Rhymney Railway - The Big Hill
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- Опубліковано 9 лют 2025
- A walk up the Big Hill. The railway from Taffs well to Penrhos in South Wales. WIth a new Metro deport and burnng brake blocks!
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Oh nooo, I just showed your video to my 96 year old Mum, in the hope you would show the railway cottages, Rhymney cottages, where she grew up; but you bypassed them (in the interests of privacy, understandably!) We used to visit my Aunties, who still lived in one of them, in the 1960's, and we'd wave at the guard on the occasional train when they passed the garden!
@@elizabethrobertson3999 A combination of privacy and some workmen drilling as well. Sorry about that.
I travelled this line as a passenger, inadvertently, in December 1981 or January 1982. Heavy snow caused mayhem and I was on a train in Cardiff Central waiting to go up the Rhymney valley. It was mid afternoon and packed as everyone was escaping Cardiff. After some delay we set off and eventually realized we were on a different route. Most notably when we were on the incline of the Big Hlll. There were no announcements, quite normal then. We then found ourselves in the sidings at Penyrheol before getting into Caerphilly and onwards north. That was the last train that day.The Cefn On tunnel had been blocked by snow but we were saved by access to remnants of our Victorian transport network, I wonder if we were the last timetabled passengers to climb that hill.
@@ianwilliams395 Very possible. Previously when Cefn Onn tunnel was closed they routed trains over the old Barry lines and across Walnut Tree Viaduct. However being on a unit heading up the Big Hill would have been interesting, a lot of engine noise I would imagine. Thanks for sharing.
Excellent video, thank you!
Great video! 8:36 - that is not where the Taff Trail crosses over - you are on the Taff Trail! :) That bridge carries a farm track, I think.
The Penrhos Viaduct is in amazing condition - partly because of the excellent workmanship, and partly because it was very short lived. Those brick supports only carried a railway for 20 years or so.
Thanks. I do wish we were able to edit UA-cam videos. I could edit that bit!
A very interesting and well assembled video, Bob. I’ve been fascinated by this stretch of railway ever since I used to play on the abandoned line between Caerphilly Miners’ Hospital and Penrhos Junction as a child. We used to have miles of trackbed to run along...the line, like our summer holidays, seemed to go on forever.
The fact that you are doing this all for fun makes it that more special. UA-cam began with amateur video makers sharing their works on the platform. So many contributors are now doing it solely for the monetization and there often seems to be more adverts than interesting content.
I have only recently come across your excellent videos of the lost industrial past of my former home area (I often travelled to my apprenticeship location on the railway from Cardiff to Treforest Estate) and I have now subscribed to your channel.
Thank you. I do enjoy making them. I may drop a KoFi to help me fund a new drone, but I am not planning subscriptions or Patreon. I fully respect people who do, but don't feel I have the level of professionalism to do that. Thank you for your comments and welcome to the channel
Wonderful. I got into trouble with my mum as a boy when a friend and I visited the signalman in Aber box just after the Big Hill closed. We walked from Aber all the way down to Walnut Tree Jn and back and took all day about it. They had no idea where we were!
That's a heck of a way! I can understand your parents worry 😁
Hi Bob, just came across your work and enjoying watching many of your uploads.
I was born & raised in the Taff Valley just south of Merthyr Tydfil (in the village of Aberfan). This video was particularly interesting for me as I just about remember the completion of the A470 and always wondered what the story was behind the modern-looking but seemingly disused bridge over the new road.
My dad used to say it was part of the old "Rhymney line", but that confused me, as I knew if you caught a train from Rhymney to Cardiff didn't cross the valley at Taff's Well.
So you've educated me today. I had no idea the Rhymney Railway initially relied on an agreement with the TVR to get to Cardiff etc: in hindsight, that was always going to end in tears!
Keep up the good work,
Stephen
Thank you, after I made the video I looked into why the bridge was modern but the parapets are old. Turns out it used to cross the Glamorgan Canal and they just filled it in and put a new bridge over it using the old stonework. Thanks for the comment, I am hoping to do more at Taffs Well soon.
Fabulous videos Bob. Can I respectfully correct you on one thing though. It's the Taff VALE Railway not the Taff VALLEY Railway. I know it's a very small thing and I'm being picky. Can't wait to see more vids.
I will take that on board. I am learning all the time.
great video, one thing bob that coaling point is a water stn for the banker engine and the collery was rookwood coll.ex radyr fireman.
That would make a lot of sense. Thank you for that.
Hey Bob good video I used to work MGR trains up and down the big hill from Barry and Aberthaw to the Colleries in the 1970s
It is a serious gradient, I would imagine even the diesel locos would have struggled going back up empty.
Thanks Bob very interesting, a fascinating area for abandoned railways loved it.
Really enjoyed this, Bob. Thanks again for a very interesting and informative video.
Thanks, looking forward to more from you as well.
Thanks for that video , I always wondered if that bridge over the A470 was being used and now I know . I work in Taffs Well and often wonder what it was like before the A470 was built.
Thanks. All about to change again at the station with the Metro works. It was my first time wandering up there and a pleasant way to spend a morning
Ah, me & you both (please see my comment)!
PS: do you know the work of Jago Hazzard? His interets seem similar to yours, but focused on London.
I do I follow him and watch his stuff with interest. Interesting thing, you never actually see him. You hear him, but I have never seen him appear.
@@bobsrailrelics Yes, he explained how he came to adopt this style in one of his videos. He prefers the voice over approach and preparing a script of the narrative. I guess it's a matter of personal preference.
Bob,Penrhos as in Ross on Wye not Rose.cheers