Notes: Aberfan station was renamed Aberfan for Merthyr Vale c1902. Initially a second running in board with the 'For Merthyr Vale' was mounted below the original board. These were eventually replaced by new single boards. The station had slightly staggered platforms on the south side of a hairpin bend in Station Hill. The main station building, which incorporated the stationmaster's house, was at the north end of the down platform. The two-storey building was of rock-faced stone, coupled arched windows with pale surrounds contrasting with dark stone. The roof had half-hipped gables and three prominent chimneystacks. Entrance was from the road into the upper floor with an arched exit onto the platform on the ground floor.

A wide ramp down from the road gave access to the up platform. A stone built waiting room with a pitched roof stood towards the south end of the platform. The station was gas lit with the local gasworks standing on the east side of Nixonville, immediately south of Merthyr Vale Colliery.

A signal box stood at the south end of the up platform opposite the entrance to the goods yard which, as built, comprised a loop with one side running through a goods shed. There was a short head shunt at the south end of this side of the loop. From the loop, a long siding, probably used for coal, ran diagonally across the yard behind the down platform terminating at the north extremity of the yard beyond the station building. From this siding a reversal led to another siding running to the east of the goods shed under a short canopy. Somewhere in the yard there was a 1 ton 10cwt capacity yard crane but it isn't known where it was sited. The yard handled general goods and parcels but not livestock. Road access to the yard was along a steep track from Aberfan Crescent with a weighbridge and office being provided on the south side of the goods shed.

By 1916 the yard had been re-laid with the long siding being rerouted at the back of the down platform and finishing before the station building. The short head shunt on the loop had been removed and the reversal siding now ran from the loop, behind the goods shed and along the east perimeter of the yard; it no longer joined the main siding.

In 1932 the station reverted to its original name of Aberfan with new running in boards being fitted. The station closed to passenger traffic on 12 February 1951 following mining subsidence that threatened the viaduct at Edwardsville. The line remained open as a long siding from Merthyr. Aberfan remained open to goods traffic until 1 November 1954. Track lifting at Aberfan began in 1955.

After lying empty and roofless during the 1960s when it was used as a playground for local children and home for a homeless person for a while, the station building was demolished c1968 leaving just its back wall and a clear indication of the entrance from Station Hill. The two platforms remained becoming more overgrown and degraded as time passed.

The station site remained undeveloped through the latter half of the 20th century. This may have been because the trackbed was, for many years, used to remove spoil from the collapsed No 7 colliery spoil pit following its collapse onto the Pantglas Junior School on 21 October 1966. Lorries transported the spoil along the track bed to Aberfan station where they went across the former goods yard to reach the road at Aberfan Crescent. The site was finally cleared for new housing in the summer of 2016; before this started the bridge was removed and filled in. A year later houses in the new Railway Close were occupied. The original ramp down to the up platform was re-laid as a new road. During the development, Railway Hill bridge was filled in with a wide grassed incline down to track level on the north side. This will eventually be developed as a community space.

About one-third of mile north of Aberfan station are the Pantglas schools. During October 1966 the area had seen heavy rain and shortly after the children had arrived at school on Friday 21 October, No. 7 Colliery Spoil Tip, situated on the hill above Aberfan and above an area of springs, slipped. The avalanche of spoil engulfed a row of houses and Pantglas Junior School. The death toll was 144 of which 116 were children. The National Coal Board was found to be at fault and in particular nine of its employees. When the railway through Aberfan was in operation, No. 7 Tip did not exist, it not being created until 1958. The railway passed between the schools and the spoil tip, resulting in a section of the abandoned railway also being engulfed. Today the hillside above the site of the schools is green and tranquil. There is a memorial garden on Moy Road which ought to be visited when in the locality. Click here to see the spoil tips in 1964 before collape.

BRIEF HISTORY OF THE QUAKERS YARD AND MERTHYR JOINT RAILWAY
The Rhymney Railway was 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 limited passenger service was operated in addition.

The first line was dependent on the cooperation of the parallel Taff Vale Railway (TVR) for part of the transit, and this relationship was uneasy; the Rhymney Railway built an independent line to Cardiff in 1871. Better relations were created with the London and North Western Railway (LNWR), and later the Great Western Railway (GWR), and two important joint lines with the GWR were built: the Taff Bargoed line (1876) and the Quakers Yard and Merthyr Joint line in 1882.

Quakers Yard was a very busy railway junction. It had three viaducts, the first was a six arch viaduct built by Brunel in 1840. It carried the Taff Valley Railway to Merthyr along the east bank of the River Taff. This viaduct is still in use today. Quakers Yard was also the junction between the Taff Valley Railway and the Taff Vale Extension (TWE) of the Newport, Abergavenny & Hereford Railway. This line passed over a second viaduct before entering a tunnel to reach the Cynon Valley below Aberdare from where it ran on to Neath and Swansea. With the arrival of the Rhymney Railway this diverged from the TWE at Quakers Yard along the west bank of the River Taff. This required the building of a third viaduct, parallel to the second but curving away northwards towards Merthyr from it. 

Quakers Yard viaducts No 2 (foreground) and No 3. From Quakers Yard station a line passed over the second viaduct before entering a tunnel to reach the Cynon Valley below Aberdare from where it ran on to Neath and Swansea. The Rhymney Railway later diverged from the Swansea line at Quakers Yard running along the west bank of the River Taff. This required the building of a third viaduct, parallel to the second but curving away northwards towards Merthyr from it. Both viaducts have now been demolished.
Photo from John Mann collection

Although the Rhymney Railway network was never large, it was remarkably profitable, and paid excellent dividends for most of its life. Dependent on mineral traffic for its own success, it declined in the 1970s, but the main line from Rhymney to Cardiff remains in heavy use as a local passenger line.

Although the GWR already had a presence at Merthyr through the Vale of Neath line, up to that point the Taff Vale Railway had a monopoly of the direct routes from Merthyr to the south and east.

The Quakers Yard and Merthyr line was opened on 1 April 1886 from the Taff Vale Extension line at Quakers Yard, running up the west side of the River Taff to Merthyr, ending at the GWR station there. Colliery and ironstone pit connections were made intermediately, and a branch line spur crossed the Taff to get access to the important Merthyr Vale colliery. The QY&MR Joint Line crossed the river Taff immediately after leaving Quakers Yard station.

There was already a railway running part of the way down the west bank: the private Gethin Railway belonging to the Cyfarthfa Ironworks. This could be latched onto in the vicinity of Abercanaid, and a simple spur provided where it crossed the GWR Hirwain line to bring the joint trains into Merthyr High Street station.
     
The line opened for passenger traffic on 1 April 1886, trains using the High Street station at Merthyr. The new line crossed over the Taff Vale line and the Glamorganshire Canal shortly after leaving Quakers Yard GWR (later High Level) station. At nearly 2 miles south there was a branch on the east side to the Merthyr Vale group of coal pits, crossing the river on a long steel viaduct. Initially there were only two intermediate stations at Aberfan and Abercanaid, with the service being worked by the Rhymney company. At Cyfarthfa Level Crossing Junction, where the spur to the former Vale of Neath line ran round Glyndyris Pond, the private Gethin Railway ran straight on to the Cyfarthfa Ironworks, with a branch to the east running up to the Ynys Fach works, and. Rhymney goods trains and workmen's trains ran up to Cyfarthfa Furnace Tops.

The Taff Vale Railway introduced what it called "motor cars" (that is, rail motors) in 1905. These were single coaches incorporating a small steam engine integrated with the coach. The intention was to enable station calls at low-cost structures in rural areas. The Rhymney Railway observed the considerable success of the Taff Vale scheme, and in 1907 procured two such vehicles from Hudswell Clarke to its own design; the steam engine part was a small 0-4-0 tank engine with 3 ft 6 in wheels. The carriage part was supplied by Cravens. There were soon complaints of unsteady running, and a trailing axle was added to the locomotive unit, with 2 ft 9 in wheels.

One additional new station at Troed-y-rhiw was opened on the Quakers Yard to Merthyr line on 18 February 1907 to make use make use of these 'cars' (renamed Troedf-y-rhiw Halt in 1924). The 'cars' were not a success; one was rebuilt in 1910, making a separate carriage and engine. The other was used until 1919 on the Penrhiwfelin workmen's train, and then modified in the same way as the other. Another new station, Pontygwaith Halt opened 11 September 1933. There were also a number of private and untimetabled stations for colliery workers. Gethin Pits Platform was in use between 1915 and 1928 and Castle Pit Platform was in use between 1897 and 1915. There was also a Merthyr Vale Miners Platform at the junction with the branch to the collieries.

Over the years, the second and third viaducts over the River Taff were affected by the underground movements of the coal workings of Deep Navigation Pit in Treharris, which travelled in a westerly direction. Even to this day there are still subsidence issues in Edwardsville. Both viaducts had timber reinforcements in their arches to make them safe, but by the early 1950s the third viaduct became unsafe and this brought a premature termination of the passenger operation on the QY&M line in February 1951 with the closure of four stations and halts. The line was singled in 1952 but remained in use operated as a long siding from Merthyr. Aberfan station remained open to goods traffic until 1 November 1954 and track lifting at the southern end of the line began a year later. Coal wagons were stored along the line near Castle Pit into the mid-1950s and Abercanaid remained open for goods traffic until 9 May 1960, although by this date it only handled coal. Although Troed-y-rhiw Halt closed to passengers in 1951 it was retained for use by mine workers until 1 November 1954. After the closure of Abercanaid to coal traffic the remaining track was quickly lifted. The third viaduct of the River Taff at Edwardsville was demolished in 1969.

Ticket from Michael Stewart, Route map drawn by Alan Young.

Sources:

• Rhymney Railway - Wikipedia
• Quakers Yard and Merthyr Joint Railway - Wikipedia
• Railways of Edwardsville/Quakers Yard - web site
• Clinker, C R Register of closed passenger stations and goods depots
  (Avon Anglia 1978)
• Quick, Michael Railway passenger stations in Great Britain: a chronology
  (RCHS 2009)

See also:Abercanaid, Troedyrhiw Halt, Pontygwaith Halt & Quakers Yard High Level