Carmarthen Aberystwyth Line

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Carmarthen-Aberystwyth line

Legend Cambrian Line to Machynlleth and Shrewsbury Aberystwyth Original V.of R. station closed Vale of Rheidol Railway (Narrow Gauge) Llanrhystyd Road Llanilar Trawsgoed Mid Wales line to Shrewsbury and eventually Manchester Llanidloes Mid Wales line to Builth and Cardiff Llangurig branch line - never saw use unbuilt connection (15 miles) Strata Florida (Ystrad Fflur) Tregaron Port Llanio Llangybi Derry Ormond Junction with the Aberayron branch Lampeter Llanybydder Maesycrugiau Cardigan ( terminus of line from Whitland) Newcastle Emlyn Teifi Valley Railway Hellan Pentrecourt platform Llandyssil Teifi Valley route diverges west Pencader Llanpumsaint Danycoed Halt Llanfan Cerrig preserved as the Gwili Railway Bronwydd Arms Route to Heart of Wales Line Carmarthen West Wales Line

The Carmarthen to Aberystwyth Line was a standard gauge branch line of the Great Western Railway in Wales which connected Carmarthen with Aberystwyth.

At Carmarthen, the line connected with the GWR mainline from London Paddington to Fishguard. At Aberystwyth, the line connected with the Cambrian Line. The line also had connecting branches to Aberaeron, Llandeilo and Newcastle Emlyn.

As a result of floods and the Beeching Axe, the line closed to passengers from 1965, and to freight to Aberaron from 1973

Contents 1 History 1.1 Carmarthen and Cardigan Railway 1.2 Manchester and Milford Railway scheme 1.3 Closure 2 Current status 3 Stations 3.1 Carmarthen and Cardigan Railway 3.2 Manchester and Milford Railway 4 References 5 External links

[edit] History

[edit] Carmarthen and Cardigan Railway

The first section of line between Carmarthen and Conwil was opened in 1860 by the Carmarthen and Cardigan Railway. This ran from Carmarthen to Newcastle Emlyn, never reaching Cardigan.

[edit] Manchester and Milford Railway scheme

The M&MR was an ambitious proposal to connect Manchester and the industrialised Midlands and Northwest England with the docks at Milford Haven. Using the LNWR and Midland Railway metals, the M&MR would have connected with the Mid Wales Railway at Llanidloes, and then via a junction at Strata Florida the C&CR at Pencader. Trains would then have run on the C&CR to Carmarthen, before connecting to the Pembroke and Tenby Railway for connection to the deepwater port at Milford Haven. The plan was that, combined with industrial traffic from South Wales, Milford Haven could rival Liverpool.

The Manchester and Milford Railway ran into financial difficulties, in fact it has been said it was a hugely mistaken idea "with hindsight, the height of the American Civil War was not a good time to be building a railway intended to carry American cotton from Pembroke to Manchester"[1]. The simplest section had been constructed first, which meant it faced undertaking the toughtest engineering challenge - the line between Llanidloes and Strata Florida - when the money was running out. Though it started on the line from Llanidloes, diverging from the Mid Wales line at Penpontbren Junction, and got as far as Llangurig, it decided in 1865 instead to simply divert the Lampeter route to Aberystwyth rather than build through the mountains, abandoning the hope for a strategic route. It has been suggested that the bankruptcy of Thomas Savin, renown Welsh railway engineer and investor, in the 1860s may have been partly involved as it was with the failure of several other Welsh railway projects[2]. It opened this modified through line in 1867, and remained independent until taken over by the Great Western Railway by 1911.

The initial 1861 route survey (which had parliametary approval), and a later 1864 are detailed on this website. The unbuilt section between Strata Florida, and the railhead of the Llangurig branch would have been through very mountainous terrain, although only 15 miles in length as the crow flies

According to one source "To cross the mountain barrier ... it was proposed to build two tunnels totalling one and a half miles in length, connected by a viaduct 280 ft. high. Tunnelling had hardly begun before the company ran out of money and the mountain crossing had to be abandoned". map. As it was, the Llangurig line is marginally famed for only ever having received one train.

[edit] Closure

The line closed in two stages - the northern section closed prematurely in December 1964 when a section of the line near Llanilar was damaged by floods. The remaining southern section closed to passengers in February 1965. Goods traffic continued from Carmarthen to Felin Fach on the Aberaeron branch until 1973, but the line was then closed and lifted.

[edit] Current status

In 1974 the Gwili Railway was founded and now operates a service over several miles of the line from Bronwydd Arms, north of Carmarthen. They aim to restore services between Abergwili Junction and Llanpumsaint.

In the north, the trackbed from Tregaron to Aberystwyth has been incorporated into the Ystwyth Trail cycle route. During the 1990s a narrow gauge railway was proposed starting at Llanilar but does not appear to have come to fruition.

[edit] Stations

Stated from North to South, unless otherwise stated^[1]:

[edit] Carmarthen and Cardigan Railway

• Newcastle Emlyn
• Henllan
• Pentrecourt platform
• Llandyssil
• Pencader - junction with Manchester and Milford Railway
• Llanpumsaint
• Conwil
• Llanfan Cerig
• Bronwydd
• Carmarthen - junction with South Wales Railway, still open

[edit] Manchester and Milford Railway

• Aberystwyth - owned by the Cambrian Railway, junction with Vale of Rheidol Railway, still open
• Llanrhystyd Road
• Llanilar
• Trawsgoed
• Strata Florida
• Tregaron
• Lampeter Junction for the Lampeter, Aberayron and New Quay Light Railway.
• Llanybydder
• Maesycrugiau
• Bryn Teifi
• Pencader - junction with Carmarthen and Cardigan Railway

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Carmarthen and Cardigan Railway at railscot.co.uk
• Manchester and Milford Railway at railscot.co.uk
• Gwili Railway
• Local site with many photos of the line