Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant documents that can help answer the question.
Query: When did the Taff Vale Junction Railway get made?
Thomas Powell had extensive colliery interests in Monmouthshire and Glamorganshire, and he needed to get a transport link to pits he owned at Llantwit Fardre. Failing to generate interest elsewhere, he determined to build a railway himself to the Glamorganshire Canal at Maesmawr from Llantwit Fardre. This was known as the Dihewyd Railway or the Llantwit Fardre Railway. It was completed by 28 December 1843 and a connection to the Taff Vale Railway was opened on 25 April 1844, when a train of Powell's coal was taken to Cardiff. His line climbed out of Maesmawr on a 297-yard self-acting incline at a gradient of 1 in 6.6. The line was later extended to Ystradbarwig colliery.[3]
In time the Canal became overwhelmed by the volume of traffic, and encouraged by the successful opening of railways with more advanced technology than the horse tramways of previous years, the Taff Vale Railway was promoted. It was authorised by Parliament in 1836 and it opened between Merthyr and Cardiff docks in 1841. The line passed close to the Maesmawr workings but did not make a connection.[3][4][1]
There was growing congestion between Cogan Junction and Penarth Curve South Junction, which was carrying all the Taff Vale traffic to Penarth Docks as well as The Taff Vale's own passenger traffic and the Barry traffic to Cardiff. The Taff Vale agreed to quadruple the line to ease the matter.
On 30 January 1902 the Board was informed that the construction to Tongwynlais was substantially completed, and at this time the company put details of its proposed junction with the Taff Vale Railway at Treforest to that company for approval.
The terrain at the point chosen by the Cardiff Railway for its junction with the Taff Vale was extremely awkward. The Taff Vale Railway run down the west bank of the River Taff and was closely hemmed in by the hills to the west. Immediately to the east was the River Taff and the Glamorganshire Canal, and then the Pontypridd, Caerphilly and Newport Railway, and then more hills.
The Llantrisant and Taff Vale Junction Railway was a railway company that constructed a standard gauge line in South Wales, connecting Llantrisant and the Taff Vale Railway near Treforest. It ran through thinly populated country, and linked to a number of iron mines, collieries and other mineral sites. It opened in stages in 1863 and 1864. In 1865 through passenger trains from the Cowbridge Railway ran over the line, to Pontypridd, although for some time there were no passenger stations on its own network. At the Llantrisant end, it was reliant on broad gauge railway companies which were not always friendly to it. The company leased its line to the Taff Vale Railway in 1870.
Although engineered by Brunel, the Taff Vale Railway was a narrow (standard) gauge line. In 1851 the South Wales Railway applied for powers to make a junction with the Taff Vale Railway at Bute Street, Cardiff, hoping that the Taff Vale would install broad gauge, to avoid the transshipment of minerals at the break of gauge. This the Taff Vale declined to do, and instead the SWR itself laid narrow gauge track into its own Cardiff station; this was ready in January 1854 and sanctioned for passenger train use in February 1854.
The Barry Railway went on to promote a direct Cardiff, Penarth and Barry Junction Railway, which would run direct and also have a roundabout line following the coast. The Taff Vale opposed this and promoted its own alternative lines. Parliament decided on a compromise, in which the Barry Railway could build the direct line from a junction with the Taff Vale and Cogan, and the Taff Vale would build the coastal route, from Penarth Town, joining the Barry Railway at Biglis Junction, near Cadoxton. The Taff Vale scheme was authorised by the Cardiff, Penarth and Barry Junction Railway Act of 6 August 1885. The line was ready and opened on 1 December 1887, but the junction connection at Biglis was not made at first; for the sake of diplomacy it had to wait until the Cogan connection of the Barry line was ready, and they both opened on 20 December 1888. Taff Vale passenger trains ran through to Biglis Junction station of the Barry Railway from August 1889. (The station was renamed Cadoxton on 1 June 1890). The Cardiff, Penarth and Barry Junction Railway became vested in the Taff Vale Railway by Act of 26 August 1889.
The issue of conveyance of the iron ore of the district to market remained unresolved, and on 12 September 1860, a Merthyr solicitor named W Simons approached the Taff Vale Railway board. He said that he had acquired the Llantwit Vardre tramroad for £9,000, and was prepared to make that the core of a new railway from Llantrisant to the Taff Vale line. He wanted a premium for his trouble, and to be appointed solicitor to the scheme. The TVR General Superintendent, George Fisher, was instructed to investigate the matter; he found that the idea was plausible, although not all of the Llantwit Vardre line was required, and a new junction with the TVR north of the tramroad junction would need to be made, avoiding the steep incline. The cost of the line would be £30,000.[3]
The Taff Vale Railway U and U1 classes were 0-6-2T steam tank locomotive operated by Taff Vale Railway, Wales, from 1895. All were still in use when the Taff Vale Railway was acquired by the Great Western Railway in 1922, but were withdrawn from traffic between 1927 and 1931.
The Taff Vale Extension line was opened through to Quakers Yard Low Level Junction, connecting there with the Taff Vale Railway, on 11 January 1858. The final section, on from Quakers Yard to Middle Duffryn Junction, joining the Vale of Neath Railway, was opened on 18 April 1864 for goods trains, and on 5 October 1864 for passenger traffic; this was after the NA&HR had been taken over by the West Midland Railway, and that company had itself amalgamated with the Great Western Railway.
The Llantrissant and Taff Vale Junction Railway was incorporated by Act of 7 June 1861; it was to acquire the Llantwit Vardre Railway; capital was set at £40,000, and the Company could arrange for the Taff Vale Railway to work its line.[4][3][6]
A further Act was passed the following year authorising minor changes to the route, and a junction with the Shrewsbury and Hereford Railway. The timing of the 1846 authorisation was unfortunate, as the continuing financial crisis at the time made it impossible to raise money for railway schemes, and for some years no attempt was made to start building the line. Nevertheless in 1847 the Company also applied, and secured, authorisation for the Taff Vale Extension line, from Llanvrechva to a junction with the Taff Vale Railway near Quakers Yard, requiring a further £400,000 of capital.
Long before that, in 1847, the NA&HR had obtained Parliamentary powers for the Taff Vale Extension Railway, which was to run westward from Pontypool to Quakers Yard, where it would join the Taff Vale Railway. This line had the potential to connect with numerous of the south-to-north lines in the valleys, thereby conveying mineral products from collieries and ironworks on their network to the industrial north of England. The Taff Vale Extension Railway opened progressively from 1855, and many of the junctions with valley lines were only effected in later years.
The Taff Vale set about obtaining Parliamentary authorisation in 1885 to acquire the Bute Docks, but this was refused by the Lords Committee when the Taff Vale would not agree to running powers requested by the Barry Railway northward from the Trehafod and Treforest connections. The Taff Vale also supported a nominally independent Cardiff, Penarth and Barry Junction Railway which would be a spoiler to the Barry company's development plans at Barry itself, but this was refused, the Barry being granted a corresponding railway from Barry to a junction at Cogan with the Taff Vale's Penarth lines, by Act of 31 July 1885. The Taff Vale was granted a circuitous coastal route from Penarth to Cadoxton.
The attraction of South Wales as a considerable centre of the metal-working industries was not diminished, and the directors considered it important to make a connection to the district. They obtained powers in 1847 for the Taff Vale Extension Railway, which was to run from Coedygric North Junction at Pontypool westwards to make a junction with the Taff Vale Railway at Quakers Yard.
Taff Vale Railway A class | Taff Vale Railway O1 class | Taff Vale Railway O2 class | Taff Vale Railway O4 class | Taff Vale Railway U1 class
The residents of Cowbridge had long yearned for a railway connection, and on 29 July 1862 the Cowbridge Railway was authorised.[4] The Taff Vale Railway was to contribute £10,000 to the subscription list. The Cowbridge Railway was to cross the South Wales Railway main line and come north as far as Maesaraul junction, joining the Llantrisant and Taff Vale Junction Railway there. However it became obvious that the Cowbridge company was going to have serious trouble securing the capital it needed, and a compromise was reached. It would build its line between Cowbridge and Llantrisant only, and the Great Western Railway would mix the gauge on the section of the Ely Valley line between Llantrisant and Maesaraul Junction. This would enable the Cowbridge narrow (standard) gauge trains to run through to Pontypridd over the L&TVJR and the Taff Vale Railway.[6]
The L&TVJR had always been a dependency of the Taff Vale Railway, and in 1870 this was formalised, when an Act of 20 June 1870 authorised the lease of the line to the Taff Vale for 999 years. (The residual L&TVJR company was absorbed by the Taff Vale Railway by Act of 26 August 1889.)[4][3]
The approval of the Board of Trade inspecting officer was required to open the line for passenger traffic, and there were a succession of shortcomings in the arrangements at Maesaraul and on the Cowbridge Railway. Nevertheless, by 16 January 1865 a Taff Vale engine was run through from Pontypridd to Cowbridge and a revenue-earning mineral train ran through on 30 January 1865. The Llantrisant and Taff Vale Junction Railway was passed for passenger traffic on 29 August 1865.[4][3]
The change of working did nothing to improve the physical state of the Cowbridge Railway, and its financial situation worsened. In desperation, in 1875 the Company was obliged to ask the Taff Vale Railway to take it over, on the TVR's terms. This was done, and through working of passenger trains from Cowbridge to Pontypridd was resumed.[3]
In 1900 the branch was extended northward to join the earlier Llancaiach branch, at Ynysdwr Junction; this was opened to traffic on 1 June 1900. A passenger service operated from Pontypridd to Nelson, on the TVR line a little short of the junction with the Taff Vale Extension line, and did not use the GWR Llancaiach station there. A motor car (railmotor) service was inaugurated on 10 August 1904.
In 1871 another, short branch was opened: it was from Ystrad Mynach on the RR main line to Penalltau Junction on the Taff Vale Extension line. By this time the Great Western Railway had taken over the Newport, Abergavenny and Hereford Railway (through its successor, the West Midland Railway) so the Taff Vale Extension was GWR territory. The line had been extended to Middle Duffryn in the Aberdare Valley, and connected there with the Vale of Neath Railway, also now controlled by the GWR. As part of the deal when the Taff Bargoed line was agreed with the GWR, the Rhymney Railway had secured running powers through Aberdare to Hirwain.
Authorised share capital was £1,050,000, to build from Barry northward to a junction with the Taff Vale Railway at Trehafod, in the Rhondda; there was to be a south-to-west junction with the GWR main line (former South Wales Railway main line) at Peterston and an east to north connection nearby, and a spur to join the Taff Vale main line at Treforest. The dock was to be 73 acres in extent, the largest enclosed dock area in the country; in fact the area between Barry Island and the mainland was to be made non-tidal, an area extending to 200 acres.
These were that the Taff Vale Railway would agree running powers (except for passenger trains) between Cogan and Walnut Tree Junction over the Penarth and Radyr lines. At Walnut Tree the Rhymney Railway had a junction with the Taff Vale Railway, in fact giving access to the Rhymney's original main line there. Moreover, running powers would be granted for all classes of train from Cogan to Penarth Curve South Junction, where connection was made with the Great Western Railway main line. From this point the GWR had its Riverside Branch, opened in 1884, running down the east side of the River Taff into an important industrial area; both the Barry and the Taff Vale were given running powers over this line, which was to be made suitable by the GWR for passenger operation.
The Ynysybwl branch line railway, formally known as the Clydach Valley Branch, was opened by the Taff Vale Railway company in 1885 to serve collieries that were expected to open in the Clydach Valley, Glamorganshire, South Wales. The branch line made a junction with the main line of the Taff Vale Railway at Stormstown, between Pontypridd and Abercynon (the station was then called Aberdare Junction). In fact the colliery development was limited, but the Lady Windsor Colliery became productive in 1886 and had a large output.