With the high pressure on 4th November and consequent lovely sunshine and splendid lighting conditions, I decided to capitalise on the moment and recapture the wonderful autumn colours in the Taff Bargoed Valley again, near the small village of Bedlinog in South Wales. The Taff Bargoed Valley provides outstanding photgraphic opportunities between Bedlinog and Cwmbargoed where the line climbs 200 metres in the last four miles from Bedlinog so I took quite a few shots and have posted four of them on Flickr.

This is the first image of 66078 departing Cwmbargoed with 21 loaded coal hoppers destined for Aberthaw Power Station on the 6C93 service. The Cwmbargoed plant, which is a washing, crushing and blending coal facility, can be seen to right of the train. The coal is mined by open pit from the nearby Ffos-y-Fran mine.

Tags:   Cwanbargoed Aberthaw Coal Train 4C95

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Coal trains are rapidly becoming a phenomenon of the past in UK so perhaps it’s fitting that South Wales with its history of coal mining is one of the few places left where they still run on a regular basis. With the last of the evening’s sun catching Castle Coch, 66551 heads an MGR coal train destined for Aberthaw power station from Tower Colliery (6C47). Having just passed through Taffs Well, the train heads south along the Taff valley cut through Carboniferous limestone. Taffs Well was an important railway junction during the coal mining era when coal was exported from Cardiff and Penarth. It also has the distinction of being the only well in Wales associated with a thermal spring, the warm water thought to be associated with a fault in the limestone.

Tags:   66551 6C47 Tower Colliery Aberthaw MGR Coal Train Taffs Well Castle Coch South Wales

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With the high pressure on 4th November and consequent sunshine and splendid lighting conditions, I decided to capitalise on the moment and recapture the wonderful warm autumn colours in the Taff Bargoed Valley again, near the small village of Bedlinog in South Wales. The Taff Bargoed Valley provides outstanding photgraphic opportunities between Bedlinog and Cwmbargoed where the line climbs 200 metres in the last four miles from Bedlinog so I took quite a few shots and have posted four of them on Flickr.

This is the third image of 66078 working the Cwmbargoed to Aberthaw 6C93 service. The train has 21 loaded coal hoppers and is seen here in brilliant sunshine passing through the small village of Bedlinog in the Taff Bargoed Valley, 10km south-east of Merthyr Tydifil. The train will continue south towards Ystrad Mynach, where it will join the Rhymney line for the onward journey to Aberthaw Power Station.

Tags:   Cwmbargoed Aberthaw MGR Coal Train Bedlinog

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37025 (with 37421 at the rear) hauls ECS to Cardiff Canton Sidings on the 3Z12 “Crew Trainer” from Rhymney, seen passing through Pontlottyn in South Wales at the head of the Rhymney Valley.

Tags:   37025 37421 3Z12 Crew Trainer Terraced Houses Welsh Valleys Rhymney Valley Rhymney Line Heritage Traction South Wales Pontlottyn Transport for Wales

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Well, almost. The twice daily service to Aberthaw has now ceased as have services from Cwmbargoed. Aberthaw has been severely criticised for emissions (www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-37407037) and I suspect this is one of the main reasons that Welsh coal is no longer being burned there. Instead, imported emissions complaint coal (which is taxed) from Avonmouth (and Portbury?) is now supplying the power station. In addition, as of 2017, Aberthaw has been downgraded and will only generate electricity as and when needed. Consequently, coal shipped into Aberthaw has been severely cut back. I also suspect (but cannot verify) that the coal reserves at Tower Colliery (in the upper levels mined by open pit) are now near depletion, so another reason why Tower has stopped supplying.

This will obviously impact on the little coal that is still mined in South Wales and of course on the railways. Unfortunately, and coming from a geological background, I suspect this is the “nail in the coffin” for Welsh coal mining. At least Cwmbargoed still supplies Port Talbot (Margam) for the time being but one wonders if that will be enough to sustain the profitability of the pit and how long the contract will last. There was at least one train a week to Hope (Earl’s sidings) from Cwmbargoed for the cement industry but it appears that this is now being supplied from Tower Colliery (once a week) but only until May 2017. One wonders if Cwmbargoed will continue with the service afterwards. Onllwyn stopped supplying Aberthaw in 2016.

In the rain, 66116 on the 6C47, passes through Pontypridd station en-route to Newport ADJ and then later to Hope in Derbyshire.

Tags:   66116 6C47 Toer Colliery Newport ADJ Coal Train Pontypridd Station South Wales

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