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Rumney Railway

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Rumney Railway
Nantybwch
Rhymney Bridge
Rhymney
Pontlottyn
Tir-Phil
Brithdir
Darran and Deri
New Tredegar
Cwmsyfiog
Gilfach Fargoed
Aber Bargoed
Pengam
Fleur-de-Lis Platform
Hengoed
Hengoed High Level
Cylla Goods
Maesycwmmer & Hengoed
Ystrad Mynach
Bedwas
Llanbradach
Trethomas
Machen
Church Road
Rhiwderin
Bassaleg
Newport High Street
Alexandra Dock
Key
Rumney Railway
other lines
Hengoed / Ystrad Mynach
Hengoed
Maesycwmmer Junction
Cylla Goods
Maesycwmmer
& Hengoed
North Junction
Ystrad Mynach
1:
Penallta Junction
Penallta Branch Jn
2: Hengoed High Level
3:
4:
Maesycwmmer Branch Jn
Bassaleg / Newport
Bassaleg (B&M)
Bassaleg
(GWR)
Park Junctions
Ebbw Junction
Gaer Junction
 
Waterloo Junction
Alexandra Dock Jn
Newport High Street
Pillbank Junction
Alexandra Dock

D: Dock Street Goods   Maindee Junctions 

The Rumney Railway in Wales was a 4 ft 2 in (1,270 mm) plateway built to connect the ironworks at Rhymney to the Monmouthshire Canal Company's tramroad near Newport, Wales providing a connection the wharves at the Newport Docks. The line was opened in 1826. It was later converted to a standard gauge railway,[1]

History

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Rumney Railway Act 1825
Act of Parliament
Long titleAn Act for making and maintaining a Railway or Tram Road from the Northern Extremity of a certain Estate called Abertyswg, in the Parish of Bedwelty, in the County of Monmouth, to join the Sirhowy Railway, at or near Pye Corner, in the Parish of Bassaleg, in the same County.
Citation6 Geo. 4. c. lxii
Dates
Royal assent20 May 1825
Other legislation
Repealed byRumney Railway Act 1861
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted
Bassaleg Viaduct, believed to be the world's oldest operational railway viaduct, built for the Rumney Railway in 1826 over the Ebbw River.

The company was incorporated by the Rumney Railway Act 1825 (6 Geo. 4. c. lxii) and the line, engineered by George Overton, opened the following year worked by horses. The line ran down the east side of the River Rhymney to Machen where the route left the river to head east towards Newport. It made a junction with the Monmouthshire line at the top end of that part of the company's route, known as the Park Mile, on its way to the shipping places on the River Usk at Newport. Sir Charles Morgan built and maintained the section where it ran through the park of his Tredegar House.[2]

The line operated in a similar way to a toll road and traders introduced steam locomotives in the 1840s.[3] In 1856 Crawshay Bailey purchased a plateway locomotive from the Monmouthshire company for the Rumney Railway, implying that the company was operating the line with its own locomotives.[4]

Rumney Railway Act 1861
Act of Parliament
Citation24 & 25 Vict. c. ccxxvii
Other legislation
Repeals/revokesRumney Railway Act 1825

The Monmouthshire company converted its lines in the Western Valleys to standard gauge in the 1850s. In 1861 Lord Tredegar (Chairman) and Crawshay Bailey (Director) obtained an act of Parliament, the Rumney Railway Act 1861 (24 & 25 Vict. c. ccxxvii) to reincorporate the Rumney Railway as a railway company, with powers to reconstruct the line as a standard gauge railway. Also obtained were powers to make a branch to join the Rhymney Railway at Caerphilly and to sell or lease the undertaking to either the Monmouthshire Railway or the West Midland Railway. However, little was done to improve the line and it remained a plateway until it was acquired by the Brecon and Merthyr Railway by its Act of 28 July 1863.

The reconstructed line was finally passed as safe for passengers by the Board of Trade Inspector on his third visit, and opened to passenger traffic through to the Monmouthshire Railway's Newport (Dock Street) station on 14 June 1865.

References

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  1. ^ "Brecon and Merthyr Railway - Bassaleg to Bargoed". Barry J. Retrieved 16 March 2009.
  2. ^ Barrie, Derek Stiven (1980). A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain, Volume 12, South Wales. Newton Abbot: David and Charles. pp. 87–88. ISBN 0-7153-7970-4.
  3. ^ The Locomotives of the Great Western Railway, Part Ten, Absorbed Engines 1922-1947. The Railway Correspondence and Travel Society. 1966. pp. K196.
  4. ^ The Locomotives of the Great Western Railway, Part Three, Absorbed Engines 1854-1921. The Railway Correspondence and Travel Society. 1956. pp. C53. ISBN 0-901115-33-9.
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