Taff Vale Railway

Taff Vale Railway
Overview
HeadquartersQueen Street, Cardiff
(Workshops: West Yard, Butetown, Cathays)
Reporting markTV
LocaleSouth Wales
Dates of operation1840 (1840)–1921 (1921)
SuccessorGreat Western Railway
Technical
Track gauge1,435 mm (4 ft 8+12 in)
Length124 miles 42 chains (200.4 km) (1919)[1]
Track length403 miles 41+12 chains (649.40 km) (1919)[1]
Route map

Cyfartha Iron Works
Merthyr Tydfil
Merthyr Plymouth Street
Pentre-bach
Troed-y-rhiw
Merthyr Vale
Quakers Yard
Low Level │ High Level
Rhondda Fawr Collieries
Maerdy Colliery
Maerdy
Treherbert
Ferndale
Ynyswen
Tylorstown
Treorchy
Pontygwaith Halt
Pentre Platform
Wattstown Platform
Ton Pentre
Ynyshir
Ystrad Rhondda
Taff Valley Collieries
and Tower Colliery
Gelli Platform
Aberdare
Llwynypia
Cwmbach
Tonypandy
Fernhill
Dinas Rhondda
Mountain Ash
Pandy
Rhondda Fach Junction
Penrhiwceiber
Porth (1st station)
Matthewstown Halt
Porth
Pontycynon Halt
Hafod
Abercynon North
Trehafod
Abercynon South
Old Ynysybwl
Ynysybwl
Robertstown Halt
Ynysybwl New Road Halt
 
Stormstown sidings
Cilfynydd
Clydach Court Halt
Gyfeillon Platform
Coedpenmaen
Berw Road Halt
Pontypridd
Treforest
Maesmawr
Treforest Estate
Taffs Well
Radyr
Radyr Junction
Llandaff
Maindy Halt
Cathays depot
Carriage & Wagon works
Woodville Road Halt
Danescourt
Cathays
Waterhall Junction
Llantrisant & Taff Vale Junction Railway
Fairwater
Cardiff Queen Street
Waun-Gron Park
Cardiff Central
Bute Road
Queen Alexandra Dock
P & A Campbell ferries
Cardiff Canton TMD
Grangetown
Ninian Park
Penarth Dock
Dingle Road
Penarth
Alberta Place Halt
Lower Penarth
Lavernock
Swanbridge
Sully
Motto
Cymru a fu a Chymru fydd[2]

(Wales hath been, and Wales shall be)

Milestones
12 October 1835 Resolution passed to form The Taff Vale Railway Company
21 June 1836 Act of Incorporation
16 September 1836 First company General Meeting, directors appointed
9 October 1840 Opened Cardiff to Navigation House (Abercynon)
12 April 1841 Opened Navigation House to Merthyr Tydfil
10 June 1865 Penarth Dock opened, TVR took out a 999-year lease
1900 Strike led to Taff Vale case (1901)
1903 "Motor cars" (steam railway passenger coaches) introduced
1 January 1922 Became constituent company of the GWR
Railways worked/leased
1847 Aberdare Railway
1862 Penarth Harbour & Dock Railway
1863 Llantrisant & TV Railway
1889 Cowbridge & Aberthaw Railway

The Taff Vale Railway (TVR) was a standard gauge railway in South Wales, built by the Taff Vale Railway Company to serve the iron and coal industries around Merthyr Tydfil and to connect them with docks in Cardiff. It was opened in stages in 1840 and 1841.

In the railway's first years, the coal mining industries expanded considerably and branches were soon opened in the Rhondda valleys and the Cynon Valley. The conveyance of coal for export and for transport away from South Wales began to dominate and the docks in Cardiff and the approach railway became extremely congested. Alternatives were sought and competing railway companies were encouraged to enter the trade.

In the following decades further branch lines were built and the TVR used "motor cars" (steam railway passenger coaches) from 1903 to encourage local passenger travel.

From 1922 the TVR was a constituent of the new Great Western Railway (GWR) at the grouping of the railways, imposing its own character on the larger organisation. The decline in the coal and iron industries took its toll on the mainstay of the network, but passenger trains still operate on most of the main line sections.

  1. ^ a b The Railway Year Book for 1920. London: The Railway Publishing Company Limited. 1920. p. 253.
  2. ^ "Volume One – Into the Victorian Age – The Taff Vale Railway (TVR)". Penarth Dock: Penarth Dock, South Wales – the heritage & legacy. Retrieved 17 January 2020.