Rails in Wales. Latest in the Valleys. 18th Sept.2024 

Hi Mike. Great footage and update. Thanks for sharing. Watching your departure from Rhymney reminded me of a conversation I once had with my dad as a young boy in the early 1970s. I asked him, "What's that for?" whilst pointing to Cefn Coed viaduct. "That used to carry the old Rhymney line" (or 'Rummey', as he would say it in his colloquial valleys dialect). Now as I grew up and started to understand a little more about the old lines in and around South Wales in general and Merthyr in particular, this remark puzzled me, as the viaduct was part of the route from Merthyr to Brecon. It was only when I did a little more research and understood that it was also part of the former LMS route from the Midlands that I realised that for my dad travelling in the late 1940s & 1950s, this would have been the best way to get from Merthyr to Rhymney, as there used to be a station known as Rhymney Bridge on that Merthyr to Abergavenny line, situated just north of Rhymney station, from which you could either catch a train to take you down the valley, or walk into Rhymney town. Those 67 / DVT consists look very smart. PS: I see there is OLE in the Rhondda & Merthyr valleys, but none at Queen St or Pontypridd (wonderful station!). I'm assuming trains will run on batteries through these stations?

The solid bar at Caerphilly is for recharging the tram trains. Interesting annoy announcement at the start of the video about the supervisor reporting to the carriage shed, I assume it is code for some sort of emergency.

How often do the Electrostars make it to Cardiff?

Like France in the 50s.

Interesting video, but what a shame to see all the uncontrolled trackside vegetation around the network. It was particularly bad between. Cardiff Central and Canton depot - doesn’t anyone care ?

Footbridge at Taff's W totally out of keeping with country station. 7gly