I was born in Swansea in 1941 and lived there till I was 27. It is great place with a great history. It was a weathly place with full employment and trains ran all over the place around the docks. We used to ride on the Trams to get to Mumbles and Limeslade Bay. They were rickety and old but great fun and cheap. I worked in Gregor Bros where there is the Marriot Hotel now. The whole town was dirty but vibrant with life.
July 2022: I'm a Mumbles man living in Brunei for over a decade, delighted to get this in my feed, as I scanned other old Swansea videos. Checking the comments, seems to have been posted 14 years ago - and only now I see it! Thanks for the work, wonderful to see my old town.
It is a shame it's gone. What on earth was the council thinking? I wasn't born when it was stopped but it must have been great. Still, we can always catch a bendy bus to the Mumbles now. . . . . .good old Swansea Council. Great video by the way!
IT never was a train guys, it was a Tram, and I did ride it many times. Curious thing is I lived near Ammanford 25 miles or so from Swansea Town as it was known then City status had not been awarded yet,. (I was about 12 years of age at the time) back then I read in the SW Evening Post every evening I loved reading, I read an article that they had decided to remove them scrap my beloved Mumbles Tramline, as there had been a major accident a death or two almost within a few weeks of each other owing to collisions with motor cars colliding with the trams side on, motor car ownership was now all the rage, for all classes, auto mobility was on the move, really booming, and the road down to Blackpill was not getting any wider, something had to give. The Trams had to go. Even at 12 years of age I was very saddened to read that they were being decommissioned forthwith. curiously I was in school one day shortly after that in Llandybie,( beneath the school in the Valley the there was and still is the Mid Wales railway line) I remember it as if it was yesterday....... I had my face pressed up against the school fence contemplating dodging out of Math class, I hated Math, I was kind of sidling towards the school gate and eventual freedom, when begorra and bejesus I saw an incredible sight that has stayed with me all my life, a steam train caught my eye, I will not romanticize that moment , but it made me very emotional as to my horror I saw that it was pulling 5 or 6 Swansea trams to their graveyards, I seem to remember they were mounted on flat backs, they looked tall elegant attention seeking and proud, having served Swansea well, Yet still going at a handsome speed unfettered by gas guzzling motor cars they were making their break for freedom too, they didn't know it as they passed bye what we all know now as they ended up being broken up for scrap somewhere, in the Midlands I would imagine, they were handsome, elegant and beautiful though even in their demise, at least to this child's eye, these sad images here on your marvelous video...do not do them any real credit at all, for their rumble sway and smell, As factual as the images are, lets just say Swansea looked much nicer the last time I was there. I was delighted even over the moon to find the Museum in the Marina, and my spirit rose upon the sight of a tram reserved in memoriam, for an instant I saw it all again, BLAFF!!! a fantabulous flashback, just as my childhood eyes had seen them for the LAST TIME ALL THOSE YEARS PREVIOUSLY, and the stairs to the upper deck left me breathless, just as it did the first time I bounced up there when I was about 5 years of age, two tiny steps at a time, it was for a green field country boy such as I back then, like riding a lunar modular for a today child. just as exiting I assure you, I am very pleased they have one in the Museum in the Marina, if I ever go to Swansea again God willing I will go visit my childhood friend and rekindle my fond memories anew, I recommend you all go and see that steep stairwell to the upper deck too, it is still exhilarating overwhelming and an exciting adventure to this day. Thank you for the video..Caswellbay01. I loved it obviously. Gracias David in Spain
Please bring it back. The tracks were pulled up 11 years before I was born, but everyone who remembers it says they should never have got rid of it. My late mother always used to tell me that they should have kept it running
I remember doing that myself but down by St. Helen's where there used to be a double rail to let the trains pass each other. I remember the drivers used to shake their fists at us because we used to sit on the bank of the prom and slide up and down! Thanks for the good spot!
the Mumbles train was a world beater at the time . It should have been updated and marketed world widw . It could have then donewonders for Swansea Johnlloyd ,
Fascinating to see how things used to look way before my time in Swansea (I moved here in 2000). Not sure if it would be practical to bring the train back, though, would it?
Certainly hope some day we may see trams return to Swansea. Even some of those rubber tyred trams like they have in some european cities would be great to see in Swansea. These days it would be a major tourist attraction as wellas a usual system for swansea especially if it ran to Morriston serving teh Liberty Stadium
We at the AVRS are working towards the reopening of this railway with new routes being made. If you would like to know more information, you can contact (Capt) Mike Smith at, Idmountain@aol.com, he will be able to help you with information. We are basically trying to get Swansea Council to fully back us on this.
Astonishing things.Weren't the cars English Electrics ? Though the deadman looks more BTH or Met-Vick. I do know they were the biggest trams in the UK. Typical to shut it all down and rely instead on oil-driven buses, with their ever increasing fuel costs, and the oil comes from areas of the world run by loonies ! No doubt the train's power was produced by Welsh Boiler Coal. We live and sadly don't learn.
and the we didn't even have the foresight to preserve a whole tram, one did end up in the NE but was vandalised and derelict and ended up being scrapped.
The track is called 'Mumbles Train' and it's on Spencer Davis's album called 'So Far'. I met him at Morgan's in town and he said I could use it - so thanks again Spencer!
