Aberdare Railway

The Aberdare Railway was a small railway company in Glamorgan, South Wales, incorporated by the Aberdare Railway Act of 31 July 1845 to build a line of about seven and a half miles from Navigation House, near Abercynon, where it connected with the Taff Vale Railway, to the coal town of Aberdare. It was promoted at the time when sixteen steam coalpits had been sunk in the Aberdare area and their owners needed transport to the sea, and the Taff Vale Railway sponsored it as a nominally independent company. The line opened for passengers, goods and mineral traffic on 6 August 1846 and was worked by the Taff Vale from the outset, with a short branch from Cwmbach to Abernant colliery opening in 1846. The sources differ on when the lease began, giving 1 January 1847 in one account and 1 January 1849 under the Aberdare Railway Leasing Act of 1848 in another. The company was vested in the Taff Vale Railway under that company's Act of 31 July 1902, and the Taff Vale was in turn amalgamated into the Great Western Railway on 1 January 1922.