A round trip from Port Talbot Parkway station to Efail-fach, Abergwynfi and Glyncorrwyg.
Distance 34.8 Miles
The Afan Valley in South Wales has become well known for its cycle trails and many of these are former railway lines. I took my bike to Port Talbot Parkway station and cycled many of the former railway routes along the valley.
Note - the suggested route on the Google Map link doesn't always follow the cycle routes shown that were built on the former railway routes. I tried to stick to the railway routes as closely as possible.
Port Talbot Central
I started with the Port Talbot Railway's Blaenavon Branch (in red on Rail Map Online). A connection to the docks once existed but this is shown as severed next to Port Talbot Central station on the 1917 map and removed completely on the 1947 map. The Port Talbot Railway's Port Talbot Central station was closed in 1933 and the area has been built on since. It was necessary to follow the roads to King Street and under the M4. The M4 occupies a stretch of former Port Talbot Railway trackbed around the town.
The cycle route is picked up on Yns y Gored close to the Margret Street Bridge, this stretch follows the trackbed to Cwmafan as it follows along the east side of the River Afan
At Cwmafan the path emerges on to London Row on the footbridge shown on the old map. Across London Row the path follows the course of the Rhondda & Swansea Bay Railway through Cwmafan with a bit of diversion around the Rugby Club built on the site.
Cwmavon
The Port Talbot Railway is accessed again east of Cwmafan off the bridge over the River Afan at the end of Heol Undeb. This bridge is on the site of an old tramway shown towards the bottom right on the above map. The cycle route is known as National Cycle Network route 887 at this point.
Pontrhydyfen
The cycle path continues along the Port Talbot line up to Efail-fach on a stretch now known as the Richard Burton Trail. It passes over Pontrhydyfen on a viaduct and emerges on to the B4287 at Efail-fach where it used to cross on a bridge, the abutments of which survive.
Below - Pontrhydyfen Viaduct
I returned to the site of the junction between the Port Talbot Railway and the Rhondda and Swansea Bay Railway south of Pontrhydyfen. This has been largely built on through the village and National Cycle Network route 887 follows the roads. The cycle route also includes the Pontrhydyfen Aquaduct, originally built to supply water to an iron works.
Below - View of the Pontrhydyfen Viaduct I crossed earlier from the Aquaduct.
Below - View of the Port Talbot to Treherbert line from Pontrhydyfen Aquaduct, the abutments of the missing bridge over the river can be seen.
The railway is accessed again from the Rhyslyn Car park built on the site of Pontrhydyfen station. It was also the site of a junction with a link to the South Wales Mineral Railway which I will come to later, in the mean time I follow the former Rhondda & Swansea Bay Railway line running along the south side of the river. The cycle route crosses on a modern bridge built on the abutments of the old railway bridge.
Cynonville Halt
1918 Map
Below - Cynonville Halt
Close to the former Cynonville Halt station is the South Wales Miners Museum which is well worth a stop off.
Below - South Wales Miners Museum
1946 Map
Cymmer
1899 Map
Shortly before Cymmer station a connection was made with the line to Maesteg as it emerged from Cymmer Tunnel. a metal viaduct also took the line across the valley to meet the South Wales Mineral Railway on the north side of the valley. Bridges of this type were once commonplace across the South Wales valleys but were mostly removed after closure of the lines, either for safety reasons or to scrap the metal. Fortunately this viaduct survives, although the deck has been removed so it is not possible to cross the viaduct.
Below - Cymmer Viaduct
The station at Cymmer also survives and is now a cafe known as the Refreshment Rooms so it makes another handy pit stop on the journey.
Below - former Cymmer Station
There were actually two parallel stations here, Cymmer Afan on the Rhondda and Swansea Bay Railway from which the above building originates and Cymmer General on the Llynfi Branch alongside to the south where the fire station now stands. These were formally amalgamated in 1950 under British Railways.
I continued to Abergwnfi. The R&SBR and the Llynfi branch ran pretty much parallel to each other as single track branches. The cycle route follows the latter route.
Blaengwnfi
1918 Map
1920 Map
Shortly before Abergwnfi the R&SBR route diverges to the north. After Blaengwnfi station it went in to Rhondda Tunnel, emerging at Blaencwm near Treherbert. The west portal of the tunnel was buried and nothing remains of the station site. There is a scheme to unearth the tunnel portal and reopen the tunnel as a cycle route. This would be a great attraction in its own right if it is reopened as well as improving access to the cycle routes from the Treherbert direction which can also be reached by train.
Rhondda Tunnel Society website
Abergwnfi
The Llynfi branch terminated in a station on Station Road, though lines continued east to various mines in the area. Nothing remains of the station.
1918 Map
I returned to Cymmer but this time crossed the River Afan to reach the Afan Valley Cycle Way on Railway Terrace. This follows the South Wales Mineral Railway.
South Wales Mineral Railway Wikipedia page
1899 Map
Glyncorrwg
I began by following the route north to Glyncorrwg, though this was a pleasant scenic ride there was little to see of the railway and mining history of the area now. Returning to Cymmer I headed west along the former South Wales Mineral Railway.
Below - Cymmer Viaduct seen from the north side where it connected to the South Wales Mineral Railway.
The section of route that now forms the Afan Valley Cycle Way contains some section of quite steep rock cut cutting. It can be appreciated that the line was originally built to Brunel's broad gauge.
Below - Cutting on the South Wales Mineral Railway
As the route passes Cynonville on the other side of the valley the path splits, the route to the right accesses the Afan Bike Park. Originally this route went in to the Gyfylchi Tunnel, though the collapse of the tunnel in 1947 led to the closure of that section of the route.
The path diverging on the left followed the Rhondda & Swansea Bay Railway link to Pontrhydyfen mentioned earlier. I followed this back to Pontrhydyfen.
I retraced my route to Cwmafan. As mentioned earlier the cycle route through Cwmafan follows the Rhondda & Swansea Bay Railway. Rather than return to the former Port Talbot Railway I followed the R&SBR in to Port Talbot.
From London Row a stretch of path runs to the B4286. This follows the course of the railway before diverting around the Trefelin Boys and Girls Club and emerging on to the B4286. The railway ran alongside the road to the east, though the road has been widened in places. Shortly after joining the B4286 the cycle route runs separately to the east in to Port Talbot.
Before passing under the motorway again the line crossed the River Afan on Velindre Bridge, this still survives and carries the cycle route, though once under the motorway it emerges in to a Tesco supermarket.
The line had a triangular junction with the main line that survives to this day and a line straight ahead to the docks. This has all been lost under modern retail development. I returned to where I started at Port Talbot Parkway station.
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