Brecon...railway connection?

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Have there been any recent proposals to connect Brecon to the national rail network?

In the old days, it was a key link to a number of railway services.

 

[anthony263]

Might be a bit difficult to extend the Merthyr Tydfil line these days with all the building work around the station and various new roads.

 

[Tumbleweed]

It would be amazing to have that back, the scenery through the Beacons would make it worthwhile alone. But as has been mentioned the track bed has been re-developed in many places.

 

[Greenback]

I'm not aware of any proposals to reopen any of the lines to Brecon. Which doesn't mean there haven't been any, of course!

 

[Quakers Yard]

Lovely thought but as someone who drives everyday from here to Brecon it would be impossible.
I would be lovely to get to work by train though!

 

[Bevan Price]

Brecon is probably too small to support a viable railway service. Plus, due to local geography, most of the routes to Brecon were either indirect, involved steep gradients, and/or passed through miles of sparsely populated countryside.

 

[martinsh]

Strangely eough the "easiest" route to Brecon - up the Usk valley from Abergavenny never had a railway.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Strangely eough the "easiest" route to Brecon - up the Usk valley from Abergavenny never had a railway.

A line up there would be useful for at least one weekend each summer, taking crowds to Green Man festival at Crickhowell...

 

[Emyr]

Brecon has a well-known Jazz festival.

 

[rf_ioliver]

I guess you could extend the Brecon Moutain Railway in both directions?

t.

Ian

 

[Cardiffian]

I've always thought the Brecon-Hereford line via Hay-on-Wye should've been kept open (and apparently this was discussed when the other lines shut).

A glimmer of hope is the proposed re-opening to passengers of the freight line to Cwm Bargoed, which has also been suggested for extension to Dowlais.

http://democracy.merthyr.gov.uk/documents/s23176/Committee Report.pdf

This takes it very close to the Brecon Mountain Railway. Should this reopening happen - it's linked with housing developments planned for the industrial sites at the top of the valley - it would offer a route for reconnecting Brecon to Cardiff. The New Adlestrop railway atlas shows the old track going via Talyllyn Junction and Talybont. It'd be a very scenic tourist route if nothing else!

http://www.geowiki.com/New_Adlestrop_Railway_Atlas.pdf

 

[Greenback]

Brecon is probably too small to support a viable railway service. Plus, due to local geography, most of the routes to Brecon were either indirect, involved steep gradients, and/or passed through miles of sparsely populated countryside.

This is true.

Strangely eough the "easiest" route to Brecon - up the Usk valley from Abergavenny never had a railway.

This is also true.

I've always thought the Brecon-Hereford line via Hay-on-Wye should've been kept open (and apparently this was discussed when the other lines shut).

If there were to be a campaign to restore a rail connection to Brecon, I think that the Hereford route would be the more viable option. As a child I had a desire to see trains running again between Swansea and Hereford via Brecon, such a dream should probably be considered to be even less likely than Carmarthen to Aberystwyth being reopened!

 

[PHILIPE]

There were 4 routes to Brecon at one time, Hereford, Merthyr, Moat Land and Swansea Valley. However, it is too remote from any current operational route to enable new line/re-opening feasible.

 

[Greenback]

There were 4 routes to Brecon at one time, Hereford, Merthyr, Moat Land and Swansea Valley. However, it is too remote from any current operational route to enable new line/re-opening feasible.

I can't disagree with that. I just think that if it ever were to be considered in the future, the best bet would be linking Brecon with Hay and Hereford.

But we are decades away from that, at the very least.

 

[Cardiffian]

On a slightly related note, it'd be good to reopen the station at Pontrilas, roughly halfway between Abergavenny and Hereford. Much of the infrastructure is still there including a freight siding. There's a local campaign and it's often mentioned as an aspiration by the Herefordshire rail groups.

Obviously it's not near Brecon but it's on a long section of line without any stations.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

There were 4 routes to Brecon at one time, Hereford, Merthyr, Moat Land and Swansea Valley. However, it is too remote from any current operational route to enable new line/re-opening feasible.

Where was the Moat Land route and what was its starting and terminating points?

 

[8H]

Give the bloke a break !! he only spelt Moat Land instead of Moat Lane Junction

 

[PHILIPE]

Where was the Moat Land route and what was its starting and terminating points?

Apologies for hitting the wrong key and not checking before posting.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Regrettably - any train service into Brecon was an economic basket case - even in the 19thC.

I do recall , as a very young boy being taken by bus to Brecon (had a string of relatives there) , nagging to be taken to the station , courteously welcomed by the staff that at 1400 there were no trains expected until 1700 or so - and reluctantly departed. This was Summer 1962 - so they would all have been redundant fairly quickly. A shame - but the Hereford line might have had some retention potential.

 

[Doctor Fegg]

Hereford-Brecon won't happen simply because any line to a Welsh town would be driven and funded by the Welsh Government. Wales is not interested in funding a line to Hereford and DfT is not interested in funding a line to Brecon. It would be the Cumberland Gap all over again.

Dowlais-Brecon is vanishingly unlikely but an intriguing possibility nonetheless.

 

[Gareth Marston]

Regrettably - any train service into Brecon was an economic basket case - even in the 19thC.

I do recall , as a very young boy being taken by bus to Brecon (had a string of relatives there) , nagging to be taken to the station , courteously welcomed by the staff that at 1400 there were no trains expected until 1700 or so - and reluctantly departed. This was Summer 1962 - so they would all have been redundant fairly quickly. A shame - but the Hereford line might have had some retention potential.

Still had 16 arrivals and departures each day even then they of course they all split at Talyllyn Jnc and Three Cocks Jnc.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Hereford-Brecon won't happen simply because any line to a Welsh town would be driven and funded by the Welsh Government. Wales is not interested in funding a line to Hereford and DfT is not interested in funding a line to Brecon. It would be the Cumberland Gap all over again.

Dowlais-Brecon is vanishingly unlikely but an intriguing possibility nonetheless.

The A465 is the big stumbling block. Dowlais Top is underneath a roundabout with a dual carriageway either side of it now. However the Cae Harris site in Dowlais is undeveloped and you could easily get the railway back in there.

 

[anthony263]

The problem would be connecting up with the line @ Merthyr Tydfil

 

[Greenback]

The problem would be connecting up with the line @ Merthyr Tydfil

You're right. I think that any solution would be very expensive!

 

[edwin_m]

Quite apart from the England-Wales factor, I doubt Hereford is a big enough destination for trains from Brecon and there's nothing really big in that direction until you get to the West Midlands. Seeing as Cardiff only justifies two or three coaches an hour from Birmingham it's unlikely s north-eastward route from Brecon would wash its face in any way.

It seems to me any rail service would have to serve Cardiff directly or by an easy connection with a good average speed, which suggests a totally new line to Abergavenny rather than trying to reinstate any of the disused ones. It's a shame we aren't allowed to convert canals into railways any more!

But seriously, with a population of less than 10,000 at Brecon and a few thousand more in the villages in between, and the whole area within a National Park, it's not going to happen.

 

[Greenback]

I agree it's not going to happen, the same as Carmarthen to Aberystwyth. If it did, I still think that the Hereford line would be the best option. There is the possibility of a through Birmingham service via Worcester, with connections to and from London, which would help visitors to the area rather than the small amount of business and leisure travellers that would want to go to Cardiff.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Brecon is exceedingly tricky to get to without a car - one gathers there is no direct service from the Neath area to Merthyr or Brecon (I stand to be corrected) - I did once come across a passenger making the connection by bus from Abergavenny (having come from Mansfield via Salop) ...a first stage would be to put in decent "semi-fast" bus links in - Carmarthen - Aberystwyth is pretty good I gather. One of the franchise bidders proposed (pre Arriva) a comprehensive all Wales feeder network - but it came to nothing.

 

[Gareth Marston]

Brecon is exceedingly tricky to get to without a car - one gathers there is no direct service from the Neath area to Merthyr or Brecon (I stand to be corrected) - I did once come across a passenger making the connection by bus from Abergavenny (having come from Mansfield via Salop) ...a first stage would be to put in decent "semi-fast" bus links in - Carmarthen - Aberystwyth is pretty good I gather. One of the franchise bidders proposed (pre Arriva) a comprehensive all Wales feeder network - but it came to nothing.

The T4 Traws Cymru bus route from Cardiff to Newtown is hourly to Brecon via Pontypridd and Merthyr but only 8 a day north of Brecon, the last departure from Merthyr for Newtown is 1520!

 

[anthony263]

New Adventure Travel run the X63/63 Swansea - Ystradgynlais - Brecon service which every 2 hours/90 minutes.

I agree the T4 needs improving particulary an later service from Cardiff at around 1635 which gets into Newtown at around 8pm.

 

[Doctor Fegg]

There's a Hereford-Brecon service too, via Hay (the 39).

Personally I just cycle along the south side of the Usk valley from Abergavenny.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

New Adventure Travel run the X63/63 Swansea - Ystradgynlais - Brecon service which every 2 hours/90 minutes.

I agree the T4 needs improving particulary an later service from Cardiff at around 1635 which gets into Newtown at around 8pm.

Thanks for that - may get round to a walk along the trackbed from Cray to Penwyllt - or so - when this miserable weather is over. (I can remember seeing the line alongside the reservoir - but did not see a train - there werent many in 1964 !)