Teifi Valley Railway

With the opening of the South Wales Railway, Carmarthen's economic prosperity grew. A scheme to link Carmarthen with a proposed deep-water port in Cardigan found form as the Camarthen and Cardigan Railway; a troubled scheme which opened in stages (hindered by the challenging topography of the Gwili valley and the sheer expense incurred in the construction of the Pencader Tunnel). Despite its name, the company only achieved construction of a line as far Llandysul, opening in 1864. The company fell into receivership shortly thereafter.

With the ambition of furthering the line to Newcastle Emlyn, The Tivy Side Railway Company was incorporated and authorised to extend the line. Despite progressing to the point where the project received an authorising Act of Parliament, the scheme never became a reality and the extension remained unbuilt.[1]

Amidst an uncertain future and a difficult financial position, the Carmarthen and Cardigan Railway was eventually leased to the Great Western Railway, with absorption by the latter taking place by 1882.[2] The corresponding Act of Parliament combined the authorising of both the sale of the undertaking with re-authorising the construction of an extension to Newcastle Emlyn.[3]

Preparations to extend the line beyond Llandysul remained slow; only by March 1890 were the Great Western Railway inviting tenders for the construction contract.[4] Progress was hampered by the abandonment of the contract by the original contractor, a Mr Rugby;[5] however construction, led by a Mr Jones of Neath, was underway by March 1892, with completion of the extension anticipated by the end of the following year.[6] By July 1893, the construction had reached Trebedw, but completion remained elusive.[7] With much fanfare and celebration, the line between Llandysul and Newcastle Emlyn was finally opened in July 1895.[8] There was one intermediate station at Henllan; joined by Pentrecourt Halt, which opened in 1912, seventeen years after the line opened.[9] The opening of an additional intermediate halt had been subject to extensive local support and petitioning.[10]

With the Great Western Railway's link to Cardigan from Carmarthen via the Whitland and Cardigan Railway and South Wales Railway, the route did not extend beyond Newcastle Emlyn. The line never progressed further.

The line ultimately carried passengers for less than sixty years; being a rural branch line and serving a sparse local population, the passenger service was withdrawn along on 13 September 1952,[9] a consequence of post-nationalisation rationalisation.

In addition to enthusiast railtours,[9][11] freight traffic continued until 1973. The entirety of the line between the Carmarthen and Newcastle Emlyn stations closed in September 1973 [9] (Pentrecourt Halt had closed with the cessation of passenger services in 1952,[12] and Henllan had closed in 1965 [13]).

The structures and earthworks comprising the permanent way of the former line remained in place in their entirety. Station sites were either demolished or redeveloped.[13][12][9]

The Dyfed Railway Company was incorporated on 5 December 1973 [14] as a vehicle for purchasing the trackbed and attaining a requisite Light Railway Order. Preservation efforts were initially lead by Dr. George Penn,[15] with early efforts focused on purchase of the line before it was dismantled, and running a preserved standard gauge undertaking. However, such efforts were not as successful as the concurrent project further down the valleys at Bronwydd Arms railway station, where the Gwili Railway had been successful in negotiating the purchase of a single mile of in situ track; the Newcastle Emlyn branch was lifted in 1975.[13]

Eventually, a Light Railway Order was acquired and the trackbed, between the sites of Llandysul and Newcastle Emlyn stations, was purchased. By 1983, a single kilometre of 2 ft (610 mm) gauge track had been laid between the original site of Henllan station and a site adjacent to a bridge spanning a deep gully. This site was given the designation of Pontprenshitw Station. The railway was formally opened to the public by Peter Prior CBE on 9 April 1986.[16]

In 1989, the line was extended to a site near Llandyfriog village,[17] and finally, in 2006, the line was extended along the original alignment to the point of a removed over bridge that previously spanned the River Teifi. This terminus was named Llandyfriog Riverside.

Additionally, from July 2009, the Henllan platform was relocated to the site of the original platforms, having occupied a site to the immediate west of the Henllan road overbridge since 1983.[18]

In recent years, the Railway suffered a loss of trained and managerial personnel, as well as volunteers essential for the line's operation. A licence agreement delegated certain functions of the railway and the site to a local businessman. The condition of the railway declined to a state where, in 2014, an ORR inspection raised significant concerns about the safety of the track. In response, the licensee arranged for the removal of the track between Henllan and Pontprenshitw, and commenced the operation of a 'land train' (tractor-hauled carriages).[19]

During this time, items of rolling stock left the station site, and a significant amount of tree felling took place beyond the Pontprenshitw Station site. In addition, the former licensee was made subject to a bankruptcy order.[20]

Former members of railway management and operations staff returned to oversee and support restoration efforts.[19] Site repair and rejuvenation, and track relaying, is ongoing.

For the sake of clarity, this section will describe the route of the narrow gauge line when fully operational; that is to say, the length of the line prior to 2014.

The route of the line for the first kilometre due west out of Henllan is not notable from an engineering standpoint, travelling on a shallow embankment through forest. The only overbridge on the narrow gauge line is to the immediate west of the Henllan station site, and carries the B4334 over the line.

After a short north-westerly curve, the narrow gauge line originally terminated at Pontprenshitw Station, when operations first began in 1985. This new station site was named after the substantial single-arch brick-built bridge carrying the railway over the River Cynllo gorge and a historic Celtic leat, which sits just to the west of this new station site. The bridge, structure number 54 on the line, was built by Joseph Hamlet of West Bromwich in 1893. The origin of the name, Pontprenshitw, is multi-faceted - it could either refer to the wooden frame used during construction of the bridge in 1893, or to an access structure over the Cynllo that pre-dated the railway.[21] In 1989, when the narrow gauge line was extended to Llandyfriog, Pontprenshitw Station remained open and used as a halt during the return journey, at which point passengers were able to explore the gorge below.

West of Pontprenshitw bridge, the line sits on an embankment that forms part of the Teifi Valley wall. The route crosses Bridge 55, 'Mini-Pont',[22] a small arched access bridge, before a short straight section brings the line to the site of the former Llandyfriog station. This was the second terminus of the narrow gauge line, opening with the 1989 extension, and was also a new station, not a reconstruction of a former site on the original GWR line. Llandyfriog Station, sitting somewhat east to Llandyfriog village, was closed upon the opening of the narrow gauge railway's second extension in 2006. There was formerly a passing loop for the hauling locomotive to move to the back of the train in order to perform the return trip back to Henllan.

Over the winter of 2005/6, the most recent extension was completed,[22] taking the narrow gauge line to the new Llandyfriog Riverside station. The alignment, by this point an embankment slightly above river level, adjoined the A475 for a short distance, crossing three small access underbridges along the way, providing access to riverside houses and farmland. The narrow gauge line reaches its third terminus at Llandyfriog Riverside, extending to a point just before Pont Goch; a double-span girder bridge which, during GWR operation, carried the line over the River Teifi. The bridge was left in place upon closure in 1973, but became structurally compromised years later. Heavy rainfall in the Autumn of 1987 dislodged the western abutment causing the second span to collapse, and was later removed. The eastern span remains sound, and is used as a viewing point at Llandyfriog Riverside station.