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Heart of Wales line

February 11, 2024

The Heart of Wales line (Welsh: Llinell Calon Cymru)[1] is a railway line running from Craven Arms in Shropshire to Llanelli in southwest Wales. It serves a number of rural centres, including the nineteenth-century spa towns Llandrindod Wells, Llangammarch Wells and Llanwrtyd Wells. At Builth Road, two miles (3.3 km) from the town of Builth Wells, the line crosses the former route of the earlier Mid Wales Railway, which closed in the 1960s.

Heart of Wales line
The Heart of Wales line south of Sugar Loaf
Overview
Other name(s)Heart of Wales Railway
Rheilffordd Calon Cymru
Native nameLlinell Calon Cymru (Welsh)
OwnerNetwork Rail
LocaleSouth West Wales
Mid Wales
Shropshire
Termini
Stations29
Service
TypeHeavy rail
SystemNational Rail
Operator(s)Transport for Wales Rail
Rolling stockClass 150 DMU, Class 153 DMU
History
Opened1868
Technical
Line lengthCraven Arms – Llanelli
90 mi (144.84 km)
Shrewsbury – Swansea
121 mi (194.73 km)
Number of tracksMainly single track
CharacterRural
Track gauge4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Operating speed60 mph (97 km/h) (max)
Route map
Heart of Wales line
Legend

History edit

 
The start of the line at Craven Arms, where it diverges from the Welsh Marches line
 
Pantyffynnon railway station

Historically, the line was known as the Central Wales line (Welsh: Rheilffordd Canol Cymru)[nb 1] and also included routes through Gowerton, where the railway crossed the West Wales lines and ran through Dunvant and Killay then down through the Clyne Valley to Blackpill, and then along the sea wall to Swansea Bay station, (near the former slip bridge) before finally reaching Swansea Victoria railway station. This section, originally built by the Llanelly Railway and Dock Company to compete with the Great Western Railway and break the monopoly they held on Swansea Dock, closed in 1964. Nationalisation of the railways had removed the need for competing routes, and the running down and closure of Swansea North Dock ended the need for freight services on this section. Trains now use the original LR main line to reach the West Wales lines at Llandeilo Junction and thence Llanelli and (after a reversal) Swansea.

North of Llandovery, the route was opened in stages between 1861 and 1868 by a number of different companies (all backed by the LNWR) – the Knighton Railway, the Central Wales Railway and Central Wales Extension Railway.

The 1963 Beeching Report proposed the entire Central Wales line be closed but this was refused by the MoT except for the Pontarddulais to Swansea Victoria section.[2] As a rural branch line, it survived the Beeching Axe since it carried freight traffic, serving the steelworks at Bynea and industrial areas such as Ammanford and Pontarddulais, linking them with the docks at Llanelli. It also passed through six marginal constituencies.[3] During engineering work, the line is still occasionally used as a diversionary freight route. The basic service over the line since the seventies has remained more or less constant, with four or five trains per day in each direction on weekdays and two or three on Sundays (although the latter ran in summer only until quite recently).

The line is single track throughout (except for a few miles at the southern end shared with the Swansea District line) and has been operated under a Light Railway Order since 1972.[4] There are five passing loops, at Llandeilo, Llandovery, Llanwrtyd, Llandrindod and Knighton. Unless "Out of Course" working occurs the Llanwrtyd passing loop is used on two of the Monday – Saturday services and the Llandrindod passing loop is in use on the other two and also on the Sunday services. The signalling was modernised in 1986,[5] when a system known as No Signalman Token Remote working was introduced. This is overseen by the signaller at Pantyffynnon, with the token instruments at the aforementioned five passing loops being operated by the train crew (the surviving signal boxes at each station having been closed as part of the modernisation scheme and the points converted to automatic operation by British Rail).

For more than two years only two of the loops (Llandrindod and Llanwrtyd) were operational as Network Rail were unable to source spare parts for the points mechanisms used at all five: the design used is now obsolete. Parts had to be taken from the three decommissioned loops to keep the other two operational.[6] In 2009 NR stated their intention to install new conventional electric point machines at all five loops and restore the three out-of-service ones to full working order (after being heavily criticised by the chairman of the South Wales branch of Railfuture at the organisation's recent Annual General Meeting)[7] but were unable to give a timescale for this to be carried out as design work on the new equipment was still ongoing. NR began the replacement works for the points after first installing the system on the line to Pembroke Dock, at the Tenby loop, on 7 December 2009 and then making minor alterations in Feb 2010. Llandeilo was the first on the line to be modernised, the rest followed. The £5 million project was completed in October 2010.[8]

In 2014 Network Rail added exit indicators at the trailing end of each loop to aid in the reversing of services: a decision taken so that all moves have an active indication of the status of the motor points.

In 1987 tragedy struck the line near Llandeilo when the Glanrhyd Bridge collapsed following heavy flooding, and an early morning northbound train plunged into the swollen River Towy, killing four people.[9] For a while the future of the line was in doubt (the equally rural Carmarthen-Aberystwyth line had been closed in 1965 following serious flood damage as the cost of repairs was deemed unacceptable) but political forces of all sides rallied to ensure the line's survival.

Route edit

After leaving the West Wales Line at Llandeilo Junction (east of Llanelli), the route is shared with the Swansea District line as far as Morlais Junction (the site of a serious oil train derailment in the summer of 2020) before passing beneath the M4 Motorway & turning northwards towards Pontarddulais and Pantyfynnon. The short tunnel before the former station is the oldest surviving example still in use in Wales (dating from 1839), whilst the freight-only branch along the Amman valley to Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen diverges at the latter. North of Ammanford, it follows the valley of the River Tywi north to Llandeilo (formerly the junction for Carmarthen) and then Llandovery, crossing the river at Glanrhyd by a replacement single-span bridge built & commissioned in 1988. North of Llandovery the character of the route changes, as it ascends into the Carmarthenshire hills towards the first of the line's two major summits at Sugar Loaf (820 feet (250 m) above sea level) on gradients as steep as 1 in 60.[10] En route, it passes over the 283-yard (259 m) long Cynghordy viaduct across the Afon Bran valley before crossing the county boundary into Powys through the 1001-yd (915 m) summit tunnel beneath the Black Mountain range. A descent at 1 in 70-80 follows to Llanwrtyd Wells along the valley of the River Irfon, from where it continues via Builth Road to Llandrindod Wells - the largest settlement on the line.

From Llandrindod, the line climbs steadily once more, skirting the Radnor Forest as it heads for the remote station at Llanbister Road (some 5 miles (8 km) distant from the village it is named after) and another summit near Llangynllo Tunnel, the highest point on the route at 980 feet (299 m) above sea level. There then follows a 4-mile (6.4 km) descent (again at mostly 1 in 60) to Knucklas, where the line is carried above the village on a 193-yd (176 m) viaduct with ornate castellated turrets at each end. It then heads to Knighton, where the station is in England but the town it serves is in Wales.[10] The last portion of the route then runs through southwest Shropshire along the valleys of the River Teme & River Clun to join the main Shrewsbury to Hereford line at Craven Arms.

Services today edit

 
Train on Cynghordy Viaduct

Passenger services edit

For many years there were four trains per day in each direction on weekdays and two on Sundays. From May 2015 an additional Monday to Friday train pair in each direction was introduced north of Llandrindod and south of Llandovery, ostensibly to improve commuting possibilities, although the consequential changes to existing services substantially lengthened the working day for those travelling to Shrewsbury.[11] Trains are one or two carriages each, with a small team of staff. A buffet trolley service runs occasionally.[when?] The Heart of Wales line runs from Llanelli to Craven Arms, however train services normally terminate at Shrewsbury and Swansea. Two northbound weekday trains travel onwards from Shrewsbury to Crewe, bringing the total journey length to 153.5 miles (247.03 kilometres), and one starts from Crewe southbound. Most stations are request stops. From December 2022 a fifth train through train each way has been introduced as well as a later Shrewsbury-Llandrindod round trip and a late Swansea - Llandovery out and return service on weekdays only.

At Craven Arms, the line joins the Welsh Marches line to Church Stretton and Shrewsbury.

Passenger services are operated by Transport for Wales Rail using Class 150 or Class 153 diesel multiple units, although Class 175s have been used on rare occasions.[citation needed] The continued use of Class 153 DMUs has received criticism, notably from Kirsty Williams AM, who says:

The 153 units have a poor reliability record, can carry few bicycles—which we desperately need to be carried on the line—little bulky luggage, and offer poor visibility, and this on a line that is supposedly promoted as scenic.[12]

The line has also been used for exceptional train movements, including:

 
GW/WR Pannier Tank in sidings of Tirydail Colliery, near Ammanford in 1962

Freight services edit

Although no regular scheduled freight services use this line, the route is maintained to W5 standard to accommodate the occasional EWS diversions for Margam and Llanwern traffic when the south Wales route is closed.

Community rail edit

This is designated as a community rail partnership.[13]

See also edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ Network Rail still uses the name for the line, in an infrastructure sense.

References edit

  1. ^ "TfW Network Map" (PDF). Transport for Wales. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
  2. ^ Dunn, J.M. (May 1964). "Welsh Reprieve, part one". Railway Magazine. Vol. 110, no. 757. pp. 404–412.
  3. ^ Morgan, Kenneth O. (1981). Rebirth of a Nation: Wales, 1880-1980. Oxford University Press. p. 329. ISBN 978-0-19-821736-7.
  4. ^ Central Wales Railway Light Railway (Amendment) Order 1990 www.opsi.gov.uk; Retrieved 2003-03-02
  5. ^ NSTR Signalling www.railsigns.co.uk; retrieved 2009-02-27
  6. ^ News Article in RAIL Magazine, Issue 614, p.15
  7. ^ Heart of Wales Line In Danger 2012-10-05 at the Wayback Machine Wales Online; Retrieved 2009-03-28
  8. ^ News Article in RAIL Magazine, Issue 656, p.19
  9. ^ "Glanrhyd disaster: Memories of train tragedy 30 years on". BBC News. 19 October 2017.
  10. ^ a b "Heart of Wales Railway" Doughty, Audrey, Llandeilo Past & Present
  11. ^ Table 129 National Rail timetable, May 2015
  12. ^ – Speech by Kirsty Williams AM on Wed 16th Nov 2005 – archived from original
  13. ^ (PDF). Association of Community Rail Partnerships. 28 July 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 November 2015. Retrieved 28 October 2015.

External links edit

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Heart of Wales Line.
  • Heart of Wales Line website
  • Heart of Wales Line Travellers Association website
  • Glanrhyd Rail Disaster BBC Report
  • Scenic Rail Britain: Heart of Wales Line page
  • Video footage of Llandrindod station
  • Video footage of Knucklas Station

February 11, 2024
heart, wales, line, welsh, llinell, calon, cymru, railway, line, running, from, craven, arms, shropshire, llanelli, southwest, wales, serves, number, rural, centres, including, nineteenth, century, towns, llandrindod, wells, llangammarch, wells, llanwrtyd, wel. The Heart of Wales line Welsh Llinell Calon Cymru 1 is a railway line running from Craven Arms in Shropshire to Llanelli in southwest Wales It serves a number of rural centres including the nineteenth century spa towns Llandrindod Wells Llangammarch Wells and Llanwrtyd Wells At Builth Road two miles 3 3 km from the town of Builth Wells the line crosses the former route of the earlier Mid Wales Railway which closed in the 1960s Heart of Wales lineThe Heart of Wales line south of Sugar LoafOverviewOther name s Heart of Wales RailwayRheilffordd Calon CymruNative nameLlinell Calon Cymru Welsh OwnerNetwork RailLocaleSouth West WalesMid WalesShropshireTerminiCraven ArmsLlanelliStations29ServiceTypeHeavy railSystemNational RailOperator s Transport for Wales RailRolling stockClass 150 DMU Class 153 DMUHistoryOpened1868TechnicalLine lengthCraven Arms Llanelli90 mi 144 84 km Shrewsbury Swansea121 mi 194 73 km Number of tracksMainly single trackCharacterRuralTrack gauge4 ft 8 1 2 in 1 435 mm standard gaugeOperating speed60 mph 97 km h max Route mapvteHeart of Wales lineLegendWelsh Marches lineto ShrewsburyCraven ArmsCraven Arms JunctionWelsh Marches lineto HerefordBroomeHopton HeathBucknellKnightonEnglandWalesKnucklasKnucklas ViaductLlangynlloLlanbister RoadDolauPen y BontLlandrindodMid Wales Railwayto Brecon Mount StreetBuilth RoadMid Wales Railwayto LlanidloesCilmeriGarthLlangammarchLlanwrtydSugar LoafCynghordy ViaductCynghordyLlandoveryLlanwrdaLlangadogLlandeiloLlanelly Railwayto CarmarthenFfairfachLlandybieAmmanfordLlanelly Railwayto Tairgwaith CollieryPantyffynnonPontarddulaisRiver LoughorHendy JunctionSwansea District lineto Briton FerryMorlais JunctionLlangennechByneaWest Wales linesto CarmarthenLlanelliWest Wales linesto Swansea Contents 1 History 2 Route 3 Services today 3 1 Passenger services 3 2 Freight services 3 3 Community rail 4 See also 5 Notes 6 References 7 External linksHistory edit nbsp The start of the line at Craven Arms where it diverges from the Welsh Marches line nbsp Pantyffynnon railway stationHistorically the line was known as the Central Wales line Welsh Rheilffordd Canol Cymru nb 1 and also included routes through Gowerton where the railway crossed the West Wales lines and ran through Dunvant and Killay then down through the Clyne Valley to Blackpill and then along the sea wall to Swansea Bay station near the former slip bridge before finally reaching Swansea Victoria railway station This section originally built by the Llanelly Railway and Dock Company to compete with the Great Western Railway and break the monopoly they held on Swansea Dock closed in 1964 Nationalisation of the railways had removed the need for competing routes and the running down and closure of Swansea North Dock ended the need for freight services on this section Trains now use the original LR main line to reach the West Wales lines at Llandeilo Junction and thence Llanelli and after a reversal Swansea North of Llandovery the route was opened in stages between 1861 and 1868 by a number of different companies all backed by the LNWR the Knighton Railway the Central Wales Railway and Central Wales Extension Railway The 1963 Beeching Report proposed the entire Central Wales line be closed but this was refused by the MoT except for the Pontarddulais to Swansea Victoria section 2 As a rural branch line it survived the Beeching Axe since it carried freight traffic serving the steelworks at Bynea and industrial areas such as Ammanford and Pontarddulais linking them with the docks at Llanelli It also passed through six marginal constituencies 3 During engineering work the line is still occasionally used as a diversionary freight route The basic service over the line since the seventies has remained more or less constant with four or five trains per day in each direction on weekdays and two or three on Sundays although the latter ran in summer only until quite recently The line is single track throughout except for a few miles at the southern end shared with the Swansea District line and has been operated under a Light Railway Order since 1972 4 There are five passing loops at Llandeilo Llandovery Llanwrtyd Llandrindod and Knighton Unless Out of Course working occurs the Llanwrtyd passing loop is used on two of the Monday Saturday services and the Llandrindod passing loop is in use on the other two and also on the Sunday services The signalling was modernised in 1986 5 when a system known as No Signalman Token Remote working was introduced This is overseen by the signaller at Pantyffynnon with the token instruments at the aforementioned five passing loops being operated by the train crew the surviving signal boxes at each station having been closed as part of the modernisation scheme and the points converted to automatic operation by British Rail For more than two years only two of the loops Llandrindod and Llanwrtyd were operational as Network Rail were unable to source spare parts for the points mechanisms used at all five the design used is now obsolete Parts had to be taken from the three decommissioned loops to keep the other two operational 6 In 2009 NR stated their intention to install new conventional electric point machines at all five loops and restore the three out of service ones to full working order after being heavily criticised by the chairman of the South Wales branch of Railfuture at the organisation s recent Annual General Meeting 7 but were unable to give a timescale for this to be carried out as design work on the new equipment was still ongoing NR began the replacement works for the points after first installing the system on the line to Pembroke Dock at the Tenby loop on 7 December 2009 and then making minor alterations in Feb 2010 Llandeilo was the first on the line to be modernised the rest followed The 5 million project was completed in October 2010 8 In 2014 Network Rail added exit indicators at the trailing end of each loop to aid in the reversing of services a decision taken so that all moves have an active indication of the status of the motor points In 1987 tragedy struck the line near Llandeilo when the Glanrhyd Bridge collapsed following heavy flooding and an early morning northbound train plunged into the swollen River Towy killing four people 9 For a while the future of the line was in doubt the equally rural Carmarthen Aberystwyth line had been closed in 1965 following serious flood damage as the cost of repairs was deemed unacceptable but political forces of all sides rallied to ensure the line s survival Route editAfter leaving the West Wales Line at Llandeilo Junction east of Llanelli the route is shared with the Swansea District line as far as Morlais Junction the site of a serious oil train derailment in the summer of 2020 before passing beneath the M4 Motorway amp turning northwards towards Pontarddulais and Pantyfynnon The short tunnel before the former station is the oldest surviving example still in use in Wales dating from 1839 whilst the freight only branch along the Amman valley to Gwaun Cae Gurwen diverges at the latter North of Ammanford it follows the valley of the River Tywi north to Llandeilo formerly the junction for Carmarthen and then Llandovery crossing the river at Glanrhyd by a replacement single span bridge built amp commissioned in 1988 North of Llandovery the character of the route changes as it ascends into the Carmarthenshire hills towards the first of the line s two major summits at Sugar Loaf 820 feet 250 m above sea level on gradients as steep as 1 in 60 10 En route it passes over the 283 yard 259 m long Cynghordy viaduct across the Afon Bran valley before crossing the county boundary into Powys through the 1001 yd 915 m summit tunnel beneath the Black Mountain range A descent at 1 in 70 80 follows to Llanwrtyd Wells along the valley of the River Irfon from where it continues via Builth Road to Llandrindod Wells the largest settlement on the line From Llandrindod the line climbs steadily once more skirting the Radnor Forest as it heads for the remote station at Llanbister Road some 5 miles 8 km distant from the village it is named after and another summit near Llangynllo Tunnel the highest point on the route at 980 feet 299 m above sea level There then follows a 4 mile 6 4 km descent again at mostly 1 in 60 to Knucklas where the line is carried above the village on a 193 yd 176 m viaduct with ornate castellated turrets at each end It then heads to Knighton where the station is in England but the town it serves is in Wales 10 The last portion of the route then runs through southwest Shropshire along the valleys of the River Teme amp River Clun to join the main Shrewsbury to Hereford line at Craven Arms Services today edit nbsp Train on Cynghordy ViaductPassenger services edit For many years there were four trains per day in each direction on weekdays and two on Sundays From May 2015 an additional Monday to Friday train pair in each direction was introduced north of Llandrindod and south of Llandovery ostensibly to improve commuting possibilities although the consequential changes to existing services substantially lengthened the working day for those travelling to Shrewsbury 11 Trains are one or two carriages each with a small team of staff A buffet trolley service runs occasionally when The Heart of Wales line runs from Llanelli to Craven Arms however train services normally terminate at Shrewsbury and Swansea Two northbound weekday trains travel onwards from Shrewsbury to Crewe bringing the total journey length to 153 5 miles 247 03 kilometres and one starts from Crewe southbound Most stations are request stops From December 2022 a fifth train through train each way has been introduced as well as a later Shrewsbury Llandrindod round trip and a late Swansea Llandovery out and return service on weekdays only At Craven Arms the line joins the Welsh Marches line to Church Stretton and Shrewsbury Passenger services are operated by Transport for Wales Rail using Class 150 or Class 153 diesel multiple units although Class 175s have been used on rare occasions citation needed The continued use of Class 153 DMUs has received criticism notably from Kirsty Williams AM who says The 153 units have a poor reliability record can carry few bicycles which we desperately need to be carried on the line little bulky luggage and offer poor visibility and this on a line that is supposedly promoted as scenic 12 The line has also been used for exceptional train movements including Manchester to Carmarthen trains diverted during engineering works between Briton Ferry and Bridgend Builth Road has special trains from Cardiff for the Royal Welsh Show which operate via the Swansea District line between Briton Ferry and Pontarddulais Charter trains taking in the scenic beauty of the route such as The Welshman s charter on Saturday 30 April 2011 nbsp GW WR Pannier Tank in sidings of Tirydail Colliery near Ammanford in 1962Freight services edit Although no regular scheduled freight services use this line the route is maintained to W5 standard to accommodate the occasional EWS diversions for Margam and Llanwern traffic when the south Wales route is closed Community rail edit This is designated as a community rail partnership 13 See also edit nbsp Wales portal nbsp England portalRailways of Shropshire History of Wales Royal Welsh Show Heart of Wales Line TrailNotes edit Network Rail still uses the name for the line in an infrastructure sense References edit TfW Network Map PDF Transport for Wales Retrieved 8 December 2021 Dunn J M May 1964 Welsh Reprieve part one Railway Magazine Vol 110 no 757 pp 404 412 Morgan Kenneth O 1981 Rebirth of a Nation Wales 1880 1980 Oxford University Press p 329 ISBN 978 0 19 821736 7 Central Wales Railway Light Railway Amendment Order 1990 www opsi gov uk Retrieved 2003 03 02 NSTR Signalling www railsigns co uk retrieved 2009 02 27 News Article in RAIL Magazine Issue 614 p 15 Heart of Wales Line In Danger Archived 2012 10 05 at the Wayback Machine Wales Online Retrieved 2009 03 28 News Article in RAIL Magazine Issue 656 p 19 Glanrhyd disaster Memories of train tragedy 30 years on BBC News 19 October 2017 a b Heart of Wales Railway Doughty Audrey Llandeilo Past amp Present Table 129 National Rail timetable May 2015 Developing the Heart of Wales Line Speech by Kirsty Williams AM on Wed 16th Nov 2005 archived from original ACORP Summary map PDF Association of Community Rail Partnerships 28 July 2014 Archived from the original PDF on 18 November 2015 Retrieved 28 October 2015 External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Heart of Wales Line Heart of Wales Line website Heart of Wales Line Travellers Association website Arriva Trains Wales Heart of Wales Line timetable Glanrhyd Rail Disaster BBC Report Scenic Rail Britain Heart of Wales Line page Video footage of Llandrindod station Video footage of Knucklas Station Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Heart of Wales line amp oldid 1185318578, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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