The 1880s and 1890s witnessed an intense period of railway development in South Wales. But at a time when ambitious, even crazy, plans were being put into practice, one was simply too contentious even for those times. This is the story of a railway which was never built – The East Glamorgan Railway.
Confronting industrialists in the valleys at the start of the 1880s was a problem which had plagued them since the start of the nineteenth century – transport undercapacity. More acute than ever as the export coal industry boomed, transport and dock facilities were not sufficient to handle the traffic.
Matters came to a head in 1882. In that year the Bute Trustees who operated Cardiff docks brought forward a Parliamentary Bill to revive the Roath Dock scheme. Associated with it, however, was a proposal to charge an additional extra penny a ton on coal shipped not only at the new dock, but at all the other Bute Docks. It was clear that for some companies, undercapacity was an opportunity not a hindrance! Inevitably a dispute arose between the coalowners of the Rhondda Valley and the Trustees along with the Taff Vale Railway who had access to Cardiff Docks.
Perceived profiteering….and an old solution
As a result of the perceived profiteering, previous plans were revived to develop an extensive dock at the then small coastal village of Barry. Included in the plans was a railway to serve it. The main backers were Ocean Collieries led by David Davies and his associates. They presented compelling evidence on the impact to profits as a direct result of delays to ships accessing Cardiff Docks. This was compounded by a bottleneck faced by railway wagons travelling to the docks from the mines. The argument being won, the Parliamentary Bill was duly passed and received Royal Assent on 14th August 1884.
Although sections of the railway were opened during the winter of 1888-89 it was not until 18th July 1889 that the docks and the main line to Trehafod became operational. The line ran northward from Cadoxton Junction at the eastern end of the Barry Dock complex through the countryside to the west of Cardiff. Situated six and a half miles from Barry was Drope Junction where a branch went west to Peterston to join the Great Western Railway main line. Beyond Drope the line continued north to join the Taff Vale Railway at Trehafod in the Rhondda Valley with an additional connection to the TVR at Tonteg.
The Barry Railway was restless and began to expand in all directions, frequently bringing it into conflict with its rivals, especially the TVR. A direct line to Cardiff, for example, was withdrawn when the TVR granted running powers along its route to the Penarth South Junction with the GWR for both passenger and freight traffic.
Increasingly ambitious the Barry backed the promotion of a Bill in 1893 to build a railway which effectively tapped the traffic from its rivals! The far reaching nature of the proposal would have such major impact that it effectively united them in furious opposition. The proposal was the East Glamorgan Railway!
The East Glamorgan project is proposed
Notionally independent, the East Glamorgan Railway was proposed with the intention of raising capital and constructing no less than four different railways in one undertaking.
(From: South Wales Daily News, 20th Nov 1893)
The main section would start from a junction with the Barry Railway (of course!), between Pontypridd and Trehafod and cross the Taff Railway along with the rivers Rhondda and Taff. Extending along the Taff valley past the Albion Collieries at Cilfynydd it would cross the Great Western Railway at Liancaiach and continue into the Rhymney valley near Pengam before joining the Rhymney Railway near Bargoed Station.
The railway historian D.S.M. Barrie described the plan in his book The Barry Railway:
“In 1893-5 the Barry had supported, if not inspired, the promotion of the East Glamorgan Railway Company, which was intended to link the Barry main line near Pontypridd with the Rhymney and the Brecon & Merthyr Railways in the vicinity of Bargoed, with a branch to Ynysybwl—a Taff Vale preserve.“
Barrie (1962, p171)
The strategic impact of this new set of railways, along with the driving forces behind it were laid bare by The South Wales Daily News in November 1893:
“This new railway with its different connections is important because it opens a more direct route between different parts of the coalfield, and inasmuch as it will enable the valleys served by the Brecon and Merthyr, the Rhymney, the Taff-Bargoed, and other parts of the district to send their coal to the port of Barry, the new undertaking appears to be one which the Barry Company should do their utmost to support. It is to be observed that new means of transit will by it be furnished to the Ocean Company’s pit at Ynysybwl, and also to their property lately taken over, Harris’s Navigation pits; and it is to be remembered that the directors of the Ocean Colliery are also directors of the Barry Railway.“
The South Wales Daily News, 20th November 1893
The accusation: gratifying vanity and lining pockets!
The proposal was incendiary. The Barry’s rivals temporarily put aside their differences and combined to fight this new threat to their profitability and even existence! By June 1894 the South Wales Star reported that:
“In addition to the petitions from the Taff Vale and Rhymney Railway Companies: which have been presented against the East Glamorgan Railway Bill, three further petitions have also been deposited in opposition by the Pontypridd, Caerphilly, and Newport Railway, the Brecon and Merthyr Railway, and the Great Western Railway Companies.”
The South Wales Star, 8th June 1894
The opposition of the Pontypridd, Caerphilly and Newport Railway is particularly noteworthy. The line was in reality a thinly disguised Alexandra Docks (Newport) Railway project built to tap coal traffic from the Rhondda to Newport! Not everyone,, however, was opposed to the East Glamorgan. Small communities along the proposed route were supportive based on the possibility of getting their own small station or halt.
Although Parliament rejected the Bill in 1894 the Bute Docks also came in for criticism. The Company was encouraged to invest in more capacity and spend the eye-watering sum (for the 1890s) of around a million pounds. Another new dock would provide for the very trade the Barry Railway was trying to poach.
In reaching their decision the Parliamentary committee was mindful of the expenditure of large sums of money already made by companies such as the Rhymney Railway. They were scathing about the East Glamorgan, considering that as long as they properly served the public, existing companies were entitled to protection from schemes aimed at gratifying vanity and lining pockets.
If at first you don’t succeed…..
It is reasonable to think that with such a dim view of the proposal, the East Glamorgan Railway would have been laid to rest there and then. But the pugnacious Barry Railway was stubborn and reintroduced their Bill the following year. But the result was the same as Barrie records:
‘Parliament would have none of the East Glamorgan, nor was the Barry successful in its efforts to extend further westward into the Rhondda Valley beyond Hafod.‘
Barrie (1962, p.171)
The view was that the Barry Railway had gone too far and its ambitions were simply to satisfy greed rather than providing genuine commercial benefit. The Western Mail was scathing while reporting on the decision of the House of Lords committee:
“The pretence that the scheme was for the public interest was never seriously received by anyone who attended the sittings of the Committee. All the Barry Company cared for was to get the coal to their own dock.“
The Western Main, 30th March 1895
…try something slightly less ambitious
That was the end of the East Glamorgan Railway, though the Barry Railway continued to propose or promote new lines which proved to be more palatable to the authorities. These later schemes nevertheless involved some impressive construction work.
Derek Barrie described the effect of the The Barry Railway Act1898::
“Later extensions were from Tynycaeau eastward across the Vale of Taff at Walnut Tree, first to Penrhos Upper Junction in the Nantgarw Gap south-west of Caerphilly (opened 1 August 1901) to draw off traffic from the Rhymney Valley including that of the LNWR, and then (2 January 1905) from Penrhos Junction right across the Rhymney Valley to join the Brecon and Merthyr above Bedwas…“
Barrie (1980, p.126)
The aggressively expansionist nature of the Barry Railway was part of its character from the start. Indeed,there was conflict with one or another of its competitors, especially the Taff Vale, for most of its relatively short existence. But it seems that even in the crazy and feverish world of late nineteenth century South Wales railway construction, it was possible to go too far. The East Glamorgan Railway was a case in point!
References
Barrie, D.S.M. (1962). The Barry Railway Oakwood Press
Barrie, D.S.M. (1980) Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain: v.12 South Wales Thomas and Leuchar
The South Wales Daily News, 20th November 1893
The South Wales Star, 8th June 1894
The Western Mail, 30th March 1895