Neath to Brecon & Newport Steam South Wales 

Priceless video. Excruciating prounciation of some of the place names.

I used to see these trains pass through Bedwas until 1962. Panniers, 2 coaches, we took them for granted. Then they stopped. This film is quite priceless therefore.

I remember the steam in Pontardawe. I used to wave to the driver and passengers from the bottom of our garden in Alltwen. Lovely memories.

Very short sighted to close all these railways, what an asset they would be now, much better than traveling by road and great for tourism with the stunning scenery.

Despite me being on RU-vid for quite a long time, gems such as this often don't appear in my home page until several years have passed since they were uploaded. However, now that I have had a chance to view it, I was very pleased to see it covered the N & B line between Coelbren Junction and Craig-yr-nos. For those who were not aware, this was the location for the filming of the Boer attack on the train in the movie "Young Winston". With 1466 stabled overnight at the old platform at Coelbren, after the quarry train cleared the line, we went up the line each day to Penwyllt for the filming. The official driver and fireman were both BR staff, but I did a firing stint on the final trip up. The open countryside in your video was just as I remembered, but I had never travelled to Brecon by train. The loss of the lines to Brecon is a shame. The Scenery is beautiful, far better than on the Settle and Carlisle line.

How I remember working that line, as a fireman from the Neath & Brecon engine shed, 60 years ago. Also as passenger on the last train to Brecon 13th Oct 1962

Good example of closure by stealth. By 1962, there was 1 train each way, in the afternoon; with an extra morning round trip on Saturdays only.

I remember going on the last one, we were given little brown badges, which I kept for a number of years, but alas no more. The decisions made by Beacham and the Government at the time were so short sighted. What a tourist attraction that little railway could be today. So sad.

Adelina Patty was the name of the opera singer. Ystradgynlais is pronounced 'us-trad-gun-lice'

It didn't help that the trains left from Riverside station, so quite a problem to change if you arrived at Neath General. When on a gricing trip to South Wales in 1963, most people I met had no idea what useful train services still ran at the time.

Its true that there were deliberate policies in place to make sure these railways did not pay. However, there was a mixture of the public who increasingly didnt travel by train or were discouraged. The car was king and there was a terrible lack of foresight by the politicians

How’d it get to Newport from Talybont on Usk? I thought that line went to Merthyr

There were deliberate policies to make sure many railways did not pay in order to make sure they could be closed. However, the public did turn against the railways and patronage could be extremely low. One wonders if these lines had survived how well they would probably be doing in the 2020,s

Sad that the idiot Dr Beeching closed a lot of our valley lines including this one. A friend of mine traveled on the last train from Neath to Brecon. This was a daft mistake made as if an attempt was made to turn this railway into a preserved line then it could have been easily converted back to a mainline railway latter on to cope with congestion on our roads.

B&M video and DVD

Can somebody tell me who was Jane Collins born 1650 • Ystradgynlais, Breconshire, Wales & died ABT 1720 • Fairfield Estate, St James, Jamaica?

I was a train guard on this line working class 9 trains from 1971 to 1981 east dock to onllyn Hopi spell it right

Does anyone know the exact location at 2:34?

The guy doing the commentary is a chump

Great Film but his commentary/ pronunciation is awful.