. There were previously several attempts back in the late 1980's and early 90's to extend the railway to the disused Cynwyl Elfed station site.

The current situation of only being able to raise enough funds to expand to relatively nowhere, coupled with the financial difficulties involved in trying to reach Cynwyl Elfed station alone became all too apparent.

However, now that the recent half-mile extension to Danycoed is completed, the society has currently focused its attention to a southward extension towards a Proposed Carmarthen North. Since the preservation society owns the trackbed as far as Abergwili Junction, two miles south of Bronwydd Arms, this will allow for the construction of a new station which will be built alongside the new Carmarthen Eastern by-pass. This will, hopefully, greatly improve visibility of the railway to passing traffic on the busy Carmarthen East by-pass compared with the somewhat hidden Bronwydd Arms station.

Once the southern extension of the Gwili Railway towards Carmarthen North is complete, this will bring upto a total of around 4½ miles in length.

Reconnection with Carmarthen railway station is now currently impossible as the railway bridge that once carried the line over the River Towy was removed in the 1980s and the Carmarthen East by-pass now occupies a section of the trackbed.

The closure of the former (now defunct) Swansea Vale Railway in 2007 resulted in a merger of that society with the Gwili. This has provided a boost to the southern extension with track materials, a footbridge, water tanks/cranes and signalling equipment from Swansea now earmarked for use on the extension.

In 2011, over a mile of track has been laid on the extension and work is ongoing to improve signalling and the level crossing at Bronwydd Arms for future passenger operation.

As of September 2012, Tracklaying has currently re-commenced, and certain other works are currently being undertaken on the removal of a small bridge (Bridge 6 on the above plan) and replacement with a pipe and infill, the construction of a siding and signalling work, as part of this work.