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Dolygaer Railway Station
Dolygaer railway station (alternatively, Dol-y-gaer railway station) was a station serving the hamlet of Dol-y-gaer and the area adjacent to Pen-twyn Reservoir (now incorporated into the Pontsticill Reservoir) in Powys, Wales. History The station was opened on 19 March 1863 when the Brecon and Merthyr Tydfil Junction Railway commenced operations between and . In 1866 the service through the station was 3 trains in each direction on weekdays only. The line through Dolygaer station was single track, without passing facilities, and there was one platform with a single storey building. The station was staffed until 1932. The line and station was closed to passengers on 31 December 1962 and to goods on 4 May 1964. Dolygaer became a temporary terminus on the Brecon Mountain Railway (BMR) when the re-opened line was extended in 1995 to a new site south of the original station, with permanent way subsequently extended (by 2000) through the original station site also. This arrange ...
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Pontsticill Reservoir
Pontsticill Reservoir () or Taf Fechan Reservoir is a large reservoir on the Taf Fechan lying partly in the county of Powys and partly within the county borough of Merthyr Tydfil in south Wales. It lies within the Brecon Beacons National Park and Fforest Fawr Geopark. The 110 ft high embankment has, since its completion in 1927, been holding back 15,400 megalitres of water for supply to industry and population to the south. The modern reservoir incorporates the earlier Pentwyn Reservoir (sometimes referred to as Dol-y-gaer Reservoir or Lake) which suffered major water losses after completion due to the presence of major fractures in the bedrock beneath its dam relating to the Neath Disturbance, a major geological fault which runs northeast to southwest through the area.‘Reservoir Builders of South Wales’ (Dam Builders in the Age of Steam series book six) Bowtell H.D. & Hill G. The reservoir is popular with sailors, anglers and picnickers. The Taff Trail runs throu ...
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Powys
Powys (; ) is a county and preserved county in Wales. It is named after the Kingdom of Powys which was a Welsh successor state, petty kingdom and principality that emerged during the Middle Ages following the end of Roman rule in Britain. Geography Powys covers the historic counties of Montgomeryshire and Radnorshire, most of Brecknockshire, and part of historic Denbighshire. With an area of about , it is now the largest administrative area in Wales by land and area (Dyfed was until 1996 before several former counties created by the Local Government Act 1972 were abolished). It is bounded to the north by Gwynedd, Denbighshire and Wrexham County Borough; to the west by Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire; to the east by Shropshire and Herefordshire; and to the south by Rhondda Cynon Taf, Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Caerphilly County Borough, Blaenau Gwent, Monmouthshire and Neath Port Talbot. The largest towns are Newtown, Ystradgynlais, Brecon, Welshpool, Llandrindod W ...
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Ordnance Survey National Grid
The Ordnance Survey National Grid reference system (OSGB) (also known as British National Grid (BNG)) is a system of geographic grid references used in Great Britain, distinct from latitude and longitude. The Ordnance Survey (OS) devised the national grid reference system, and it is heavily used in their survey data, and in maps based on those surveys, whether published by the Ordnance Survey or by commercial map producers. Grid references are also commonly quoted in other publications and data sources, such as guide books and government planning documents. A number of different systems exist that can provide grid references for locations within the British Isles: this article describes the system created solely for Great Britain and its outlying islands (including the Isle of Man); the Irish grid reference system was a similar system created by the Ordnance Survey of Ireland and the Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland for the island of Ireland. The Universal Transverse Me ...
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Brecon Mountain Railway
The Brecon Mountain Railway (Welsh: ''Rheilffordd Mynydd Brycheiniog'') is a narrow gauge tourist railway on the south side of the Brecon Beacons. It climbs northwards from Pant along the full length of the Pontsticill Reservoir (also called 'Taf Fechan' reservoir by Welsh Water) and continues past the adjoining Pentwyn Reservoir to Torpantau railway station. The railway's starting point at Pant is located north of the town centre of Merthyr Tydfil, Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, South-East Wales. Route description The line runs along part of the trackbed of the northern section of the former Brecon and Merthyr Railway from Pant to a new station at Torpantau, via Pontsticill and Dolygaer, a total of about . This takes the BMR just short of the southern entrance to the 667 yd (610 m) long Torpantau tunnel, the highest railway tunnel in Great Britain, which carried the original line through the hills along the side of Glyn Collwn to Brecon or to Moat Lane or Hereford via ...
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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 this gave it access to Newport docks. This changed its emphasis from rural line to mineral artery. It opened at the Brecon end to a point near Dowlais in 1863, and in 1865 it opened a disconnected section from Rhymney to Newport. In due course the company connected the two sections and reached Dowlais and Merthyr, but had to concede sharing a route with the powerful London and North Western Railway. The B&MR was always short of money, and was notable for its prodigious gradients, but it survived until the grouping of 1923, when it became part of the Great Western Railway. Its network declined steeply after 1945, and passenger operation ceased in 1962. Goods and mineral operation also lost its market, and as of 2020, only a short stub t ...
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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 its first trains in 1838 with the initial route completed between London and Bristol in 1841. It was engineered by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, who chose a broad gauge of —later slightly widened to —but, from 1854, a series of amalgamations saw it also operate standard-gauge trains; the last broad-gauge services were operated in 1892. The GWR was the only company to keep its identity through the Railways Act 1921, which amalgamated it with the remaining independent railways within its territory, and it was finally merged at the end of 1947 when it was nationalised and became the Western Region of British Railways. The GWR was called by some "God's Wonderful Railway" and by others the "Great Way Round" but it was famed as the "Holi ...
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Permanent Way
A railway track (British English and UIC terminology) or railroad track (American English), also known as permanent way or simply track, is the structure on a railway or railroad consisting of the rails, fasteners, railroad ties (sleepers, British English) and ballast (or slab track), plus the underlying subgrade. It enables trains to move by providing a dependable surface for their wheels to roll upon. Early tracks were constructed with wooden or cast iron rails, and wooden or stone sleepers; since the 1870s, rails have almost universally been made from steel. Historical development The first railway in Britain was the Wollaton Wagonway, built in 1603 between Wollaton and Strelley in Nottinghamshire. It used wooden rails and was the first of around 50 wooden-railed tramways built over the next 164 years. These early wooden tramways typically used rails of oak or beech, attached to wooden sleepers with iron or wooden nails. Gravel or small stones were packed around ...
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Torpantau Railway Station
Torpantau railway station is a station in the Welsh county of Brecknockshire (now in Powys), and the northern terminus of the narrow gauge Brecon Mountain Railway. It had previously been a station on the standard gauge line from Merthyr to Brecon, and was the highest station on the Brecon and Merthyr Railway. The standard gauge and narrow gauge stations are in the same broad location, but on different specific sites, on opposite sides of the Torpantau to Abercynafon road. History The station was opened at the end of 1862 by the Brecon and Merthyr Tydfil Junction Railway. Torpantau is a remote location, though a few passengers may have worked on the local dams, or fished there for leisure. The location was most significant in operational terms for watering engines and tying down brakes before a descent. In 1916 a train passed a signal at danger near the station causing a collision that killed two people. The line and the station first became part of the Great Western R ...
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The Scout Association
The Scout Association is the largest Scouting organisation in the United Kingdom and is the World Organization of the Scout Movement's recognised member for the United Kingdom. Following the origin of Scouting in 1907, the association was formed in 1910 and Incorporation (association), incorporated in 1912 by a royal charter under its previous name of The Boy Scouts Association. The association is the largest national Scout organisation in Europe, representing 35% of the membership of the European Scout Region (World Organization of the Scout Movement), European Scout Region. , the association claims to provide activities to 464,700 young people (aged –25) in the UK with over 116,400 adult volunteers which is more than one adult for each 4 young people. (pp. 58) Its programmes include Squirrel Scouts (aged 4–6), Beaver Scouts (aged –8), Cub Scouts (aged 8–), Scouts (aged –14), Explorer Scouts (aged 14–18) and adult Network members (aged 18–25). The association a ...
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Passing Loop
A passing loop (UK usage) or passing siding (North America) (also called a crossing loop, crossing place, refuge loop or, colloquially, a hole) is a place on a single line railway or tramway, often located at or near a station, where trains or trams travelling in opposite directions can pass each other. Trains/trams going in the same direction can also overtake, provided that the signalling arrangement allows it. A passing loop is double-ended and connected to the main track at both ends, though a dead end siding known as a refuge siding, which is much less convenient, can be used. A similar arrangement is used on the gauntlet track of cable railways and funiculars, and in passing places on single-track roads. Ideally, the loop should be longer than all trains needing to cross at that point. Unless the loop is of sufficient length to be dynamic, the first train to arrive must stop or move very slowly, while the second to arrive may pass at speed. If one train is too lo ...
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Caving
Caving – also known as spelunking in the United States and Canada and potholing in the United Kingdom and Ireland – is the recreational pastime of exploring wild cave systems (as distinguished from show caves). In contrast, speleology is the scientific study of caves and the cave environment.Caving in New Zealand
(from Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand, Accessed 2012-11.)
The challenges involved in caving vary according to the cave being visited; in addition to the total absence of light beyond the entrance, negotiating pitches, squeezes,
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Pontsticill Railway Station
Pontsticill railway station (historically Pontsticill Junction railway station) is an intermediate station on the Brecon Mountain Railway at Pontsticill, in the historic Welsh county of Brecknockshire, now Merthyr Tydfil County Borough. The station was previously the junction at which the Brecon and Merthyr Tydfil Railway line from Torpantau in the North split to serve the Brecon & Merthyr Railway main line and the Merthyr Tydfil branch. Today it is no longer a junction. The station opened in 1863. It was closed for 17 years from January 1963 to June 1980. History Brecon and Merthyr Tydfil Junction Railway The Brecon and Merthyr Tydfil Junction Railway obtained an Act of Parliament on 1 August 1859 to construct a line between Talybont and Pant. Train services between Brecon and Pant officially began on 23 April 1863 but two trains per day ran from 19 March 1863. This line, running south from Pontsticill to Pant, is the route still operated by the Brecon Mountain Railway. ...
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