Hirwaun railway station

Hirwaun was a railway station serving the village of Hirwaun in Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales.

Hirwaun
Location	Hirwaun, Rhondda Cynon Taf Wales
Coordinates	51.7429°N 3.5071°W
Grid reference	SN960059
Platforms	3
Other information
Status	Disused
History
Original company	Vale of Neath Railway
Pre-grouping	Great Western Railway
Post-grouping	Great Western Railway
Key dates
24 September 1851	Opened as Hirwain
September 1928	Renamed Hirwaun
15 June 1964	Closed

Railways in the Hirwaun area

TVR Merthyr Line to Cardiff Central Aberdare Trecynon VoNR to Merthyr Tydfil Aberdare Railway Llwydcoed Gelli Tarw Junction Hirwaun brickworks Hirwaun Tramways Barry Railway Company to Barry Docks Penderyn quarry Tower Colliery Hirwaun goods yard Hirwaun Common goodsyard Hirwaun Ironworks Hirwaun Common railway Hirwaun Ponds goods yard Tir Herbert brickworks Rhigos Halt Brown sidings Rhigos sidings End of Glynneath bank Pencaedrain Tunnel 520 yards (480 m) Dinas sidings For Pont Neath Vaughan works Penrhiw sidings For Penrhiw drift mine Pontwalby Halt Pontwalby viaduct British Rhondda Colliery British Rhondda Halt Cwmrhyd-y-Gau Halt For Abernant brickworks Aberpergwm Colliery Rock Colliery Start of Glynneath bank Glynneath Now site of Cwmgwrach coal washery VoNR to Neath

History

The station was opened by the Vale of Neath Railway in 1851, although tramways and railways had existed in the area for at least 60+ years due to the Hirwaun Ironworks and other industries. It existed on the VoR 7 ft (2,134 mm) route between Neath and Merthyr Tydfil (1853), although the branch to Aberdare opened first in 1851.

Operations

Although only a relatively small station serving an industrial community, Hirwaun was an important junction station for the VoNR. At Gelli Tarw Junction just north of the station, it merged three lines:

• Mainline from Neath to Merthyr
• Branch to Aberdare, later junctioning with the Aberdare Railway
• Dare Valley branch, initially to Bwllfa Colliery and then extended

The three platforms of the station were also supplemented by a brickworks just north of the station site. South of the station, there existed the goods yard and associated sidings, plus junctions for:[1]

• The Hirwaun Ironworks railway
• Tower Colliery
• Penderyn quarry tramway
• Tir Herbert brickworks
• Hirwaun Common railway

Between Glynneath and Hirwaun, a distance of only 6 miles (9.7 km), there were: five collieries; two quarries; and one gunpowder/silica factory. Each had their own private sidings, all to be tackled over the steep Glynneath embankment, which required a banking locomotive for northbound trains to be attached at Glynneath. During World War II, the Royal Ordnance Factory ROF Hirwaun added to both the goods and passenger traffic load.

In 1956, the station was used by HM Queen Elizabeth II during her visit to the village.[2]

Closure

Taken over by the Great Western Railway on grouping in 1921, it fell victim to the Beeching Axe in 1964, with the last train running on 13 June.[3] However, the line itself stayed in place to Aberdare on the renamed Merthyr Line, for coal trains serving Tower Colliery and a coking plant further down the valley towards Abercynon.

Current

DB Schenker Rail (UK) Class 66 loads coal at the Tower Colliery coal washing plant, located on the former Hirwaun railway station goods yard

There was a dedicated rail link bus that linked Aberdare with the community. It was only available to rail passengers, and operated to Penywaun, Hirwaun, Cefn Rhigos and Rhigos.

Freight continues to run several times a day from Tower colliery, over track it owned north of the former station site. Although Tower's underground workings final ceased on 18 January 2008, DB Schenker Rail (UK) still run trains to the Tower washery, which depart Aberdare at 7 pm on Wednesdays, and 1130 on the Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, most often hauled by a Class 66. Freightliner also operate stone trains to Tower, but this service varies in schedule, again hauled by a Class 66.

Reopening

Hirwaun station on the Vale of Neath Railway.

In November 2009 the Welsh Government asked Network Rail to conduct a feasibility study on reopening the line to Hirwaun for passenger services.[4]

It was announced in March 2011 that the Welsh Government’s 2011-12 capital investment programme would include the re-opening of the line to Hirwaun as part of the Cynon Valley Scheme[5] although the project appears to have advanced little at that time. In 2019-2020, Cardiff Capital Region City Deal's Transport Authority secured £100,000 of funding from the Welsh Government's Local Transport Fund to undertake Welsh Transport Appraisal Guidance (WelTAG) 1 study into the feasibility of extending Aberdare Line passenger services through a reopened Hirwaun station to a new terminus serving the Tower strategic development site.[6]

The line to this station has been identified by Campaign for a Better Transport as a priority 1 candidate for reopening.[7]

Notes

1. "Hirwaun Railways". Rhigos memories. Retrieved 20 July 2012.
2. "Hirwaun railway station staff". Rhondda Cynon Taf Library service. 1956. Retrieved 20 July 2012.
3. Page, p.37
4. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/8346748.stm
5. http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/local-news/aberdare/2011/03/24/aberdare-to-hirwaun-rail-line-set-to-reopen-91466-28381233/
6. Gupwell, Katie-Ann (2 July 2020). "Brand new train station to be built as part of £2m valleys railway line improvements - Wales Online". Wales Online. Retrieved 23 December 2020.

References

• Body, G. (1983), PSL Field Guides - Railways of the Western Region, Patrick Stephens Ltd, Wellingborough, ISBN 0-85059-546-0
• Page, J. (1988), Forgotten Railways: Volume 8 - South Wales (2nd Ed), David & Charles Publishers, Newton Abbott, ISBN 0-946537-44-5

Preceding station		Disused railways		Following station
Llwydcoed		Vale of Neath Railway Mainline to Merthyr High Street, 1853		Rhigos
Trecynon		Vale of Neath Railway Aberdare branch to Aberdare, 1851		Terminus
Black Lion Crossing		Aberdare Railway (Taff Vale Railway)		Terminus