The Brecon and Merthyr Tydfil Junction Railway (B&MTJR) was a railway company in Wales. It was originally intended to link the towns in its name. Finding its access to Merthyr difficult at first, it acquired the Rumney Railway, an old plateway, and this gave it access to Newport docks. This changed its emphasis from rural line to mineral artery.
It opened at the Brecon end to a point near Dowlais in 1863, and in 1865 it opened a disconnected section from Rhymney to Newport. In due course the company connected the two sections and reached Dowlais and Merthyr, but had to concede sharing a route with the powerful London and North Western Railway.
The was always short of money, and was notable for its prodigious gradients, but it survived until the grouping of 1923, when it became part of the Great Western Railway. Its network declined rapidly after 1945, and passenger operation ceased in 1962. Goods and mineral operation also lost its market, and as of 2020, only a short stub to a quarry at Machen remains rail connected.
History
Brecon was an important regional centre in mediaeval times, due to its location at the confluence of the River Honddu and the River Usk. Its relatively remote location meant that transport was always an important consideration.
The difficult terrain southwards would require crossing the ridge of the Brecon Beacons into the high ground at the head of the South Wales Valleys, and the first turnpike connected eastward to Abergavenny and south-westward to Swansea.
The Brecknock and Abergavenny Canal, later part of the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal, was opened to Brecon in 1800 continuing the alignment to the east.
In 1816 the Hay Railway was opened; this was a horse-drawn plateway 24 miles long, connecting Brecon to Hay, and later Eardisley.
Industry south of the Brecon Beacons was linked in to the canal when the Brinore Tramway (or Bryn Oer Tramway) opened in 1815. It connected the industrial site of Brinore, near Trevil, north of Tredegar, to Talybont-on-Usk, on the Brecknock and Abergavenny Canal.
Brecon and Merthyr Junction Railway Act 1859 In the 1859 session of Parliament, the Brecon and Merthyr Bill was considered. It proposed a railway from a junction with the Dowlais Railway of 1851 near its terminus at Dowlais, to Brecon near the head of the canal. The Dowlais Railway was built chiefly to serve the Dowlais Iron Company, so that the proposed would provide an outlet, via the canal, for its products. It also connected Dowlais and Merthyr in difficult terrain—it included a rope worked incline—that might save expense for the in reaching Merthyr.
During the progress of the bill the Brecon to Talybont section was dropped, conceding the part of the route to another planned railway company; this failed to get authorised, but this was too late for the to reinstate the omitted section. The railway as authorised by the (22 & 23 Vict. c. lxviii) on 1 August 1859 was from Dowlais to Talybont.
A railway further north got authorised: the Hereford, Hay and Brecon Railway (HH&BR). It had made arrangements with the larger Newport, Abergavenny and Hereford Railway to work it.
The Hay Railway was intent as this stage on selling its line, and the Hereford, Hay and Brecon Railway proposed to purchase it, simplifying the issue of land acquisition. After considerable negotiation, the agreed to partition the Hay Railway, conceding part to the Mid Wales Railway and the southern section from Talyllyn to Brecon was granted to the B&M. These arrangements were ratified by the Hay Railway Act 1860 (23 & 24 Vict. c. clxxix) of 6 August 1860.
Accordingly, relying on the confirmation of the agreement, the was able to get powers to extend from Talybont through Talyllyn to Brecon, by (23 & 24 Vict. c. xvii) of 15 May 1860. A triangular junction would be formed at Talyllyn with the Mid Wales Railway. Mutual running powers arrangements were agreed.
Construction The first sod was turned on 18 January 1860; the contractors were David Davies and Thomas Savin, and a lease arrangement was concluded with them for ten years in which they guaranteed the proprietors 5% interest on capital.
The Beacon Tunnel (official railway name 'Torpantau Tunnel') was completed by 11 January 1862, and on 28 August 1862 a trial run for the directors was undertaken between Pant and Talyllyn. The section between Talyllyn and Brecon was much slower to construct, partly because it was still in use by the Hay Railway; Talyllyn tunnel needed to be opened out with that traffic in operation.
It was possible to run a locomotive through to Brecon on 1 January 1863, and on 12 February Captain Rich of the Board of Trade carried out an inspection for approval of passenger operation. There was still a delay, but there was some revenue goods train operation in April 1863.
Opening The entire line between Brecon and Pant, 19 miles of single line, opened on 1 May 1863. First stations were Brecon (temporary station), Talyllyn (temporary station), Talybont, Dolygaer, and Pant. A horse omnibus connected for Merthyr; in due course the Dowlais Railway was to make the connection to the ironworks for mineral traffic. The engineer for the line was Henry Conybeare, who described it as a good locomotive road throughout. Coming south, locomotives were going to have to ascend the Seven Mile Bank, making a 925 feet climb.
Extending the network
While construction was in progress, the was busy getting Parliament to approve its plans for extension. In the 1861 session it obtained authority in the (24 & 25 Vict. c. ccxxxv) to build down the Bargoed Rhymney valley, but the Rhymney Railway was given similar powers in the Rhymney Railway (Capital and Branch) Act 1861 (24 & 25 Vict. c. cxliv) and they were mutually exclusive. Eventually the powers were divided, the Rhymney Railway building up to Deri Junction, and the building down to that point from the north.
The got powers in the (25 & 26 Vict. c. clxxxiv) to abandon the Dowlais Railway connection that had become superfluous, and to connect directly to the Taff Vale Railway at Merthyr.
The Rumney Railway
The Rumney Railway had been incorporated in 1825 and opened in 1826 as a horse-operated plateway, running from the ironworks at Rhymney to Bassaleg, near Newport, connecting there with the Sirhowy Railway and giving access to Newport Docks. Some steam locomotive operation was undertaken after about 1854, and the Rumney Railway Act 1861 (24 & 25 Vict. c. ccxxvii) gave powers to modernise the line and adapt it for passenger operation. It is evident that the true objective was to sell the line to one or other more modern neighbouring company as a going concern. It was the Brecon and Merthyr Railway that acquired it for £90,000 under the Rumney and Brecon and Merthyr Railways Act 1863 (26 & 27 Vict. c. ccii) of 28 July 1863.
The had got hold of an obsolescent railway, but with it came access to Newport over the Monmouthshire Railway from Bassaleg. The now had to set about the modernisation of the line itself, including a considerable amount of easing of the sharp curves. Captain Rich, after two refusals, agreed to reopening for passenger operation following his inspection on 7 June 1865, and the line opened to passenger operation between Pengam and Newport Dock Street (Monmouthshire Railway) on 14 June 1865; the operation was extended up to Rhymney from 16 April 1866, and in 1867 coal traffic started running.
The Rhymney station was about a mile down the valley from the Rhymney Railway's equivalent.
Passenger stations on the section of this route were now Rhymney, New Tredegar, Bargoed, Pengam, Maesycwmmer, Bedwas, Machen, Church Road, Rhiwderin, and Bassaleg. This part of the was detached by ten miles from the section towards Brecon, running down the east side of the Rhymney River, opposite the Rhymney Railway itself on the west side.
Financial danger The company's trains were being worked by Thomas Savin and John Ward, who paid the proprietors 5% on their capital, but early in 1866 [or 1865] the contractor failed. Suddenly the was unable to meet its own financial commitments; it started to miss debenture payments, and the company went into administration. Thus it could not complete the Merthyr branch, and the restrictive clauses in its acts of Parliament meant that it oriented from opening the line through to Newport.
In 1868 and again in 1870 financial arrangements were made with creditors, which enabled the company to carry on; debentures were converted to debenture stock and the company was enabled to continue.
Completing to Merthyr, Dowlais and Newport Finishing the line to Merthyr was the obvious priority, and Alexander Sutherland was commissioned to find a means to do so. The obstruction hitherto had been the objection of the Crawshay Estate to the line coming through the grounds of Cyfarthfa Castle. Sutherland redesigned the route further west, avoiding the Estate. This was at the expense of much difficulty of engineering, and of operation later.
The line was opened in part, from Pontsticill to Cefn, on 1 August 1867. The new line joined the Vale of Neath Railway line at Rhydycar Junction, immediately south of Merthyr station, opening on 1 August 1868. The VoNR station at Merthyr was used.
This now released the legal obstruction to the opening to Newport; the part of this from Pant to Dowlais Top had opened on 1 August 1867, and from Dowlais Top to Pengam was opened on 1 September 1868. Three trains ran daily from Brecon to Newport Dock Street.
This section from Dowlais to Pengam ran through the Bargoed Rhymney Valley. Both the and the Rhymney Railway had wished to build a line through this, but the defile near Bargoed made that physically impossible, and at length a compromise was reached: the Rhymney Railway would build up from Bargoed to Deri Junction, and the would build down from Dowlais to Deri Junction. There would be a limited mutual exchange of running powers.
At Bargoed the Rhymney Railway and the trains exercising running powers were on the west side of the valley, and the from its Rhymney station was on the east side. A north-west to south-east diagonal connection was built as part of the work.
The location of the stations at Dowlais was determined by the through lines on which they were sited, and in 1865 the had obtained powers to make a short branch to a central location in Dowlais. It opened from Pant on 23 June 1869. The Dowlais station, at Lloyd Street, was later (in 1924) renamed Dowlais Central.
LNWR connections The London and North Western Railway (LNWR) was encroaching from the east by means of the Merthyr, Tredegar and Abergavenny Railway which it had acquired, and it was obvious that it sought to reach Dowlais and Merthyr. In the London and North Western Railway (New Lines) Act 1867 (30 & 31 Vict. c. cxiii) of 15 July 1867 it obtained authority to make junctions with the near Dowlais Top and near Dowlais (Central), where its new alignment would bring the two railways close together. The line was to pass Dowlais heading north, in tunnel under Pant station, curving west and south to join the line at Morlais Junction. The connections were made on 1 January 1873.
The connection at Dowlais Top was used for the exchange of goods and mineral traffic, and was removed about 1933. The connection near the central station at Dowlais was made by curving from northward to join the southward at Ivor Junction just outside the station; trains used the station from that time. On 4 May 1885 the opened a station at Dowlais High Street, somewhat to the east of Dowlais, and from that date transferred its passenger calls to that station.
The goods traffic of the (and its successors) continued to be exchanged at Dowlais (Central) station until 22 November 1954, from which date such traffic ran via .