The Aberdare Railway – Retro Review

The Aberdare Railway started back in the 1840s and tapped coal traffic from one of the most productive mining areas in South Wales, the Cynon and Dare Valleys. So intense was the mineral traffic that it threatened to overwhelm and gridlock the railway!

Providing a history of the railway from the outset as an independent company through Taff Vale and GWR ownership to British Rail days is the succinctly titled The Aberdare Railway. It was written by acknowledged experts of South Wales railway history, Eric R. Mountford and R. W. Kidner. Published by Oakwood Press in October 1995, it is volume 95 of its Library of Railway History.

A century and a half of the Aberdare Railway

Two chapters then cover functional aspects such as passenger services and motive power before the book closes with three appendices including one on the short Dare Valley Branch. The volume is well illustrated with 53 photographs and a mix of both OS maps and bespoke track diagrams of the valley and specific locations.

A million tons of coal was being raised in the Cynon Valley by 1854!

Although often confusingly referred to as the Aberdare Valley, it is more correctly titled the Cynon Valley. As often the case in South Wales, the impetus for a branch along the valley to a junction with the Taff Vale Railway at Abercynon came from iron and coal masters. A brief independent existence after opening in August 1846 was followed by Taff Vale Railway operation from January 1847.

Almost from the start the line was beset with traffic bottlenecks as coal production exploded. Over a million tons of coal were being raised in the Cynon Valley in 1854 and by 1860 two out of three TVR coal trains to Cardiff docks originated there. But from the mid 1860s the rival GWR also ran part of its ‘Taff Vale Extension’ along the valley, which provided a strategic South Wales route from Pontypool Road to Neath. Eventually the rivals merged during the grouping in 1923 and nationalized in 1948.

Although very popular, the Oakwood Press series of books can vary considerably in terms of style and content. If historical information is more important to you than personal anecdotes or a picture album then you are in good hands. Both Mountford and Kidner are thorough with their research and present it in an interesting manner.

In Summary

The history of one of the most intensively operated freight lines in South Wales. But despite the impressive collation of dates, numbers and junction descriptions, I did not get a clear impression of the operational difficulties associated with transporting such a vast quantity of coal. Nevertheless an interesting read.

Outline Contents

• Iron and Coal Found in the Valley
  
• Planning The Railway
  
• The Line Opened and Working
  
• Early Problems Overcome
  
• Pulling out of Depression
  
• Invasion from All Sides
  
• The GWR Takes Over
  
• Train Servies
  
• Locomotives and Engine Sheds
  
• Summary of Passenger Station
  
• Opening and Closing Dates
  
• Mineral traffic from Opening to 1871
  
• The Dare Valley Branch

About the Authors

Eric Mountford was born in Swindon to a railway family that stretched back well into the broad gauge era. After witnessing the birth of the Castle and King class locomotives, and the death of that brilliant locomotive engineer, G.J. Churchward, he served his apprenticeship at the famous locomotive works in the heyday of Great Western steam.

After completing his apprenticeship at Newport Docks Drawing Office, he had a lengthy spell in private industry before returning to the railways at Caerphilly Drawing: Office in 1954. Nine years later he was promoted to the Management Staff at the Welsh Divisional Office at Cardiff, from where he retired in 1980.

Although a lifelong GWR enthusiast, he concentrated on the railways of South Wales from an early age, an interest he was able to develop when he had access to local railway records and those held by British Transport. An acknowledged expert on these railways, Mountford has written numerous books and articles.

(From: The Oakwood Press)

Roger Kidner was born on 16 March 1914, the son of civil servant Arthur, and Mabel. He attended Westminster School where he struck up a friendship with Michael Robbins. The two bonded over a shared interest in railways, and in 1931, they founded The Four Os to publish a newsletter called Locomotion.

In 1935, Kidner and Robbins changed the name of their nascent publishing house to The Oakwood Press and published their first book, Railway Bibliography by Canon Fellows. This was followed in 1936 by L.T. Catchpole’s The Lynton and Barnstaple Railway which is still in print in its 9th edition.

Kidner travelled widely to research the railways that his authors wrote about. The Oakwood Press suspended publication during the Second World War, and Kidner served in the Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment where he rose to the rank of Major. He published James I. C. Boyd‘s seminal series on the narrow-gauge railways of north Wales, starting in 1949 with Narrow Gauge Rails to Portmadoc which drew attention to the then-closed Ffestiniog Railway and was instrumental in its eventual restoration.

He sold The Oakwood Press in 1984, but kept in close contact with the new owner, writing and editing books. He died of cancer in 2007.

(Wikimedia Creative Commons)

Related reviews

South Wales Branch Lines by H. Morgan
Taff Vale Railway Miscellany by John Hutton