Taff Vale Railway - Rhondda Branches

Rhondda Branches

The original 1836 act authorised a branch 'to communicate with the Tramroad leading to the Collieries called Dinas'. The opening of this branch in 1841 led to further coal mining in the area, the conveyance of which was to be very profitable for the TVR. In 1849 the TVR offered a £500 reward for proving the presence of deep-seam coal in the Treherbert area of the Rhondda Fawr valley, and opened an extension from Porth to Ynyshir in the Rhondda Fach. The Rhondda Fach branch was extended to Ferndale in 1856, and later to Maerdy, which was the highest station on the Taff Vale network, and 900 feet (270 m) above sea level. The Rhondda Fawr line was also extended from Dinas to Treherbert in 1856. These were all initially mineral lines; passenger services to Treherbert started in 1863, to Ferndale in 1876, and on to Maerdy in 1889.

The Rhondda Valley and Hirwain Junction Railway was authorised in 1867 to extend the line from Treherbert toward Hirwaun in the Cynon Valley, but only built a short stretch to Blaenrhondda Colliery with a spur to Blaencwm Coliery. These were leased to the TVR in 1878 shortly after opening, and were absorbed into the TVR in 1889. Other TVR branches in the Rhondda included the Aerw Branch near Trehafod, opened in 1854, and the Pwllyrhebog branch serving Pwllyrhebog and Clydach Collieries. The latter was built by the TVR as far as Pwllyrhebog in 1863, and was worked by special engines aided by cable on the 1 in 13 gradient. The Clydach extension, built privately in 1889, was acquired in 1896.

The Rhondda Valley was a breadbasket for the TVR until the Barry Railway, financed by colliery owners unhappy with the TVR's charges, was authorised to build its own railway line connecting with the TVR south of Trehafod in 1883, opening for traffic in 1889. This line, running direct to the new port at Barry, stole much traffic from the TVR, as well as the Rhondda and Swansea Bay Railway which tunnelled through to Treherbert in 1890. The continuing growth in coal traffic meant that other than a brief hiatus the Rhondda remained profitable for the TVR.

The Pwllyrhebog branch was closed to in 1951, with coal traffic redirected along the GWR's nearby Penygraig branch toward Llantrisant. 1966 saw the closure of the Blaenrhondda branches, and the Aerw branch in turn closed with the last of the branch's collieries, in 1977. Passenger services on the Rhondda Fach branch were withdrawn in June 1964, with the line singled later that year. It remained open for freight traffic until the track was lifted in 1987, and the trackbed now forms a cycle path.

The Rhondda Fawr branch to Treherbert remains open, and forms the Rhondda Line of the Valley Lines railway network, with the addition of new stations at Ton Pentre and Ynyswen in the 1980s.