Former Cockett railway station - geograph

Cockett Cockett ( cy, Y Cocyd) is a district and community in Swansea, Wales falling within Cockett ward. It is located about north-west of Swansea city centre. It includes the eastern half of Gowerton. Cockett, in common with much of western Swans ...

railway station was a former station on the West Wales Line from

Swansea Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe). The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...

Gowerton Gowerton ( cy, Tregŵyr) is a large village and community, about 4 miles north west of Swansea city centre, Wales. Gowerton is often known as the gateway to the Gower Peninsula. Gowerton's original name was Ffosfelin. The village falls within the ...

and onwards to . The station was located on the west side of

in the residential area of

History

The railway line between

Landore Landore ( cy, Glandŵr) is a district and community in Swansea, Wales. The district falls in the Landore council ward. A mainly residential area, it is located about 2.5 miles north of Swansea city centre. The north-easterly part of Landore i ...

and

Carmarthen Carmarthen (, RP: ; cy, Caerfyrddin , "Merlin's fort" or "Sea-town fort") is the county town of Carmarthenshire and a community in Wales, lying on the River Towy. north of its estuary in Carmarthen Bay. The population was 14,185 in 2011, ...

was opened on 11 October 1852 by the

broad gauge A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways. Broad gauge of , commonly known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union (CIS ...

South Wales Railway The South Wales Railway ( cy, Rheilffordd De Cymru) was a main line railway which opened in stages from 1850, connecting the Great Western Railway from Gloucester to South Wales. It was constructed on the broad gauge. An original aspiration was to ...

, which later became part of the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

. The engineer of this line was

Isambard Kingdom Brunel Isambard Kingdom Brunel (; 9 April 1806 – 15 September 1859) was a British civil engineer who is considered "one of the most ingenious and prolific figures in engineering history," "one of the 19th-century engineering giants," and "one ...

. Originally the first station westwards from Landore was at

Loughor Loughor () ( cy, Casllwchwr) is a Welsh town in the City and County of Swansea, within the Historic counties of Wales, historic county boundaries of Glamorgan, Wales. It lies on the estuary of the River Loughor. The town has a community (Wales), ...

; Cockett and

stations were opened at later dates. Cockett station was closed to passenger traffic on and from 2 November 1964. There have been recent proposals to reopen the station as part of the Welsh Government's Rail infrastructure investment.

Cockett Tunnel

Just east of the station, towards Swansea, was the 829 yard Cockett Tunnel. The tunnel was cut through unstable soft ground and had wide cuttings at a shallow angle at either end. The tunnel suffered a partial collapse in 1899, which was held to have been caused by the resumption of pumping operations at the long-closed Weig-fawr colliery, owned by Philip Richard (II), the flooded workings of which extended beneath the tunnel. The tunnel was completely closed for four weeks, after which traffic was resumed on a single line, but it was not fully restored until 1903, by which time steel ribs had been inserted into the bore of the tunnel at its eastern end (not the location of the collapse) to strengthen the roof. These were found to unduly restrict the

loading gauge A loading gauge is a diagram or physical structure that defines the maximum height and width dimensions in railway vehicles and their loads. Their purpose is to ensure that rail vehicles can pass safely through tunnels and under bridges, and ke ...

within the tunnel and were removed in 1908. At the same time the eastern end of the tunnel was opened out (reducing the length to 789 yards) and the cutting sides were supported by two brick-built

flying arch A flying arch is a form of arch bridge that does not carry any vertical load, but is provided solely to supply outward horizontal forces, to resist an inwards compression. They are used across cutting (transportation), cuttings, to avoid them colla ...

es The banks of the cutting were so unstable that even during this opening-out work, timber horseshoe

shoring Shoring is the process of temporarily supporting a building, vessel, structure, or trench with shores (props) when in danger of collapse or during repairs or alterations. ''Shoring'' comes from ''shore'', a timber or metal prop. Shoring may be verti ...

was required.

References

External links

Fforestfachhistory.com
{{coord, 51.6376, N, 3.9782, W, type:railwaystation_region:GB, display=title Beeching closures in Wales Disused railway stations in Swansea Former Great Western Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1852 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1964