Author Archives: admin

How to build a station fence

Posted on November 19, 2021 by admin

Behind Brynhafod station is a drop, down to the factory grounds, so I’ve built a scale 8ft fence to keep the station visitors safe. Made out of matchsticks and pieces of cardboard here is a step by step record of … Continue reading →

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The people of Brynhafod

Posted on October 27, 2021 by admin

Being a small village, Brynhafod is a close knit community, everyone knows everyone else. Arfon is a Graphic Designer who runs his own company dh Graphics on Railway Terrace, he lives above the office with his dachshunds Bovril and Oxo … Continue reading →

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WW2 Pillboxes and ATBs

Posted on January 14, 2020 by admin

My interest in the second world war started at a very young age. My father grew up living next to an RAF bomber airfield during the Second World War and his interest in WW2 aircraft eventually became my interest. He … Continue reading →

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Bryn Oer Tramroad

Posted on January 11, 2020 by admin

If you are interested in walking disused railways then I recommend walking along a bridleway, at Talybont-on-Usk, that follows the route of one of Wales’ earliest forerunners of the modern railway. The Bryn Oer tramroad opened in 1815 as a … Continue reading →

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Woollen Factory, Cardiff

Posted on January 10, 2019 by admin

Before the Industrial revolution and the extraction of the black stuff from the ground, the woollen industry in Wales was one of the country’s most important industry. The spinning and weaving of sheep’s wool in Wales dates back to prehistoric … Continue reading →

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Taff Vale Railway headquarters

Posted on November 12, 2018 by admin

If you arrive at Cardiff Bay by train a derelict building greets you, Cardiff Bay railway station, the Southern terminus of the short Butetown Branch Line which runs from Cardiff Queen Street station. It’s sad to see this Grade 2* … Continue reading →

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Piercefield House, Chepstow

Posted on October 30, 2018 by admin

A simple dog walk at Chepstow racecourse led me to this wonderfull find, a Neoclassical Grade II*- listed ruined mansion called Piercefield House. This once fine Georgian building was commissioned in 1785 by a Durham banker named George Smith with … Continue reading →

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Cardiff Railway Co.

Posted on August 21, 2018 by admin

The Marquis of Bute bought the Glamorganshire and Aberdare Canals in 1885, in order to close them both and build a railway to crush the Taff Valley Railway’s near monopoly of the railways and their transportation of coal to Cardiff. … Continue reading →

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The Barry Graveyard

Posted on August 14, 2018 by admin

If you mention the name Woodham Bros in the railway world, then more than likely it would be associated with the locomotive graveyard in Barry. But the company actually started in 1892 as Woodham & Sons buying rope, wood and … Continue reading →

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Porth y Nant, North Wales

Posted on August 13, 2018 by admin

When I was a child attending Bryntaf, a Welsh speaking primary school in Cardiff, I learnt about one of Wales’ most tragic and famous love stories, the story of Rhys and Meinir. Rhys and Meinir lived and grew up together … Continue reading →

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