Quakers Yard Railway Station

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Quakers Yard railway station serves the village of Edwardsville in the community of Treharris, Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. It is located on the Merthyr Tydfil branch of the Merthyr Line. Passenger services are provided by Arriva Trains Wales.

Until June 1964 (when the adjacent Vale of Neath Railway High Level station was closed, along with the Pontypool Road to Neath line that passed through it), this was a large, two-level junction with services to numerous locations and a hub through which large amounts of coal were transported.

Today the station is situated below the Taff Vale estate where bespoke detached properties have been built on the high level line area and also on the incline that existed from the lower level which ran towards Treharris. The derelict upper level was partitioned when the Taff Vale estate was built. The land to the east below Edwardsville cemetery was earmarked for business units - but was eventually sold off to Bailey Homes house builders - mainly detached houses were built and named Forest Grove. A small senior citizen sheltered bungalow complex buffers this site with the Taff Vale site.

The line from Abercynon-Merthyr Tydfil is now a single line operation, the dual track being removed in the early 1970s, although some dual track has since been brought back at Merthyr Vale running towards Merthyr Tydfil to help with the increased frequency of services.

The station was opened as "Quakers Yard Low Level" by the Taff Vale Railway in 1858.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel built the Goitre Coed Viaduct, it was opened in 1841. Its height is approx 100 ft the Goitre Coed Viaduct was widened in 1862 with another stone bridge of slightly differing design sitting embedded next to the original one, this addition can easily be spotted when passing underneath the viaducts arches on the Taff Trail cycle route 8. This viaduct still exists as the gateway to the Taff Valley for the Cardiff to Merthyr Tydfil railway line. In a recent TV appearance, a Brunel expert put the Goitre Coed Viaduct as the finest example of Brunel's viaducts in Wales.

Two more viaducts existed at the north end of Edwardsville which were demolished shortly after the Beeching cuts of the 1960s. The main reason for their demolition was subsidence and the viaducts had been strengthened with huge wooden supports for a number of years.

It should also be noted that Quakers Yard station is also a very useful point to access or leave the Taff Trail cycle route. The beauty spot at Pontygwaith Bridge over the River Taff lies approx 1 mile north on the trail. Arriva trains allow cyclists on local trains with some restrictions on timing. Access to the Taff Trail is via a foot crossing over the railway line a short distance north of the railway platform.

This section of the Taff Trail includes the original stone sleepers from Edwardsville towards Pontygwaith and beyond towards Mount Pleasant, where Richard Trevithick ran the first ever Steam locomotive to run on rails and the first to carry passengers in 1804. Stephenson's Rocket of 1829 some 25 years after the Pen-Y-Darren Locomotive is no longer lauded as the first railway locomotive. For many recent years Trevithick's achievements were ignored in favour of Stephenson but it would appear in recent years with plenty of publicity both Trevithicks and the Taff Valley's place in history are now assured.

^ Page, James. (1988), Forgotten Railways: Volume 8 - South Wales (2nd Ed), David & Charles Publishers, Newton Abbott, ISBN 0-946537-44-5, p.37

^ Hutton, John (2006). The Taff Vale Railway, vol. 1. Silver Link. ISBN 978-1-85794-249-1.

Source: Wikipedia

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