Brecon and Merthyr Railway - History

History

The B&MR was once described as a "lively octopus in a tank of sharks", but despite the aggressive activities of the "sharks", it survived until the railway grouping. In the process, it absorbed several smaller companies and by negotiating running powers over the lines of other companies, it established links between Newport Docks in Newport and Brecon, and hence into Mid-Wales.

As early as 1836, Sir John Josiah Guest, of the Dowlais iron Works, had written of his proposal to construct a railway linking Dowlais to the valley of the River Usk, and possibly also running into Brecon. The line would have pretty nearly covered the same route as was eventually adopted by the B&M. A similar proposal suggested a line running up the Taf Fawr valley over the Brecon Beacons via Storey Arms and thence to Brecon.

The company was established by a Bill of 1858, with the directors including several prominent Brecon citizens. The Beacons tunnel (also known as Torpantau) was completed by 1862, and runs between Brecon and Pant commenced in 1863. The complicated series of amalgamations (including its originator the Hay Railway,a tram-road worked by horses opened in 1816) can best be appreciated here to explain how the B&M came about. In fact the B&M used the Hay Railway as the basis for its route between Talyllyn and Brecon. This included the tramroad tunnel (see below) at Talyllyn which required widening and deepening to allow the passage of standard gauge trains.

The system eventually came to comprise two sections of lines:

• The Southern section, effectively the consumed Rumney Railway, which linked Bassaleg (where there were connections with the GWR and the London and North Western Railway) and the ironworks town of Rhymney, near the head of the Rhymney Valley. The RR/TVR ran up the same valley in parallel with the B&M, and the wholly separate Rhymney Railway
• The Northern section linked Deri junction by means of running powers over a section of the Rhymney Railway in the Bargoed Rhymney Valley to Pant, Pontsticill and Brecon via a tunnel through the Brecon Beacons. From the tunnel the line descended towards Talybont on a continuous 1-in-37 gradient known as the "Seven Mile Bank". For southbound trains this presented the steepest continuous ascent on the British railway network.

Initially, the only connection to Merthyr Tydfil was by means of a horse-drawn bus from Pant, but, by 1868, a connection with Merthyr had been established by sharing lines with Vale of Neath, London and North Western and Taff Vale railways. This involved the building of nearly seven miles of line from Pontsticill to Merthyr, with an almost continuous descent of 1 in 45-50, two complete reversals of direction and the construction of two viaducts to carry the line over the Taf Fechan at Pontsarn, and the Taf Fawr at Cefn Coed. The Pontsarn viaduct is 455 feet (139 m) long and 92 feet (28 m) height, whilst the Cefn Coed (or Pontycapel) viaduct is 770 feet (230 m) long with a height of 115 feet (35 m).

The section to the north of Pant was primarily a passenger service, serving isolated farms and villages. South of Pant, it was mainly a mineral line and carried coal from the mines down to the Newport Docks.