Sirhowy Railway

The area of the valleys of south-east Wales had long been notable for the rich mineral resources, especially coal and iron ore, and also limestone. Much of the useful mineral deposit was in the upper valleys, and ironworks developed there. Transport of the manufactured iron, and of the raw materials, was difficult, requiring pack animals to reach Newport for shipping. At the end of the eighteenth century, determined efforts were made to improve the situation, culminating in the authorisation in 1792 of the Monmouthshire Canal Navigation Company. This was to build a canal from Newport to Pontnewynydd, near Pontypool, and a branch to Crumlin. Plateway tramroads were to be built connecting the canal to mineral sites. Many industrialists supported the works as it would considerably enhance their business, and the canal was opened in 1796, by which time many of the connecting tramroads had already been completed. The canal was a success, but experience showed that it had shortcomings too. The large descent from the top to Newport made the transit slow. Shortage of water in summer and icing in winter delayed traffic. Most significant of all, there were many industrial locations not served by it or the tramroads. These were limited by the terms of the Monmouthshire Canal Navigation Act 1792 (32 Geo. 3. c. 102) to reaching works within of the canal, and owners of works and pits outside that limit keenly felt the disadvantage. ==Linking Tredegar==

The Tredegar iron works, and others in the Sirhowy Valley, were among those for which a suitable transport connection was urgently needed. Samuel Homfray, Richard Fothergill and Matthew Monkhouse were the co-founders of the Tredegar Ironworks, and a lease of 20 March 1800 from the landowner Sir Charles Morgan granted them not only the right to extract coal and iron ore from his land, but to build a tramroad on it "down the Sirhowy Valley to join the Monmouthshire Canal". The Monmouthshire Canal Company heard of this and negotiated with the Tredegar partners. The engineer Benjamin Outram was called in by the directors of the Monmouthshire Canal to make recommendations for improving the situation in general. He reported later in 1800, and so far as the canal itself was concerned, he limited his proposals to the provision of additional reservoir capacity, to deal with the water shortage. Instead of proposing an extension of the canal, he considered that a new line of plateway from Tredegar to Risca Church should be built. It would connect with the existing canal at Risca, and loads would be transferred there to barges. The line would have "all convenient turnouts", that is, passing loops—the previous local tramways had been simple single lines, and empty wagons ascending were manhandled off the track to allow loaded descending wagons to pass. In fact double track would be laid if necessary. His railway would be a plateway, in which the rails are L-shaped plates, the upstand providing the guidance to plain wagon wheels; the gauge was to be . The Sirhowy Tramroad was the third public railway sanctioned by act of Parliament. The same act empowered Homfray and his partners to build a tramway from Tredegar to the Trevil limestone quarry. All traffic was horse-drawn until 17 December 1829 when a steam locomotive named Britannia was introduced on a trial basis. It had been ordered specially from Robert Stephenson of Killingworth by Samuel Homfray junior. The locomotive was a success, although the first run to Newport was badly delayed, and due to its weight numerous of the tramplates were broken. Nevertheless, it made daily journeys of hauling loads of , while reducing the cost of horse power by 35%. Other carriers soon followed by introducing locomotive power themselves. However breakage of the tramplates due to the weight of the locomotives was a continuing problem; in 1830 the Monmouthshire company ruled that all locomotives on their line must be suspended on proper springs. ==Formation of the Sirhowy Railway==

The Sirhowy Tramroad was effectively a monopoly, and it was making good profits; for many years it saw little need to adapt itself to changed circumstances. Nevertherless the neighbouring Monmouthshire Canal Company, on which the Sirhowy line depended to reach Newport, was extending its network. Intending to become a full passenger-carrying railway (rather than allowing carriers on to its line), the Monmouthshire Canal changed its name to the Monmouthshire Railway and Canal Company in 1845. It had been under pressure in 1847 and again in 1849 to convert its line to a railway. It started to do so, but to continue the tramroad operation by independent carriers during the conversion, it adopted a combination tramplate that could carry standard gauge railway vehicles as well as tramroad waggons. By the end of 1855 the whole of the Monmouthshire system in the Western Valley (with the exception of the Rassa Tramroad) had been transformed into locomotive worked standard gauge railways. This included the Nine Mile Point branch from Risca. The Sirhowy Railway Company hesitated in providing a passenger train service on the new line, although running powers were available over the Monmouthshire Railway and Canal Company's line from Nine Mile Point to Newport. On 10 March 1864, Captain Rich of the Board of Trade issued a report of his inspection of the line preparatory to the introduction of passenger trains; it was not favourable. Distant signals were required at several locations. At Nine Mile Point "there is no station and no [roadway or pedestrian] approach to a station. A platform has been erected for the purpose of landing the passengers from the Sirhowy carriages and enabling them to re-enter the Monmouthshire carriages at the same platform. The Sirhowy Railway expect to work in connection with the Monmouthshire Railway Company but desire at the same time to provide for independent working. They have not yet made any arrangements with the Monmouthshire Railway Company and it will be necessary that there should be a passenger platform at each side of the Sirhowy Railway which is doubled at Nine Mile Station, and further that there should be up and down lines at each of the two platforms so that the passengers may change carriages, and that the risk of a collision shall be avoided by the trains of each company coming up at different sides of the up and down platforms. The list of shortcomings continued and Rich ended "I have received no undertaking as to the proposed method of working. I beg to submit that the Sirhowy Railway cannot by reason of the incompleteness of the works be opened for passenger traffic without danger to the public using the same." After another false start the line eventually opened to passenger traffic on 19 June 1865. The journey time was 1 hour and 20 minutes. The Nantybwch extension opened on 2 November 1868. ==Absorption by the LNWR==

As early as 1860 LNWR management had taken an interest in the Sirhowy line: on 16 April 1860 an extraordinary general meeting of the Merthyr, Tredegar and Abergavenny Railway shareholders, aligned to the LNWR, supported the parliamentary bill to transform the Sirhowy Tramway into a railway, seeing it as in their strategic interest. Apart from any other consideration, this was to be the means of the MT&AR reaching Tredegar from Nantybwch. On 26 December 1862 it was agreed to urge the Sirhowy Railway Company to complete the link in time for the opening of the MT&AR. In 1863 the Sirhowy was continuing to make positive responses but the LNWR faction "as being frustrated by an upstart little line which was failing to grasp the economic opportunities falling into its lap". For a decade, there had been talk of the Sirhowy Railway being acquired by one of the neighbouring concerns. In November 1873 the Monmouthshire Railway approached the Sirhowy with an offer to buy their concern for £295,000. Negotiations continued in 1874, and then it appeared certain that the Great Western Railway would conclude a deal. The GWR promoted a parliamentary bill in the 1875 session for a new line connecting Nine Mile Point and Caerleon, so by-passing Newport, which was heavily congested at the time. In fact it was the LNWR which started working trains over the Sirhowy line from 1 July 1875, and on 21 August 1875 a working agreement was concluded; this was enabled by a general clause on the Sirhowy Railway Act 1865. Sirhowy Railway Company debentures to the extent of £56,633 were taken on by the LNWR, and Sirhowy ordinary and preference stock was exchanged for an equivalent amount of LNWR interest bearing stock. All this was ratified by the '''''' (39 & 40 Vict. c. cxxxiii) of 13 July 1876. By this time the Monmouthshire Railway and Canal Company had been in the hands of the Great Western Railway for a year. There were protective clauses in the act for both the larger companies: the LNWR had access as of right to Newport Docks. The rights only extended to traffic originating on the Sirhowy Railway, and accordingly the aspiration by the GWR to run Aberdare coal trains over the Sirhowy line was for the time being frustrated, and the planned Nine Mile Point to Caerleon line was therefore pointless, and was dropped. However, an amicable agreement was made, and the Aberdare traffic did start running (from Tredegar Junction to Nine Mile Point) from 1 February 1877, and in 1883 the LNWR granted running powers permanently. The timetable was modified with the withdrawal of the two Sunday services. From March 1880, Sirhowy services ceased using Newport Dock Street and ran into the rebuilt station at . As Nine Mile Point was part of the GWR, and the LNWR having no running powers for mineral traffic south of this, it led to iron and coal services being diverted on the Vale of Neath Railway and pathed via to Aber Sidings then to Alexandra Docks and Newport as a means of avoiding the GWR. When the LNWR was absorbed into the LMS at grouping a deal was struck with GWR to allow all traffic on the branch to access Newport Docks directly, albeit with a change of motive power at Nine Mile Point. ==Rundown and closure==

In 1923 most of the railways of Great Britain were "grouped" into four large concerns, following the Railways Act 1921. The LNWR became part of the new London, Midland and Scottish Railway. Little change was noticeable locally on the line. Government once again restructured the industry in 1948, when the Transport Act 1947 resulted in nationalisation. Competition from bus services led to falling passenger receipts; the passenger service was withdrawn from 13 June 1960, the last train having run on Saturday 11 June. A few goods services ran after that time: the section from Sirhowy to Tredegar continued in operation until closure on 4 November 1963; from Tredegar to Pontllanfraith closed on 30 April 1969, and finally from Tredegar Junction to Risca closed on 4 May 1970. ==Present day==

Little remains of the Sirhowy Railway; in terms of station infrastructure, only the station master's house at Hollybush has survived. National Cycle Network route 467 follows much of the trackbed from Blackwood to Hollybush. ==Location list==

• Tredegar Nantybwch; MT&AR station; opened 1 March 1864; renamed Nantybwch 1868; closed 13 June 1960; Sirhowy line diverged from Abergavenny to Merthyr line; • Sirhowy; opened 19 June 1865; closed 13 June 1960; • Tredegar; opened 19 June 1865; closed 13 June 1960; • Bedwelty; opened by June 1871; soon renamed Bedwellty, later Bedwellty Pits, later Bedwellty Pits Halt; closed 13 June 1960; • Pochin Pits Colliery Platform; opened by October 1893; private station for miners from 2 October 1922; closed 13 June 1960;; • Hollybush; opened by August 1871; resited August 1891, renamed Holly Bush 1899; closed 13 June 1960; • Markham Village Halt; opened 1 February 1917; closed 13 June 1960; • Argoed; opened 19 June 1865; later renamed Argoed Halt; closed 13 June 1960; • Blackwood; opened 19 June 1865; closed 13 June 1960; • Tredegar Junction; opened 19 June 1865; renamed Pontllanfraith 1911; renamed Pontllanfraith High Level 1949; closed 13 June 1960; • Bird in Hand Junction; divergence of Taff Vale Extension Line; • Tredegar Lower Junction; southern apex of triangle with Taff Vale Extension Line; • Wyllie Halt; opened 19 December 1932; closed 13 June 1960; • Ynysddu; opened by August 1871; closed 13 June 1960; • Pont Lawrence Halt; opened 2 October 1911; closed 4 February 1957; • Nine Mile Point; opened 1869; closed 2 February 1959 ==Notes==