Really interested in your video, back in the middle fifties my father rented the cutting off British railways from end of Coryton station down as far as arches bridge near the old canal. He kept chickens and later pigs, my older brother and I worked as boys for along time, the banks were all cut back and trees were cut down to feed steam boilers for feeding pigs. As years went bye BR sold ground to council and about 1976 they forced him off the property, after some 20-25 years of graft but even today it is a beautiful walk. Michael Elliott.
Thank you for the walking tour this day. Always look forward to them, and greatly enjoy them. Your language on the tour are easily to understand, especially because of my limited knowledge on the area. See you on the next, and enjoy the upcoming weekend. Cheers Bob! 🏴🙂👍🇺🇸
Another excellent video Bob, thanks for going out in the cold wind so that we don't have to although I intend following in your footsteps when it gets warmer, and I finish decorating. Pete
It is. The artist did a load of really accurate paintings across the areas with the correct locos and wagons on the right lines. Gwyn Briwnant Jones was a great photographer as well. There are more paintings of his on the museum collections website
Of all your videos that I have watched that one takes some beating, it is absolutely gripping when you watch it. I am sure I will be watching that one many many times. Thank you for making it and please don't be long doing part three! I hope you have a lovely Easter.
Back in the early 1980s I worked for Post Office Telephones (BT) and there was a training centre at Coryton just down from the station (no longer there). I remember arriving on a wonderful (not) class 101 DMU at the station from Cardiff Queen Street (the line terminated at Coryton) and having to negotiate across the M4 junction footpath as our digs were in Taffs Well. Ahh, memories.
Thanks very much for your work in making this video. I'm not a railway buff but i am interested in local history, and i find your videos very informative and I really appreciate your usage of maps and old photos to bring the past to life. I'm really looking forward to the next part! Thanks again, Bob
Fascinating as always Bob. I'm planning a walk down that way on Saturday from Pontypridd to cardiff via taff trail. Looking forward to the next update 👍
I wish I could send you a picture but I’m currently sat on Longwood drive at three thirty on very wet Friday and I can see where you came from , I always thought that the whole of the canal has been obliterated and nothing was left . Little did I know a few feet away from me it’s still there . 16:31
Came on this almost by chance but interested, we use Coryton motorway junction a lot (worse luck, it's huge and hard to negotiate in some directions), plus I've just been to a dental surgery a stone's throw from the roundabout in that last photo. I noticed the one remaining viaduct pier. It is remarkable how the A470 altered the whole landscape round there.
Great video and very informative! I lived in Taffs Well for many years and being a keen runner and cyclist have seen many of these relics without really understanding how they all connected. I knew that at least 3 rail lines ran through Taffs Well but was never sure which went where so am really looking forward to part 2. I now live in Treforest and would be very interested if you came up this way to do a video. I know there were several lines up here to Pontypridd and have seen the tunnel from the Uni that comes out next to Dewi Sant Hospital in the Graig.
I will be tracing the line up as far as Treforest and the Alexander Newport Dock Railway is another I am planning to look at. At some point I will look at the old Barry line and the tunnel but I have such a list planned it won't be for a while. I did a video on the railways at Taffs Well and there were actually five that passed through. However one was on the opposite side of the Taff 😁
Hi Bob. Great explore. Lots of intermingled history in that area. Do you not find that when a track-bed has been cleared for re-use as a path, it takes away a lot of the potential for the smaller finds.
Absolutely, as I mentioned the remains of the telegraph post has gone, it's does take away a lot. The balance I suppose is opening up old routes for active travel benefits a lot of people.
Smashing video Bob. I live in Pontypridd and I've been obsessed with all these random abandoned lines for a while, I think it's crazy how many there were in the local area too! Also what surprises me is the track heading up to Caerphilly from Nantgarw roundabout, like I know it was in a cutting but damn that current road is STEEP! Do you know how I can find out what the incline was on the line?
@@ThereAndJackAgain I have walked that one a lot. The maximum it went to was 1 in 48, which was steep for a railway. They had to use banker locos to help push the trains up it! At the top of that path there are the remains of a coal and water replenishment bunker. If you look on my channel I did a video on it. Search Big Hill. BTW I am editing the final video in this series which is a lot nearer to where you are.
@@bobsrailrelics That's brilliant thank you! Steep indeed. I'll have a wander around there some point no doubt. When I can get out, and when the weather isn't bad! haha.
Great video once again, thank you. Have you considered using the LIDAR information on DataMapWales? The embankment shows very strongly north of the M4. Looking forward to the next episode.
I love your videos, so informative. But you say "the train has just departed to Radyr" Is that right? I thought the now disused section used to go to Radyr, but can the departure going to Whitcurch, Rhiwbina etc go to Radyr?
There's a Radyr to Coryton shuttle via Central and Queen Street and vice versa. It's a big loop with just a mile or so between Radyr and Coryton, but no railway line!
Great to see the industrial architecture of the Cardiff Railway. I am always fascinated by the history, the reasons for construction and even future possibilities. I do hope that the line is extended from Coryton to Velindre Hospital as that is a very important centre for cancer treatment. It is a long time since I last travelled on that line. Many years ago, before I left Cardiff, there was a serious proposal to reinstate the line as far as Tongwynlais and connect up with the Taff Vale line in the Cardiff direction to form a Cardiff Circle Line. The civil engineering involved would not have been difficult, but of course nothing became of it and it would now be impossible. Railway authorities do not like circles because of the cascading of delays in the wider network (Even the Underground "Circle Line" in London no longer runs as a circle). Looking forward to part 3.
Really interested in your video, back in the middle fifties my father rented the cutting off British railways from end of Coryton station down as far as arches bridge near the old canal. He kept chickens and later pigs, my older brother and I worked as boys for along time, the banks were all cut back and trees were cut down to feed steam boilers for feeding pigs. As years went bye BR sold ground to council and about 1976 they forced him off the property, after some 20-25 years of graft but even today it is a beautiful walk. Michael Elliott.
That's a fascinating bit of history I've never heard before. That must have been before Longwood Drive was built.
Love this video and all your videos.
Thank you
This needs to be reinstated as part of a Cardiff metro loop
Ah, now that's another video (which is coming).
Another excellent well researched video which shows off the lovely scenery well, I'll have to try and visit as I used to work at Velindre too.
A very easy path these days, it used to be a bit more boggy
Thank you for the walking tour this day. Always look forward to them, and greatly enjoy them. Your language on the tour are easily to understand, especially because of my limited knowledge on the area. See you on the next, and enjoy the upcoming weekend. Cheers Bob! 🏴🙂👍🇺🇸
Thank you, hope you have a great Easter weekend as well.
Another excellent video Bob, thanks for going out in the cold wind so that we don't have to although I intend following in your footsteps when it gets warmer, and I finish decorating. Pete
Really excellent Bob, can’t wait for part 2. The painting of the tunnel with Walnut Tree viaduct in the background is quite remarkable.
It is. The artist did a load of really accurate paintings across the areas with the correct locos and wagons on the right lines. Gwyn Briwnant Jones was a great photographer as well. There are more paintings of his on the museum collections website
An example of forward/strategic thinking!
Still enjoying your videos very much.
Another excellent video Bob, looking forward to part 3 of this journey.
Thank you, filming is on the way for the next one.
Of all your videos that I have watched that one takes some beating, it is absolutely gripping when you watch it. I am sure I will be watching that one many many times. Thank you for making it and please don't be long doing part three! I hope you have a lovely Easter.
Thank you. I have some filming to complete but it's all scripted and half shot. It's certainly on the way.
Back in the early 1980s I worked for Post Office Telephones (BT) and there was a training centre at Coryton just down from the station (no longer there). I remember arriving on a wonderful (not) class 101 DMU at the station from Cardiff Queen Street (the line terminated at Coryton) and having to negotiate across the M4 junction footpath as our digs were in Taffs Well. Ahh, memories.
I remember that training school, long gone. Quite a hike up to Taffs Well from there!
I walked along here a couple of weeks ago but you've pointed out a lot of things that I missed. I'm looking forward to part 3
Thanks. On its way soon.
Really enjoyed the second part of the Cardiff Railway. Nice to see some of the relics without the overgrowth, looking forward to the next video
Thanks Simon, part 3 due out on Tuesday
Excellent story so far Bob, thanks. More please! 😉
On its way 😁
Thanks very much for your work in making this video. I'm not a railway buff but i am interested in local history, and i find your videos very informative and I really appreciate your usage of maps and old photos to bring the past to life. I'm really looking forward to the next part!
Thanks again, Bob
Thank you, I seem to spend my life on mapping sites. However I find fascinating to see how they all change over the years.
Very interesting, Bob. Love these railway relics
Thanks, love making them
Fascinating as always Bob. I'm planning a walk down that way on Saturday from Pontypridd to cardiff via taff trail. Looking forward to the next update 👍
The Taff Trail has so many relics all along it. Fascinating walk.
I wish I could send you a picture but I’m currently sat on Longwood drive at three thirty on very wet Friday and I can see where you came from , I always thought that the whole of the canal has been obliterated and nothing was left . Little did I know a few feet away from me it’s still there . 16:31
There are quite a few bits still intact around Pontypridd apparently. One day I intend to get up that way.
Came on this almost by chance but interested, we use Coryton motorway junction a lot (worse luck, it's huge and hard to negotiate in some directions), plus I've just been to a dental surgery a stone's throw from the roundabout in that last photo. I noticed the one remaining viaduct pier. It is remarkable how the A470 altered the whole landscape round there.
Thank you. If you have a look at Part 4 I cover a lot more of how the A470 ripped apart the railway, canal and a whole village!
very good bob looking forward to part 2
I have jogged once . I am planning to use this route in the future before the railway comes .
Vert good Bob Thanks.
Great video and very informative! I lived in Taffs Well for many years and being a keen runner and cyclist have seen many of these relics without really understanding how they all connected. I knew that at least 3 rail lines ran through Taffs Well but was never sure which went where so am really looking forward to part 2. I now live in Treforest and would be very interested if you came up this way to do a video. I know there were several lines up here to Pontypridd and have seen the tunnel from the Uni that comes out next to Dewi Sant Hospital in the Graig.
I will be tracing the line up as far as Treforest and the Alexander Newport Dock Railway is another I am planning to look at. At some point I will look at the old Barry line and the tunnel but I have such a list planned it won't be for a while. I did a video on the railways at Taffs Well and there were actually five that passed through. However one was on the opposite side of the Taff 😁
Another great insight, thank you.
Hi Bob. Great explore. Lots of intermingled history in that area. Do you not find that when a track-bed has been cleared for re-use as a path, it takes away a lot of the potential for the smaller finds.
Absolutely, as I mentioned the remains of the telegraph post has gone, it's does take away a lot. The balance I suppose is opening up old routes for active travel benefits a lot of people.
Smashing video Bob. I live in Pontypridd and I've been obsessed with all these random abandoned lines for a while, I think it's crazy how many there were in the local area too! Also what surprises me is the track heading up to Caerphilly from Nantgarw roundabout, like I know it was in a cutting but damn that current road is STEEP! Do you know how I can find out what the incline was on the line?
@@ThereAndJackAgain I have walked that one a lot. The maximum it went to was 1 in 48, which was steep for a railway. They had to use banker locos to help push the trains up it! At the top of that path there are the remains of a coal and water replenishment bunker. If you look on my channel I did a video on it. Search Big Hill. BTW I am editing the final video in this series which is a lot nearer to where you are.
@@bobsrailrelics That's brilliant thank you! Steep indeed. I'll have a wander around there some point no doubt. When I can get out, and when the weather isn't bad! haha.
Great video once again, thank you. Have you considered using the LIDAR information on DataMapWales? The embankment shows very strongly north of the M4. Looking forward to the next episode.
I'll have a look thanks
I love your videos, so informative. But you say "the train has just departed to Radyr" Is that right? I thought the now disused section used to go to Radyr, but can the departure going to Whitcurch, Rhiwbina etc go to Radyr?
There's a Radyr to Coryton shuttle via Central and Queen Street and vice versa. It's a big loop with just a mile or so between Radyr and Coryton, but no railway line!
Thanks for this! Good to know new things.@@johnavery15
That is correct the line goes through to Cardiff Station to Radyr
It runs down to Cardiff and then up the city line to Radyr. I will be releasing a video at a later date about a possible link north of Coryton.
Cracking video !
I was talking about this route to a colleague yesterday.
Nice one thanks.
What type of map is that at 16:28??
Open Street Map with my annotations over the top. I find it clearer than Google and has more of the paths on it.
@@bobsrailrelics thank you
Wasn't the new Cardiff metro going to re-add this line or did they can it?
As far as the Asda is still in the plans. I have another video further down the list that covers how this could work
Very interesting, shone new light on familiar paths. ASDA is of course J32, not J33.
Absolutely, I realised after filming it all.
Great to see the industrial architecture of the Cardiff Railway. I am always fascinated by the history, the reasons for construction and even future possibilities. I do hope that the line is extended from Coryton to Velindre Hospital as that is a very important centre for cancer treatment. It is a long time since I last travelled on that line.
Many years ago, before I left Cardiff, there was a serious proposal to reinstate the line as far as Tongwynlais and connect up with the Taff Vale line in the Cardiff direction to form a Cardiff Circle Line. The civil engineering involved would not have been difficult, but of course nothing became of it and it would now be impossible. Railway authorities do not like circles because of the cascading of delays in the wider network (Even the Underground "Circle Line" in London no longer runs as a circle).
Looking forward to part 3.
Today there are a lot of barriers to that loop happening. I will be dropping a video about it in a few weeks.