The Amman Valley branch

[alexl92]

Can anyone tell me a bit about the now-disused Amman Valley branch which branches off the Heart of Wales line from Pantyffynnon in Ammanford?

Tracing on maps, I can see it runs to Glanamman and then there’s a large network of sidings which appear to be mothballed.

What were the sidings, when was it last used and what does the future hold for it?

Thank you!

 

[Tazi Hupefi]

I think you're talking about the Gwaun-cae-Gurwen branch.

It's still open, theoretically - if this is the one you are describing.

It was originally serving a colliery - coal.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Concur with @Tazi Hupefi that we're likely talking about the six-and-three-quarter miles of branch line heading to the site of the (Celtic Energy?) Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen Colliery. Not sure if the (opencast?) colliery and the branch line is still worked, or if they've been mothballed?

 

[Gloster]

It ran up to Brynamman with a branch south from Garnant to Gwaun-cae-Gurwen. At Brynamman there used to be an end on connection with the former Midland line from Swansea, while there was a plan to extend to connect the line from Gwaun-c-G down to connect with the GWR in (I think) the Clydach area; I am fairly sure that some construction work was carried out on the latter. Passengers services and goods beyond Garnant withdrawn in 1958.

 

[DelW]

The Gwaun-cae-Gurwen branch was still usable by passenger trains when I went up it on a railtour on 9th March 2013. The tour had been postponed from 3rd November 2012 though I don't recall why.

Topped and tailed by 66181 and 66016.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

The line is physically still there , but network changed out of use - the once large extent of sidings serving the disused washery have largely been lifted, despite the "efforts" of a preservation society nothing has been achieved , and probably never will. TfW have considered a service on the branch as part of Swansea Metro aspirations but we all know how cash strapped they are - (they were looking at Ammanford and possibley Garnant - the valley is classic "ribbon development" but being West Wales is not terraced housing territory. The game really is to save the connections to the HoW at Pantyffynon until someone makes their mind up.
GCG lost it's passenger service (just a rail-motor) as long ago as the 1926 General Strike.

I suppose the worst result is a green way - not without some scenic attractions and some nice viaducts at GCG - one never used as part of the never achieved link to the Swansea District line - rich in history - dating back to 1838. (before a few other settlements !)

 

[Doctor Fegg]

I suppose the worst result is a green way - not without some scenic attractions and some nice viaducts at GCG - one never used as part of the never achieved link to the Swansea District line - rich in history - dating back to 1838. (before a few other settlements !)

There's already a greenway on the other side of the river - reputedly a very scenic one, though I've never ridden it. It can't be much more than 50m away in places. So converting the line itself is probably not a high priority.

I generally think velorails are a waste of a trackbed, but in this case perhaps not...?

 

[ChiefPlanner]

There's already a greenway on the other side of the river - reputedly a very scenic one, though I've never ridden it. It can't be much more than 50m away in places. So converting the line itself is probably not a high priority.

I generally think velorails are a waste of a trackbed, but in this case perhaps not...?

There is a 1/37 gradient down from GCG to Raven Crossing at Garnant which could be "interesting" ! - a loaded class 9 unfitted from GCG would draw over the viaduct and the brakevan would be gravitated down and coupled niftily with a shunting pole from the concrete base at the front of the van. Then carefully to the stop board at the Raven and lift the brakes.

As an interested 14 year old the guard would let us control the brakevan (unwisely on one occassion - slow in applying the brake enough and we clouted the rear of the train causing a riccochet of at least 10 wagons. Today of course we would all be medscreened and the RAIB would be there etc etc. I just got shouted at , but learnt a lesson in railway operations right enough. I recall the frantic effort to get the brakes to bite , and we skidded the last few yards)

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 30 Jul 2024 ==

North of Pontardawe there is a disused tunnel - or most of it - accessible for exploration - vegetation permitting in winter - never used -

 

[WesternBiker]

It ran up to Brynamman with a branch south from Garnant to Gwaun-cae-Gurwen. At Brynamman there used to be an end on connection with the former Midland line from Swansea, while there was a plan to extend to connect the line from Gwaun-c-G down to connect with the GWR in (I think) the Clydach area; I am fairly sure that some construction work was carried out on the latter. Passengers services and goods beyond Garnant withdrawn in 1958.

Indeed: much (if not all) of the line south from Gwaun-cae-Gurwen towards Pontardawe was constructed, but never brought into operation (I think because of the the First World War). The southern section from the Swansea District Line to Trebanos, just south of Pontardawe, was completed and accessed the Daren Colliery.

The GWR did extend south from Gwaun-cae-Gurwen to the colliery at Cwmgorse in 1922. BR then extended it to the new NCB Abernant Colliery a few miles further south around 1960 (not sure of the exact date - the colliery started production from 1958).

The colliery closed in 1988, though the line was still open in 1989. (NB This Abernant is different from the village near Aberdare, which had a station on the Neath Railway).

 

[alexl92]

Thanks everyone, very interesting. Is it not called the Amman Valley Branch? Wikipedia described it as such!

The Gwaun-cae-Gurwen branch was still usable by passenger trains when I went up it on a railtour on 9th March 2013. The tour had been postponed from 3rd November 2012 though I don't recall why.

Topped and tailed by 66181 and 66016.

Interesting - as much as it's clearly disused, through Ammanford itself it doesn't look so disused as to have been abandoned more than about 10 years so this would explain why.

 

[Western 52]

If there was ever the funding to reopen the line to passenger trains, the former Ammanford Town station is far better situated for the town centre than the current station on the Heart of Wales line. Is any of that station still there? It was largely intact in the 1980s.

 

[John Webb]

If there was ever the funding to reopen the line to passenger trains, the former Ammanford Town station is far better situated for the town centre than the current station on the Heart of Wales line. Is any of that station still there? It was largely intact in the 1980s.

This picture is from 2014:
Ammanford (GW) railway station (site), Carmarthenshire

© Copyright Nigel Thompson and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
(Click on picture to go to the larger original on the Geograph website.)
Looks like a complete rebuild would be needed!
(This station site has not been covered on the Disused Stations website, by the way.)

 

[Doctor Fegg]

North of Pontardawe there is a disused tunnel - or most of it - accessible for exploration - vegetation permitting in winter - never used -

Thank you for that pointer - here's an exploration report from 2012: https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/virgin-pontardawe-train-tunnel-south-wales-jan-2012.68043/

 

[Western 52]

This picture is from 2014:
Ammanford (GW) railway station (site), Carmarthenshire

© Copyright Nigel Thompson and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
(Click on picture to go to the larger original on the Geograph website.)
Looks like a complete rebuild would be needed!
(This station site has not been covered on the Disused Stations website, by the way.)

Good grief, quite a change from the busy location with two tracks and level crossing I remember in the 1980s!

 

[Gloster]

There were two stations called Ammanford. The GW one was on the Garnant/Brynamman branch and was closed to passengers in 1958. The former Tirydail station on the Central Wales Line was renamed to Ammanford and Tiydail in 1960 and this was reduced to just Ammanford in 1972 or 1973. There is also Pantyffynnon station; both it and the previous station are still open.

Incidentally, I suspect that the name Amman Valley Railway is the one chosen by the preservation group. The correct Line Reference is (I think) Garnant Branch, at least lower down.

 

[Western 52]

This picture is from 2014:
Ammanford (GW) railway station (site), Carmarthenshire

© Copyright Nigel Thompson and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
(Click on picture to go to the larger original on the Geograph website.)
Looks like a complete rebuild would be needed!
(This station site has not been covered on the Disused Stations website, by the way.)

This is a shot at the same location in the mid 1980s! Note the red lamp outside the signalbox.

 

[Tazi Hupefi]

Network Rail officially refer to this branch as GWR915 Seq 001-002 and named Gwaun-cae-Gurwen to Pantyffynnon. ELR is GWA GNT.

It is officially still open as far as "Garnant Branch Level Crossing", along with No1 Through, No2 and No3 sidings. There is then a "temporary" buffer stop at a milepost 10M30CH just before Ammanford Relief Road Level Crossing. The accompanying buffer stop note says "Garnant Branch closure".

 

[Gloster]

Ammanford Station Signal Box closed on 27 October 1990; a temporary box was in use until 02 December that year. The original had been opened in 1893 and had been intended to go to South Leigh on the Fairford branch.

 

[WesternBiker]

I have just found this on the excellent Side-by-Side mapping site run by the National Library of Scotland. It is an extract of the Ordnance Survey One Inch series of 1919-1930.

It shows the line south of Gwaun-cae-Gurwen as being "in course of construction" - look to the left of where it says "GWR". This shows the intended route. There is a gap where the tunnel is located, just to the north os where it say "Pontardawe".

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom=14.0&lat=51.75632&lon=-3.88782&layers=256&right=ESRIWorld

 

[Gloster]

Looking at my 1956 1” map the line from Garnant seems to come to an end roughly level with the 588 near Nant-y-gaseg. The line at the south end is marked as an industrial line as far as Craig trebanos colliery; the north to west connection to the Swansea District line is not shown.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Very impressed with this quality detective work going on here. (lived in GCG for a while , when the railway was quite busy - there was incidentally a NCB branch line to Cwmgorse Colliery and brickworks , opened in 1900 or so which started from east of the level crossing , as well as a further branch north of Tairgwaith which served the East Pit , and at one time connected into the ex Midland , later LMS line towards Swansea St Thomas of course also from Ynysgeinon Jct towards Brecon and served the world. This of course gave a choice for shippers to either GWR or Midland served ports.)

GCG had 3 steam shunting engines , and the GWR section had 72xx tank engines and the lighter trains worked by 0-6-0 Panniers. All of which I remember in service.

 

[WesternBiker]

Looking at my 1956 1” map the line from Garnant seems to come to an end roughly level with the 588 near Nant-y-gaseg. The line at the south end is marked as an industrial line as far as Craig trebanos colliery; the north to west connection to the Swansea District line is not shown.

The Side-by-Side 1:2,500 1944-73 series shows the Abernant Mine (which is immediately south west of the Nant-y-Gaseg farm). Wonderful detail. It must be post 1960 when the mine was fully open. One can also trace the route of the abandoned, unopened line southwards.

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/sid...75929&lon=-3.88355&layers=173&right=ESRIWorld

I've also notice that the extensive sidings at Gwaun-cae-Gurwen are actually joined as well to the old LMS Brynaman to Swansea line (the Swansea Vale Railway) at Cwmllynfell. It would be interesting to know how much of the traffic went in that direction, as opposed to via Pantyffynnon.

As you can tell, I'm a great fan of the Side-by-Side mapping website! It's useful for all sorts of research.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

The Side-by-Side 1:2,500 1944-73 series shows the Abernant Mine (which is immediately south west of the Nant-y-Gaseg farm). Wonderful detail. It must be post 1960 when the mine was fully open. One can also trace the route of the abandoned, unopened line southwards.

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/sid...75929&lon=-3.88355&layers=173&right=ESRIWorld

I've also notice that the extensive sidings at Gwaun-cae-Gurwen are actually joined as well to the old LMS Brynaman to Swansea line (the Swansea Vale Railway) at Cwmllynfell. It would be interesting to know how much of the traffic went in that direction, as opposed to via Pantyffynnon.

As you can tell, I'm a great fan of the Side-by-Side mapping website! It's useful for all sorts of research.

Difficult to tell how much GCG product was shipped out via Cwmllynfell , as it was a fairly tricky move , involving some reversing and quite steep gradients for a colliery shunting engine. Unless anyone has a despatch book from the coal sales office at GCG - we will never know. Certainly use was made of the connection for a miner's train which started at the LMS "station" ( a shack basically) , which ran over the common to both the East and Maerdy / Steer pits in the "greater" GCG area. No photos discovered of this and I guess it was just treated as part of very day life - local newspapers reported a fairly serious collision on the colliery sidings with some nasty injuries but I can imagine minimal compensation would be grudgingly handed out. My father had no option but to give up his education in 1944 and travelled on this working for a short while - he left for the RAF but was threatened with arrest and forced to return to the essential wartime role of getting coal out. Once fuel rationing eased , direct buses were introduced.

The GCG - Pontardawe section was restarted after WW1 , but the catastrophic economic situation in the early 1920's forced a reluctant GWR to abandon and write off their investment , including 2 fairly lavish passenger stations and a completed engine shed - which was to replace the tiny 1840 shed at Garnant - this loco shed was turned into an useful factory for WW2 , but despite having sidings laid in , may not have produced any or much rail traffic.

Apart from the flagship Abernant colliery of the late 1950's - (and which never really delivered on it's promise - not the very best anthracite (the Red Vein) , deeper coal seams had much better quality coal , but working them was difficult due to geological faults and pressure. (my father was eventually a Deputy (Shift) Manager and knew only too well the issues - he was headhunted in the 1970's to the very new , flagship Betws New Mine at Ammanford)

There were serious considerations to finishing off the unlucky railway towards Pontardawe to serve Abernant , but it was canned - after 1964 when most of the other mines closed (East , Cwmgorse etc) - the "Amman Valley" line would certainly have closed.

A smart new engine shed was built at Pantyffynon in 1931 as part of the national policy to invest in "distressed areas" (unemployment locally was around 30% , - but far worse in the steam coal valleys like the Rhondda) - which survived till 1964 and the introduction of the class 37's working out of Landore.

 

[WesternBiker]

Difficult to tell how much GCG product was shipped out via Cwmllynfell , as it was a fairly tricky move , involving some reversing and quite steep gradients for a colliery shunting engine. Unless anyone has a despatch book from the coal sales office at GCG - we will never know. Certainly use was made of the connection for a miner's train which started at the LMS "station" ( a shack basically) , which ran over the common to both the East and Maerdy / Steer pits in the "greater" GCG area. No photos discovered of this and I guess it was just treated as part of very day life - local newspapers reported a fairly serious collision on the colliery sidings with some nasty injuries but I can imagine minimal compensation would be grudgingly handed out. My father had no option but to give up his education in 1944 and travelled on this working for a short while - he left for the RAF but was threatened with arrest and forced to return to the essential wartime role of getting coal out. Once fuel rationing eased , direct buses were introduced.

The GCG - Pontardawe section was restarted after WW1 , but the catastrophic economic situation in the early 1920's forced a reluctant GWR to abandon and write off their investment , including 2 fairly lavish passenger stations and a completed engine shed - which was to replace the tiny 1840 shed at Garnant - this loco shed was turned into an useful factory for WW2 , but despite having sidings laid in , may not have produced any or much rail traffic.

Apart from the flagship Abernant colliery of the late 1950's - (and which never really delivered on it's promise - not the very best anthracite (the Red Vein) , deeper coal seams had much better quality coal , but working them was difficult due to geological faults and pressure. (my father was eventually a Deputy (Shift) Manager and knew only too well the issues - he was headhunted in the 1970's to the very new , flagship Betws New Mine at Ammanford)

There were serious considerations to finishing off the unlucky railway towards Pontardawe to serve Abernant , but it was canned - after 1964 when most of the other mines closed (East , Cwmgorse etc) - the "Amman Valley" line would certainly have closed.

A smart new engine shed was built at Pantyffynon in 1931 as part of the national policy to invest in "distressed areas" (unemployment locally was around 30% , - but far worse in the steam coal valleys like the Rhondda) - which survived till 1964 and the introduction of the class 37's working out of Landore.

Thanks - gosh that's all fascinating. Good to have the personal connection, as well. I presume you're familiar with the description of the colliery here. As you say, it never fulfilled its promise.

This is a great thread - it shows how complex was the railway history of some of the lesser-known coal-mining valleys in South Wales - as well as the fact that railway development was still contemplated well into the 20th century.

 

[Adrian Barr]

Below is a brief history of the freight using the line from the late 1980s onwards. Most of the info is taken from Freight Only Volume 3: Wales and Scotland (Michael Rhodes and Paul Shannon 1988) and The Last of the Welsh Coal Trains (Chris Davies 2020), plus info from various photo captions.

As already mentioned, Abernant colliery closed in 1988, but the washery remained open until 1992, receiving trainloads of coal from Betws drift mine (on the same branch line, closer to Pantyffynnon). This traffic involved seven return trips per day using class 37s and 18 HAAs. British Coal closed Betws Drift in January 1993. It reopened under private management, from 1994 until final closure in 2003, but I can't find any mention of it despatching traffic by rail during this period.

Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen was an opencast disposal point for coal from East Pit and Garnant. As the coal mined in this part of West Wales was mostly anthracite, the end use was mainly as household coal rather than power station coal. GCG traffic in the late 1980s comprised trainloads of coal in yellow 20ft "Cawoods" containers on PFA wagons to Ellesmere Port for export to Ireland, and also Speedlink coal traffic to various household coal depots in HEA wagons or in 30ft containers on FPA wagons. At this time Pantyffynnon yard was part of the Speedlink coal network, although not for long. Traffic from GCG became more sporadic during the 1990s, and the site closed in 1999. I think some of the final traffic in the late 90s involved trainloads of coal in MEAs for blending at Cwmbargoed, to "sweeten" coal for Aberthaw. GCG and the branch reopened in 2009; footage of the first train is on YouTube titled "Gwaun-Cae- Gurwen. First EWS coal collection Jan 2009." Trainloads of coal in MEAs ran to Onllwyn washery via Swansea Burrows. This traffic lasted until 2019. The final traffic from GCG involved trains of HTA bogie hoppers to CPL at Immingham for production of smokeless fuel briquettes, and to Earles Sidings for Hope Cement works, with the last trains on the branch running in 2020.

Some Flickr links to interesting photos of the branch from the 80s and 90s:

08662 shunts MDOs in the sidings at Betws drift mine in 1983 before a trip to Wernos Washery.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/rivercider/8258498974/

08662 at Pantyffynnon in 1983 with a train of MDOs taking coal from Betws Drift mine to the nearby Wernos Washery. The closure of Wernos in 1988 led to Betws coal being railed to Abernant Washery instead.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/rivercider/9579172076/

A general view of Abernant colliery sidings in 1985
https://www.flickr.com/photos/36034969@N08/49619104236/

The discharge facilty at Abernant Washery in 1988, with 37798 & 37801 unloading HAAs which have originated at Betws Drift Mine
https://www.flickr.com/photos/lickeybanker/31728799176/

08995 trips HAAs from Betws Drift to Pantyfynnon yard in 1991, for onward movement to Abernant behind class 37 traction.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/lickeybanker/10850793084/

08113 shunts HEAs from the loading area to the exchange sidings at GCG in 1990
https://www.flickr.com/photos/lickeybanker/11161654504/

Two views of GCG sidings in 1993 from slightly different angles, with 08598 shunting HEAs (note the internal user wagons, possibly HTVs)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/36034969@N08/53437180312/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/36034969@N08/12858480393/

37701 at GCG exchange sidings in 1994 with HEAs of household coal forming a 6Z46 special to West Drayton
https://www.flickr.com/photos/74165767@N05/50902877196/

37903 at GCG exchange sidings in 1996 with a 6Z29 trial of Cawoods coal containers to Hull Docks
https://www.flickr.com/photos/74165767@N05/51054872621/

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Outstanding photographs and thank you for your considerable work in sharing them.

Betws New Mine was unfortunate in it's history , a considerable investment (opened by our present King no less !) , and without detailed knowledge I do not know why the NCB closed it - it had some impressive technology with a mono-rail man rider vice the traditional "spake" , and the use of lasers to guide the face coal cutters.

The saving of the mine by a local consortium was good news for retention of some jobs , but this was done by reversion to traditional methods , involving cutting coal manually but what did for it was apparently the impossibility of obtaining insurance so it was closed. A great loss.

 

[Western 52]

Those photos certainly bring back memories! I was fascinated by the railways around the Ammanford area and photographed them extensively in the 1980s and early 1990s.

I was at Pantyffynon yesterday, and so much has gone. The connection to the GCG line is still there, plus 2 sidings, but all very rusty, of course. I also remember the floral displays that once graced the station. The level crossing is still worked as a gated crossing interlocked with the signalling. The crossing keeper can't be too busy!

 

[WesternBiker]

Below is a brief history of the freight using the line from the late 1980s onwards. Most of the info is taken from Freight Only Volume 3: Wales and Scotland (Michael Rhodes and Paul Shannon 1988) and The Last of the Welsh Coal Trains (Chris Davies 2020), plus info from various photo captions.

As already mentioned, Abernant colliery closed in 1988, but the washery remained open until 1992, receiving trainloads of coal from Betws drift mine (on the same branch line, closer to Pantyffynnon). This traffic involved seven return trips per day using class 37s and 18 HAAs. British Coal closed Betws Drift in January 1993. It reopened under private management, from 1994 until final closure in 2003, but I can't find any mention of it despatching traffic by rail during this period.

Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen was an opencast disposal point for coal from East Pit and Garnant. As the coal mined in this part of West Wales was mostly anthracite, the end use was mainly as household coal rather than power station coal. GCG traffic in the late 1980s comprised trainloads of coal in yellow 20ft "Cawoods" containers on PFA wagons to Ellesmere Port for export to Ireland, and also Speedlink coal traffic to various household coal depots in HEA wagons or in 30ft containers on FPA wagons. At this time Pantyffynnon yard was part of the Speedlink coal network, although not for long. Traffic from GCG became more sporadic during the 1990s, and the site closed in 1999. I think some of the final traffic in the late 90s involved trainloads of coal in MEAs for blending at Cwmbargoed, to "sweeten" coal for Aberthaw. GCG and the branch reopened in 2009; footage of the first train is on YouTube titled "Gwaun-Cae- Gurwen. First EWS coal collection Jan 2009." Trainloads of coal in MEAs ran to Onllwyn washery via Swansea Burrows. This traffic lasted until 2019. The final traffic from GCG involved trains of HTA bogie hoppers to CPL at Immingham for production of smokeless fuel briquettes, and to Earles Sidings for Hope Cement works, with the last trains on the branch running in 2020.

Some Flickr links to interesting photos of the branch from the 80s and 90s:

08662 shunts MDOs in the sidings at Betws drift mine in 1983 before a trip to Wernos Washery.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/rivercider/8258498974/

08662 at Pantyffynnon in 1983 with a train of MDOs taking coal from Betws Drift mine to the nearby Wernos Washery. The closure of Wernos in 1988 led to Betws coal being railed to Abernant Washery instead.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/rivercider/9579172076/

A general view of Abernant colliery sidings in 1985
https://www.flickr.com/photos/36034969@N08/49619104236/

The discharge facilty at Abernant Washery in 1988, with 37798 & 37801 unloading HAAs which have originated at Betws Drift Mine
https://www.flickr.com/photos/lickeybanker/31728799176/

08995 trips HAAs from Betws Drift to Pantyfynnon yard in 1991, for onward movement to Abernant behind class 37 traction.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/lickeybanker/10850793084/

08113 shunts HEAs from the loading area to the exchange sidings at GCG in 1990
https://www.flickr.com/photos/lickeybanker/11161654504/

Two views of GCG sidings in 1993 from slightly different angles, with 08598 shunting HEAs (note the internal user wagons, possibly HTVs)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/36034969@N08/53437180312/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/36034969@N08/12858480393/

37701 at GCG exchange sidings in 1994 with HEAs of household coal forming a 6Z46 special to West Drayton
https://www.flickr.com/photos/74165767@N05/50902877196/

37903 at GCG exchange sidings in 1996 with a 6Z29 trial of Cawoods coal containers to Hull Docks
https://www.flickr.com/photos/74165767@N05/51054872621/

This continues to be a great thread. Brilliant - the photographs are so evocative.

The area around Abernant has now largely returned to nature - there's a small light industry estate there now. (I also assume the NCB undertook some site restoration.) The farm at Nant-y-Gaseg now even has luxury holiday cottages and glamping. That would have been unthinkable 20 years ago!