Tondu railway station

Tondu railway station is a railway station serving the town of Tondu, Bridgend county borough, South Wales. It located on the Maesteg Line from Cardiff via Bridgend.

Passenger services are operated by Arriva Trains Wales as part of the Valley Lines network for local services.

History

The station was opened by the Llynvi Valley Railway on 25 February 1864.^[1] Originally developed as part of the Duffryn Llynvi and Porthcawl Railway, it was a junction of six railway lines:

• The Duffryn Llynvi and Porthcawl Railway from Porthcawl to Maesteg
• The Maesteg Line to Bridgend, connecting to the South Wales Main Line
• The Ogmore Valley Railway to Brynmenyn
• The Port Talbot Railway and Docks Company to Port Talbot docks and Pontyrhyl
• The Garw Valley Railway to Brynmenyn and onwards to the Blaengarw and International collieries

It hence had an extensive set of railway workshops, and was also the junction access point for the Tondu Ironworks.

The ironworks shut form 1895 onwards, but the previous developments meant that it remained an important junction with the instalation of a wagon works for the collieries in the area. After the Beeching Axe in the 1960s, and the closure of the Balengarw and International collieries in the late 1980s, the station and lines were greatly rationalised. Tondu station was closed on 22 June 1970, and was reopened on 28 September 1992.^[1]

The current passing loop is still controlled by the former Tondu junction signal box, which manually controls the line using semaphore signals. As well as the former Maesteg Line, the former Port Talbot Railway and Docks Company line exists as a freight-only by-pass line to Margam.

References

External links

• Train times and station information for Tondu railway station from National Rail