Taffs Well railway station is a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

serving the village of Taff's Well, Rhondda Cynon Taf,

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

, as well as neighbouring Gwaelod-y-Garth,

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

. It is located on the Merthyr Line and the Rhondda Line. Passenger services are provided by

Transport for Wales Transport for Wales (TfW; cy, Trafnidiaeth Cymru; cy, TrC, label=none) is a not-for-profit company owned by the Welsh Government and managed at arms length by its appointed board. TfW oversees the Transport for Wales Group (TfW Group) consi ...

. The station was first opened on this site by the

Taff Vale Railway The Taff Vale Railway (TVR) was a standard gauge railway in South Wales, built by the Taff Vale Railway Company to serve the iron and coal industries around Merthyr Tydfil and to connect them with docks in Cardiff. It was opened in stag ...

in 1863.

Junctions

Two routes formerly diverged from the TVR's main line between Cardiff and Merthyr here – 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 ...

's original main line northwards to and via Junction (opened in 1858) and a much more recent spur to Nantgarw Colliery opened by

British Railways British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...

in 1952 to permit the closure of most of the surviving

Cardiff Railway From 1839 the Trustees of the Marquis of Bute, operated a large dock operation in Cardiff, the "Bute Docks". This was very successful, but was overwhelmed by the huge volume of coal exported through Cardiff. At the same time it was seen that ra ...

route beyond Coryton. The Rhymney line, which diverged at ''Walnut Tree Junction'' just south of the station was known locally as the ''Big Hill'', due to its severe gradients (as steep as 1 in 48) for northbound trains. Increasing congestion on the 'main line' south of here led to the Rhymney company opening its own direct line via in 1871, but after the 1923 Grouping 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 ...

(and later BR) made extensive use of the line for its coal trains from the many collieries in the Rhymney Valley to the marshalling yards at

Radyr Radyr ( cy, Radur) is an outer suburb of Cardiff, about northwest of Cardiff city centre. Radyr is part of Radyr and Morganstown Community, for which the 2011 Census recorded a population of 6,417. Morganstown is north of Radyr, on the othe ...

. Both this line and the Nantgarw colliery spur are now closed and lifted - the last train down the ''Big Hill'' ran in June 1982, whilst the latter branch was finally taken out of use in 1991 after the demise of the colliery and nearby coking works some five years earlier. After the dismantling of the Viaduct, only one pier remains. This was used to display a goodwill message for Elizabeth II Silver and Golden Jubilee. These are still visible from the train approaching the station from the south.

Services

During Monday-Saturday daytimes, there are usually six trains an hour from to and thence to one of , or (half-hourly to each). There are six trains an hour to with some trains continuing beyond Cardiff to (3 per hour) and via Barry (hourly). Connections for the City line can be made at Radyr, for & Coryton at Queen Street and at Central for .GB eNRT December 2015 Edition, Table 130 (Network Rail) The first City Line service of the day starts back from Taffs Well at 0653 to Coryton (with a 0704 departure from Radyr). There is no service in the opposite direction. A reduced service operates in the evenings (3 trains per hour each way) and on Sundays.

References

External links

{{Transport in Rhondda Cynon Taf Railway stations in Rhondda Cynon Taf DfT Category F2 stations Former Taff Vale Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1840 Railway stations served by Transport for Wales Rail