Abertillery railway station

Abertillery
General information
Location	Abertillery, Blaenau Gwent Wales
Grid reference	SO215041
Platforms	2
Other information
Status	Disused
History
Original company	Monmouthshire Railway and Canal Company
Pre-grouping	Great Western Railway
Post-grouping	Great Western Railway
Key dates
21 December 1850 (1850-12-21)	Opened
c. 1893/4	Resited 185 metres (202 yd) due north
30 April 1962	Closed to passengers
7 April 1969	Closed to goods traffic

Abertillery railway station was a station which served Abertillery, in the Welsh county of Monmouthshire.^[1]

Among the lines built by the Monmouthshire Railway and Canal Company from Newport into the valleys was a 6-mile (9.7-kilometre) branch from Aberbeeg to Nantyglo, which was first opened as a tramroad in 1824 branching from the Llanhiledd Tramroad between Crumlin and Beaufort.^[2] The first timetabled passenger service began on 21 December 1850 from Newport Courtybella to Blaina via Abertillery.^[3] The line was converted to a railway in 1855 together with other Monmouth tramroads in the area.^[4] It became part of the Great Western Railway in 1880^[5] and remained there at the Grouping of 1923.^[6]

The first Abertillery station was replaced by a second situated 185 metres (202 yd) north in c. 1893/4.^[7][8] Solidly-built stone buildings were provided on the Up platform.^[4] The platforms were constructed of timber in order to reduce the weight on the made-up land on the valley side.^[9] Just to the south of the station was Abertillery Junction where a short mineral branch less than a mile long diverged to serve Cwmtillery Colliery from 1858 to 1963.^[10][4] The station had 59 employees in 1929 and 48 in 1938.^[11] In the 1930s, a combined rail and theatre ticket was issued which allowed passengers from certain stations in the Western valleys of Monmouthshire to travel to Abertillery which at the time had four cinemas.^[12]

Passenger services were withdrawn from the station on 30 April 1962 and cessation of goods services followed on 7 April 1969.^[13][7][8] The line through the station was singled on 3 May 1971.^[14] The route was progressively shortened as collieries were closed, with the last section being taken out of use in 1989 after the closure of Six Bells Colliery.^[4][15] The first station had remained open for goods traffic until 1 April 1963 during which period it was designated as "Abertillery Old Yard".^[16]

The trackbed is clear up to south of the former station site.^{[citation needed]} However the A467 road has been built on the formation from there northward.^[17]

The platform of the old station, albeit entirely cleared of station buildings, remained partly in place into the 1980s until the A467 development began, but a wire fence stood between it and the singled line. Station House, the one-time home of the stationmaster and the one remaining building associated with Abertillery Station, remains as a private dwelling on the town's Oak Street.

Abertillery was initially identified as a potential future phase development of the Ebbw Valley Railway.^[18] The preferred location of the station would be the British Gas site to the south of the former Co-op store.^[18] The extension of the railway line to Abertillery would involve relaying 2.5 kilometres (1.6 miles) of single-track from Aberbeeg Junction.^[18][19][20] In April 2009, a bus link to the nearest station at Llanhilleth was withdrawn after Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council said that it could not continue funding the £200,000 a year service following the ending of Welsh Assembly funding.^[21]

In October 2010, it was reported that Sewta had approved recommendations by Capita Symonds for new stations at Abertillery and Crumlin as part of a £14.2 million scheme which would see an hourly service between Abertillery and Cardiff.^[22] Negotiations were said to be ongoing with Tesco, the owners of the Co-op site, for the sale of the land.^[22] The site would have parking for up to 80 cars, creating a park and ride facility.^[22] The estimated cost of extending the line to Abertillery is estimated at £16.7m according to Sewta; part of the trackbed, which is owned by Blaenau Gwent Council, is used as a cycleway but there is thought to be sufficient space for a single track.^[23]

However, after the scheme was omitted from the Welsh Government's National Transport Plan for funding priorities until 2015, Welsh Transport Minister Carl Sargeant AM confirmed that the new station is not a priority until after 2015.^[24]

This line has been identified by Campaign for a Better Transport as a priority 1 candidate for reopening.^[25]

• Awdry, Christopher (1990). Encyclopaedia of British Railway Companies. Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-8526-0049-7. OCLC 19514063. CN 8983.
• Butt, R. V. J. (October 1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199. OL 11956311M.
• Clinker, C. R. (1988) [1978]. Clinker's Register of Closed Passenger Stations and Goods Depots in England, Scotland and Wales 1830–1980 (2nd ed.). Bristol: Avon-Anglia Publications & Services. ISBN 978-0-905466-91-0. OCLC 655703233.
• Cobb, M.H. (2006) [2003]. The Railways of Great Britain: A Historical Atlas. Vol. 1. Shepperton, Surrey: Ian Allan Publishing Ltd. ISBN 978-0-7110-3236-1.
• Conolly, W. Philip (2004) [1958]. British Railways Pre-Grouping Atlas and Gazetteer. Hersham, Surrey: Ian Allan. ISBN 978-0-7110-0320-0.
• Hall, Mike (2009). Lost Railways of South Wales. Newbury: Countryside Books. ISBN 978-1-84674-172-2.
• Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (August 2006). Abertillery and Ebbw Vale Lines. Welsh Valleys. Midhurst: Middleton Press. ISBN 978-1-9044-7484-5.
• Page, James (1988) [1979]. South Wales. Forgotten Railways. Vol. 8. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN 0-946537-44-5.
• Page, James (1989). Rails in the Valleys. London: Guild Publishing. ISBN 978-0-71538-979-9.
• Quick, Michael (2009) [2001]. Railway passenger stations in Great Britain: a chronology (4th ed.). Oxford: Railway & Canal Historical Society. ISBN 978-0-901461-57-5. OCLC 612226077.

• Archive of Ebbw Valley Railway Scheme website (Blaenau Gwent council, 2008)
• Station on navigable O.S. map
• Pictures of the old station

51°43′50″N 3°08′18″W / 51.73063°N 3.13845°W / 51.73063; -3.13845