The Llanelli and Mynydd Mawr Railway
The creation of a new heritage railway is unusual. David Mee reveals the background behind the formation of a f ledgling line in South Wales that has a history dating back more than two centuries, and an aim of reinstating as much of the former Llanelli a
David Mee reveals the background behind the formation of a fledgling line in South Wales that has a history dating back more than two centuries.
THE Llanelli and Mynydd Mawr Railway is a new heritage railway just entering its third full season in operation. It may be short at present and a little off the beaten track, but it has a history dating right back to the very beginning of the railways, encompassing the eras of king coal and the super pit.
The single ribbon of track skirting the small hamlet of Cynheidre five miles north of Llanelli stands as a testament to nearly 220 years of rail-borne transport in the Gwendraeth Valley: first as part of the pioneering Carmarthenshire Tram-road, opening up links to the coalfields north of Llanelli, and then, after a period of disuse, much of the formation was used as the basis of the then Llanelly (the anglicised form of Llanelli) and Mynydd Mawr Railway, linking several collieries to the port. Finally, following a further period of decline in the years after the Second World War when the demand for coal reduced, the line flourished once more as a major coal-carrying artery after the opening of one of the UK’s ‘super pits’ at Cynheidre.
Even this could not survive the inevitable decline of the coal industry in the 1980s, and following its final abandonment, things looked bleak for this most long-lived of railways – until the preservationists arrived, led by the charismatic Desmond Thomas, ably supported by Martin Doe and Richard Roper, and they began to develop a new railway on the site of the former colliery at Cynheidre.
The Carmarthenshire Tram-road
Although less well-known than the Mumbles railway, which started out as an industrial tramway in 1804-5, and the Surrey Iron railway which opened in 1803, the Carmarthenshire Tram-road or Railway eclipses both and dates from 1802. This fact is recorded on a blue plaque attached to the road over bridge at Cynheidre, which states it was the first operational public railway in Great Britain authorised by an Act of Parliament. In fact, the act was required in order to acquire an already existent feeder tramway to the Carmarthenshire Docks in Llanelli dating from 1799, thus also becoming the first dockowning railway in the country. Initially a horse-powered 4ft gauge plateway, it was required in order to open up the coalfield to the north of Llanelli. The engineer for the line construction was James Barnes. Trains were running on part of the line by 1803, which then opened in phases northwards. The first 1.5 miles linking Cwmddyche ironworks to the dock was opened in May 1803 and the railway reached Gorslas, to the east of Cross Hands, in 1805 but was never completed to its intended destination of limestone quarries around Castell-y-graig to the west of Llandybie.
The route’s total length was 12 miles. The railway linked Alexander Raby’s furnace and various collieries to important mineral sources in the Great Mountain area, Cross Hands. It never achieved the results expected and by 1830 most of it was derelict. It closed in 1844, although the southernmost section continued to carry some coal to the Carmarthenshire Dock at Llanelli.
A railway is born
In 1881 a new company, the Llanelly and Mynydd Mawr Railway (L&MMR), rebuilt the line as far as New Cross Hands Colliery as a standard-gauge railway using steam locomotives for haulage, departing from the original tram road alignment in a few locations. The northernmost section of the tram road between Cross Hands and Gorslas, about 800m, was not included in the reconstruction and was abandoned. The L&MMR was originally authorised in 1875 and made use of part of the long-defunct Carmarthenshire Railway or Tram-road of 1802. It was opened in 1881 and worked by the contractor John Waddell, who built the line and took a majority of the shares. By 1887 the track had been extended a further mile to The Great Mountain (Mynydd Mawr) collieries at Cross Hands. In 13 miles the line travelled through the picturesque Swiss Valley, rising to an elevation of some 500ft, and with gradients of up to 1-in-40. The branch witnessed some spectacular sights when as many as three locomotives struggled to get trains up and down the tortuous route. The fortunes of the company were closely bound with those of the mineral industries, which fluctuated considerably. The company considered operating a public passenger service but never did so, although workmen’s trains were operated for some years. Through changes of ownership, including the Great Western Railway and the nationalised British Railways, the line continued to provide its core function – transporting minerals from source to dock, or for onward rail transport to the multitude of customers for coal. The postSecond World War decline of coal mining in the area seemed to be reversed when the huge Cynheidre Super Pit was established in the 1960s, but the railway capacity enhancements to deal with the expected upsurge in traffic proved to be ultimately unnecessary due to the general run-down of the industry, and the line closed completely in 1989. Never a passenger railway other than workmen’s trains and the occasional holiday excursion, the line was totally dependent on coal traffic from the mines along the branch. But like other parts of the country, the demand for coal declined so that by the mid1960s, Cynheidre – just under seven miles from Llanelli – was the only remaining colliery on the branch. In 1989 this, too, closed. Early in 1995, it seemed likely that the branch would once more see coal traffic when a mining company sought to open a mine at Cynheidre and establish a railhead nearby. But again, this came to nothing when planning permission was refused.
King Coal
Cynheidre Colliery first opened in 1954 and finally closed in 1989. It eventually developed into a massive super pit, alongside that at Abernant in the Amman Valley.
The somewhat fragmented exploitation of the coalfields north of Llanelli had become commercially unviable after the Second
World War and abandonment was considered, although it was known that there were massive reserves of Anthracite in the district. The National Coal Board had been created in
1946 to run and develop a nationalised coal industry in the UK, and it decided to develop Cynheidre as a super pit to exploit 196 square miles of deep-lying anthracite.
Development happened in stages. Between 1954 and 1956, shafts one and two were sunk two miles south of Pentremawr to a depth of nearly 800 yards, and allowed better access to the deep reserves previously accessed by drift mines. In 1955 shaft three was sunk to a depth of 760 yards to meet the existing workings at Cynheidre.
By 1960 the colliery employed 650 men, producing 30,757 tons of coal. In 1962, shaft four was created next to shaft three, to a depth of 700 yards.
By now the former collieries at Great Mountain and Pentremawr had closed and been incorporated into the new super pit, the former workings now connected both underground and above ground by the former Llanelli and Mynydd Mawr Railway, operated by British Railways.
The one known problem at Cynheidre was the large amounts of deadly methane gas trapped in the coal field. On April 6, 1971, six miners lost their lives in the worst explosion of methane gas and fine coal dust to take place in the British Isles. Despite the tragedy, Cynheidre was working at full tilt and in its peak year of 1972 employed 1430 people and produced an amazing 472,000 tons of coal.
The rapid decline of the coal industry under the Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government in the 1980s is well documented.
Cynheidre was not immune to this slow run-down. Despite a glimmer of hope in 1986 when the site was proposed for development into the Carway Fawr Drift Mine, instead the whole colliery was slated for closure and the last coal was lifted to the surface in January 1989.
Decline and fall
It was on Good Friday, March 24, 1989 when the final coal train departed from Cynheidre, hauled by a Class 37 diesel locomotive bound for the docks at Swansea. At the time there were still 1043 men employed at the site. There were a couple of trips up the line to clear wagons, but the largest anthracite-producing mine in Wales had closed. At its peak Cynheidre Colliery, one of two super pits in South Wales, produced on average more than 200,000 tons of coal a year.
Thirty years on, there are few reminders above ground of this once extensive industrial site – except for the new Llanelli and Mynydd Mawr Railway, breathing new life into the old colliery sidings and shining a light on almost 220 years of coal mining and rail transport history.
The earliest operating public railway in Great Britain had finally closed. Twenty-two years later, most of the route is still available as a transport corridor, albeit now an officially designated walking and cycling pathway.
A ‘new’ L&MMR
Since Cynheidre closed, several attempts have been made to reopen the historic route but, for a variety of reasons, these have been thwarted at every turn. There was a campaign lasting almost 10 years from the Llanelli and District Railway Society (L&DRS) to save the intact but derelict line, but hopes were dashed in the mid-1990s when the railway was sold by the British Rail Property Board to the local authorities as part of a scheme to transform the trackbed into a cycleway. This eventually led to the formation of the Llanelli and Mynydd Mawr Railway Company as a charity with aims to preserve at least part of
the route. Members of the all-volunteer company were encouraged when they attracted grants which allowed them to purchase the freehold of the 20 acres of land on which phase one of the scheme is being built. An access road was completed, a 2000 square-metre wildlife pond created, and, with help from The Army, the site was fenced, cleared and levelled. A car park area has also been created and surfaced with recycled stone. Meanwhile, the rest of the branch was sadly lifted and converted into a Tarmac-covered walking and cycling route, a part of the national cycle route network. There is space for a single track alongside, although there are pinch points. Development beyond phase one will require the co-operation of local authorities and councils along the route. The route is, however, secured following the signing of an agreement in 2000 with Carmarthenshire County Council and Sustrans, which has resulted in a cycleway along the former trackbed. Initially, the mile-long track will run between Cynheidre and Cynheidre North, while subsequent phases will hopefully see extensions north to Sylen Bridge, south to Swiss Valley, and in the longer term could potentially connect Llanelli and Tumble, a total distance of about 10 miles. A small but dedicated group of volunteers have been busy at Cynheidre. A dual-purpose locomotive shed and heritage centre has been constructed and a Heritage Lottery Fund grant secured for the restoration of the Avonside saddle tank locomotive Desmond. Except for Desmond, all of the L&MMR’s rolling stock has been brought on site at Cynheidre. A platform and short demonstration running line has been created in the old colliery sidings area. Due to limited funds and volunteers, it took two decades to reach the point when train rides could be offered to visitors.
The railway today
After nearly 20 years in the planning, the site opened for its first public open day on September 3, 2017. Visitors viewed rolling stock stored on site and took short rides in a brake van on 180m of track. There was much interest shown by locals and enthusiasts, and this has been repeated at other open days since. Family events at Christmas and Easter have proven particularly popular.
A track-laying exercise by The Army in the autumn of 2017 allowed a further 100m of running line to open for the 2018 season, and 240m more opened at the start of 2020, bringing the running line to half a mile in length. Following a successful season of events in 2019, the railway was preparing for 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic struck. No public trains operated through that year, but there have been big developments in the background, including progressing a project to complete a steam locomotive for use on the line and, in early 2021, the arrival of a ‘Pacer’ railcar.
Preparations are also underway to lay further track and link up with existing track to the north of Cynheidre village. This will complete phase one and create a one-mile running line. A small halt and run-round loop will be provided at the top end of the line, including a picnic area and other facilities for visitors.
There are a number of items of rolling stock on site, including currently operational locomotives: Sentinel Wagon Works (Rolls Royce) 0-40DM diesel shunter No. 10222
Built in Shrewsbury in 1965, this locomotive spent many years at ARC Penderyn Quarry in Hirwaun and later at Machen Quarry. It was donated to the railway by Hanson Aggregates and transferred to Cardiff Cathays as a works pilot in return for free storage. In 2004 it moved to secure store at Llangennech before finally relocating to Cynheidre in 2009. Hanson Aggregates donated paint and transfers to aid the restoration of the locomotive, which was completed in 2011. It has since been the prime mover at the railway for both shunting and working passenger trains with the vacuumbraked goods brake van No. B 951287.
■ English Electric Class 600 diesel shunter (ex-Dutch Railways) 0-6-0 No. NS 690
Built at Vulcan Foundry in 1956, this locomotive is externally similar to the British Rail Class 08 shunter, though in reality they actually have more in common with the former British Class 11 shunters. Originally numbered NS 625 in Holland, this was changed to NS 690 when it was updated with radio control. Withdrawn in the early 2000s, this loco returned to the UK in 2005. After a short spell at the Ribble Steam Railway, it worked at Teesport in Middlesborough and Washwood Heath. It moved to the L&MMR in early 2018 to work with an air-braked buffet car. It is on loan from Middlepeak Railways Ltd and may well move on to another contract soon. ■ English Electric Class 08 0-6-0 diesel shunter No. 08795 Transferred to the L&MMR from Landore TMD during March 2019 following its closure by Great Western Railway. One of 996 locomotives produced, this was built as No. D3963 on May 21, 1960 and first
allocated to Old Oak Common. After a long period in the London area, it was transferred to Plymouth Laira in 1974 and Swindon in 1975. After this, it spent a long time as Gloucester Station pilot before eventually arriving at Landore from the mid-1990s. It was repainted several times at Landore – DCE Grey, Intercity and First Great Western Green. In 2013 it was painted into its current distinctive black livery. From 2015 its duties of shunting and turning Class 43 HST power cars lessened and it was eventually stored at the depot.
On March 22, 2019 it was the last loco to depart Landore for the short road transfer to Cynheidre. After being restored to action, in late March the loco made an unlikely return to Landore, where it would once again become the depot pilot, this time on hire to Chrysalis Rail, which refurbishes rolling stock.
Being air-brake fitted, in due course it will work trains with the Mark 2C Buffet Car at Cynheidre. Eventually it is hoped to restore its vacuum braking equipment, allowing it to work with other stock at the railway.
■ Class 142 ‘Pacer’ railcar No. 142006 Delivered on February 15, 2021, ‘Pacer’ No. 142006 is the only member of the former Arriva Trains Wales ‘Valley Lines’ units to be preserved, the rest of the fleet having been scrapped. As such its internal configuration is now unique. In total, 165 ‘Pacers’ were built, the Class 142 being the third generation and the largest class in terms of numbers. It was introduced to service in 1985 and built by British Leyland to a lightweight design based on the then current Leyland National bus design and featuring a four wheel underframe. Upgraded in the early 1990s with more powerful engines, they have, along with the newer Class 143 ‘Pacers’ and Class 150 DMUs, been the mainstay of services in the South
Wales Valleys for more than 30 years.
This fully operational unit will be used to offer socially-distanced train rides. It will eventually be restored to the red, white and green Valley Lines livery.
■ Class 143 ‘Pacers’ Nos. 143606 and 143607
Having joined the fleet at Cyheidre in early June following withdrawal from Transport for Wales service on May 31, it is planned that both Class 143 ‘Pacers’ will be operated at the L&MMR this summer. However, the long term plan for No. 143607 is to convert it into a static booking office, shop and cafe, while also providing spares for Nos. 142006 and 143606.
The railway has recently launched the South Wales Railcar Group to support the ‘Pacers’ and resident heritage DMU, Class
122 ‘Bubble Car’ No. 55019, which is under restoration. Currently off site and undergoing restoration is:
■ Avonside 0-4-0ST No. 1498 Desmond Desmond is an industrial 0-4-0ST, built by the Avonside Locomotive Company at Bristol in 1906. It worked at the Lysaght’s Orb Steelworks in Newport South Wales from new. Named after a member of the Lysaght family, the locomotive had a long working career and was used at the steelworks until 1973. It was then handed over to the National Museums and Galleries of Wales at a ceremony at the steelworks, which turned out to be the last time that it was steamed.
It was later put on public display at the
2ft gauge Teifi Valley Railway, where it caught the eye of the then L&MMR chairman, Des Thomas. Initially a loan was arranged, with the loco later being transferred to the ownership of the L&MMR. To date well over £70,000 has been spent on restoring the locomotive to working order, comprising a £50,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, £3000 from the Prism Fund (for spare parts) and more than £20,000 of the railway’s own charity funds. A grant from the Association for Industrial Archaeology should allow for the completion and testing of the locomotive at the Flour Mill in the Forest of Dean.
The two operational hauled passenger vehicles on site are:
■ British Rail Mark 2C RFB First Class BR Buffet Car No. 1206; and
■ BR Brake Van No. B 951287.
There are a number of other items of stock stored or under restoration at Cynheidre, including two ex-GWR wooden coach bodies and a selection of wagons. One interesting project involves the conversion of a Tube wagon into a passenger-carrying vehicle.
The future
Volunteers at the new Llanelli and Mynydd Mawr Railway have big plans for the future, including the development of: ■ A heritage park telling the story of coal in the Valleys and its transport from pit to user, in particular the Cynheidre super pit. ■ A tourist attraction for Llanelli and the surrounding areas incorporating country and woodland walks, nature conservation and crafts.
■ A heritage railway centre offering access to the attractions and an opportunity to develop heritage skills and knowledge.
All of this requires time and money, and though still at an embryonic stage, things are constantly evolving as volunteers and funding becomes available. A grant from the Association for Industrial Archaeology has accelerated off-site restoration work on the steam loco Desmond, but on site one major challenge is the lack of mains electricity – a priority to tackle if the site is to develop.
The other challenge is common to all heritage organisations – a lack of volunteers. If you could spare a few hours for what is a most enjoyable pastime and worthwhile cause, do not hesitate to get in touch via the website www.llanellirailway.co.uk or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/llanellirailway
Why not make a visit?
Due to the recent Covid-19 pandemic restrictions, the railway has been unable to welcome visitors during 2020 and the early part of 2021. However, with the gradual easing of restrictions, a successful members and volunteers day was held on May 29 which launched the ‘Pacer’ railcar into service and allowed the railway to test processes and social distancing procedures. A first public open day was held on the last Saturday of June, and further running days will follow later in the year, including the popular Santa Specials in December. Volunteers are usually working on site most Saturdays and you will be made most welcome if you want to pop in for a look around or to join up.