Permission from the owner has been given for this cache. No need to go beyond the gate.
REALLY SideTracked - Taff Vale Goods Yard, Mountain Ash
24 Septmeber 1851-1965
This station served the good line.
As you look beyond the gateway, you will see the remnants of Taff Vale Goods Yard. The 2 arches (one of which has been boarded up) lead to the main storage areas.
This station had 6 train lines - one is still underneath the floor of the building, the other 5 were behind. The
All coal from this valley would have been brought through this station to be taken to Cardiff and beyond.
The yard in front of the building, would have been where the horse and carts unloaded the goods.
Throughout the Aberdare Valley the Taff Vale line is paralleled by the old Vale of Neath Railway opened from Neath to Aberdare on 24 September 1851, extended to Middle Duffryn Junction in 1853-1856, and joined on 18 April 1864 from Middle Duffryn junction to the Taff Vale Extension of the Newport, Abergevenny and Hereford Railway at Quakers’ Yard (so named from an adjacent burial ground of the Society of Friends). Connections with both the Vale of Neath and the N.A&H, which by 1865 formed a continuous route under G.W.R ownership between Pontypool Road and Swansea, afforded opportunity to the Taff Vale to develop traffic with Swansea on the one side and the Midlands on the other. The first such junction was made in 1851 from the Taff Vale to the Vale of Neath at Gadlys, 24chains west of Aberdare; another existed in this valley for many years at Mountain Ash, but was closed on 3 March 1913. Farther cast, connection was made in 1858 with the N.A&H Taff Vale Extension both at Quakers’ Yard (Low Level), on the T.V. line to Merthyr, and at the northern end of the Llancaiach branch.
About SideTracked Caches
This cache belongs to the SideTracked series. It is not designed to take you to a magical place with a breath taking view. It's a distraction for the weary traveller, but anyone else can go and find it too. More Information can be found at the SideTracked Website