Hengoed railway station is the name of an operational

National Rail National Rail (NR) is the trading name licensed for use by the Rail Delivery Group, an unincorporated association whose membership consists of the passenger train operating companies (TOCs) of England, Scotland, and Wales. The TOCs run the p ...

station situated in

Hengoed Hengoed () is a village on the west side of the Rhymney Valley - between Ystrad Mynach to the south and Cefn Hengoed to the north. Across the valley it looks towards Maesycwmmer. The village is in the county borough of Caerphilly, in the tradit ...

, Wales, on the Rhymney Line of the

Valley Lines Valleys & Cardiff Local Routes ( cy, Llwybrau Lleol y Cymoedd a Chaerdydd) (formerly Valley Lines) is the network of passenger suburban railway services radiating from Cardiff, Wales. It includes lines within the city itself, the Vale of Glam ...

network.

History

The current station was initially named Hengoed & Maesycwmmer when opened by the

Rhymney Railway The Rhymney Railway was a railway company in South Wales, founded to transport minerals and materials to and from collieries and ironworks in the Rhymney Valley of South Wales, and to docks in Cardiff. It opened a main line in 1858, and a limite ...

in 1858. Then on railway

grouping Grouping may refer to: * Muenchian grouping * Principles of grouping * Railways Act 1921, also known as Grouping Act, a reorganisation of the British railway system * Grouping (firearms), the pattern of multiple shots from a sidearm See also ...

into 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 ...

in 1923 it became known as Hengoed Low Level to avoid confusion.''The GWR Handbook 1923-1947'' by David Wragg, Sutton Publishing, 2006.

Hengoed High Level railway station

Immediately adjacent, and crossing Hengoed Low Level was another station which originally shared the name Hengoed & Maesycwmmer, serving the

Taff Vale Extension Taff may refer to: * River Taff, a large river in Wales * Taff (TV series), ''Taff'' (TV series), a German tabloid news programme * Trans-Atlantic Fan Fund, an organisation for science fiction fandom People * a demonym for anyone from south Wale ...

from

Pontypool Pontypool ( cy, Pont-y-pŵl ) is a town and the administrative centre of the county borough of Torfaen, within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire in South Wales. It has a population of 28,970. Location It is situated on the Afon Lwyd ri ...

Quakers Yard Quakers Yard ( cy, Mynwent y Crynwyr) is a village in the Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, situated where the Taff Bargoed Valley joins the Taff Valley. Quakers Yard is part of the Community (Wales), community of Treharris. History The early plac ...

(and ultimately ). This station was renamed in 1923 to Hengoed High Level. The High Level station was immediately at the end of the

Hengoed Viaduct Hengoed Viaduct is a disused railway viaduct located above the village of Maesycwmmer, in Caerphilly county borough, South Wales. Listed building, Grade II* listed, it was originally built to carry the Taff Vale Extension of the Newport, Aberga ...

, which carried the line across the Rhymney valley to

Maesycwmmer Maesycwmmer ( cy, Maesycwmer) is a village and community in the centre of Caerphilly County Borough in Wales, within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire. Location Maesycwmmer is located north of Caerphilly, on the east bank of the ...

. It was closed in June 1964. The line is disused, but the viaduct has been restored and is now part of the

National Cycle Network The National Cycle Network (NCN) is the national cycling route network of the United Kingdom, which was established to encourage cycling and walking throughout Britain, as well as for the purposes of bicycle touring. It was created by the cha ...

. Some remains of the platforms have also been preserved.

Maesycwmmer railway station

The towns shared a third railway station on the former

Rumney Railway The Rumney Railway in Wales was a plateway built to connect the ironworks at Rhymney to the Monmouthshire Canal Company's tramroad near Newport, Wales providing a connection the wharves at the Newport Docks. The line was opened in 1826. I ...

, which on amalgamation with the

Brecon and Merthyr Tydfil Junction Railway The Brecon and Merthyr Tydfil Junction Railway (B&MR) was a railway company in Wales. It was originally intended to link the towns in its name. Finding its access to Merthyr difficult at first, it acquired the Rumney Railway, an old plateway, and ...

was called Maesycwmmer & Hengoed. In 1923 it was renamed simply Maesycwmmer.

Services

The station has 4 departures per hour in each direction Mon-Sat daytimes- southbound to , and and northbound to . One each hour of the latter runs through to (with extras at peak times). During the evening, the frequency drops to hourly each way and on Sundays to two-hourly (when trains run southbound to ).

References

External links

Photographs of the current station and remains of Hengoed High Level
{{South Wales Metro Railway stations in Caerphilly County Borough DfT Category F2 stations Former Rhymney Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1858 Railway stations served by Transport for Wales Rail