Tondu to Pyle and the Cefn Cribwr Ironworks

Starting Point - Tondu Station. Finishing Point - Pyle Station. Distance - 7 Miles

Below - Departing from the single platform at Tondu the Maesteg train passes the signal box and once important junction north of the station. The line coming in on the left is the route from Margam. The line has been mothballed for some years and was last used to divert trains from the mainline to Swansea and beyond due to engineering work. In more recent times a closure of the mainline would result in the trains being replaced by buses. With speed limits as low as 5 mph it is no longer practical to divert the trains this way.  

The Garw and Ogmore Valley lines once left on the right hand side of the above photo. I have covered the Garw and Ogmore Valley lines on previous posts. These lines served a number of collieries until the late 1980s and the main source of traffic for the routes in this area was moving coal from the mines to the steel works at Port Talbot.

Though there is still track on the trackbed from Tondu to Margam it is possible to follow the route part of the way on foot and cycle paths that run alongside. Having been exploring several old railways in the area on bike I cycled this route as far as Pyle, where I could catch a train on the mainline it parallels.

Google Map

1919 Map

The path from Tondu to Pyle leaves Maesteg Road close to the Wesley Church Centre. This is actually a trackbed from another line, the tramway that connected Tondu Iron Works and a number of coke ovens.

At the time of writing the extensive remains of Tondu Iron Works were fenced off and overgrown but plans were in place to incorporate them in a restaurant and hotel complex. I did visit the iron works site in 2013 and have covered it here.

On the tramway a bridge survives that carried the line over another line that linked the iron works to nearby mines.

Below - Bridge that carried the tramway over another line.

From what was once the headshunt at the end of the tramway the path curves to the south following the footpath that existed on the old map above. It emerges on Fountain Road close to the Parc Slip Visitor Centre and Bridgend Miniature Railway. 

1947 Map

Further south on Fountain Road the railway crosses the road by means of an un-gated crossing with flashing lights.

The path continues across Fountain Road past the Park Slip Visitor Centre veering off the roadway and heading south on what the above map shows as an Old Tramway to the site of Park Slip Colliery. This tramway doesn't appear on earlier maps so may have been short lived. The area has been heavily mined and quarried so it's hard to match features on the old maps to the landscape today.

The path heads west as it approaches the railway line, at this point shown as the GWR Porthcawl Branch on the old map. The path is the same footpath shown on the old map running alongside the railway to the north.

After the path takes a dogleg it joins another stretch of old tramway emerging on to the road at Bankers Hill just north of the level crossing. This crossing has manually operated gates.

Below - Banker's Hill level crossing. Presumably the building alongside the railway would have been a crossing keeper's cottage when the line was in regular use and warranted the crossing to be manned.

1947 Map

The path continues across the road running parallel to the north of the railway up to Bedford Road, again it is the same footpath shown on the old map above.

The line once passed through Cefn Colliery. Where it says Old Slant on the old map a section of wall is shown, this wall still survives and a colliery tub wagon has been left here as a reminder of the mining history.

Below - Coat tub and wall of the Cefn Colliery site.

At the site of Cefn Junction the Porthcawl Branch has been removed but the signal box that stood at the junction still stands and can be seen through the vegetation.

Below - Cefn Junction signal box.

The footpath emerges on Bedford Road. Heading a short distance south on Bedford Road a footpath now exists on the former Porthcawl branch through Bedford Park. At the site of the crossing is a house that was presumably a crossing keeper's cottage. It is possible to walk back to Cefn Junction and get a closer look at the signal box but unfortunately I didn't realise this at the time and just headed west into Bedford Park. The signal box is owned by a community group and is opened to the public occasionally.

Bedford Park is named after John Bedford who built an iron works here in 1771. A short way in to Bedford Park are the ruins of that iron works can be found. The iron works closed in 1836.

Below - Remnants of the casting house.

Below - Remains of a couple of a couple of Calcining Kilns.

Below - The blast furnace.

Below - The former engine house.

Below - Remains of a drift mine with remnants of narrow gauge waggonway tracks.

From the Cefn Cribwr Iron Works I continued on the former Porthcawl branch trackbed.

Below - A look along the former Porthcawl branch line towards Pyle.

 The path emerges on Victoria Road in Pyle close to the site of Kenfig Hill station, the only intermediate station between Pyle and Tondu.

Station Road still exists but houses have been built along the north side of the road where the station once stood leaving no remnants of the former station.

It is possible to follow the former railway as it curved around Kenfig Hill most of the way to where it passed under the mainline east of Pyle before curving round to the west to join the mainline at Pyle Junction. Subsequent development around Pyle has seen much of the course of the railway disappear.

1919 Map

From the roundabout at the end of Station Road a footpath follows the course of the railway to Croft Coch Road. A couple of bridges survive that once took the line over paths in to the old quarries. South of Croft Coch Road playing fields, a health centre and a car park have been built over the railway.

1918 Map

South of the Park Street car park the footpath continues along the course of the railway up to where it passed under the mainline. It does so as a footpath though and as I was on bike I continued in to Pyle but intend to return and check out the remains of the railway around Pyle on foot. The overbridge shown on the old map is shown as surviving on modern maps. South of the mainline the trackbed has been obliterated. The Google satellite images show the outline of where the connection to the mainline was in the field boundarys that still follow it, though the cutting has now been filled. 

1947 Map 1946 Map 1947 Map 1947 Map 

Following the line to Porthcawl on the modern maps little survives. There is a bridge over the west facing chord (now at the corner of Cilgant Y Lein) and a stretch of trackbed between South Cornely and Nottage survives as a farm track, complete with a bridge over Moor Lane. The trackbed in to Porthcawl is now occupied by the A4106 and the former station site now a car park.