Nantybwch railway station

Nantybwch
Railway cottages which stood opposite station site in 2013.
Location
Place	Nantybwch
Area	Blaenau Gwent
Coordinates	51°47′15″N 3°15′53″W / 51.7876°N 3.2647°W / 51.7876; -3.2647Coordinates: 51°47′15″N 3°15′53″W / 51.7876°N 3.2647°W / 51.7876; -3.2647
Grid reference	SO128106
Operations
Original company	Merthyr, Tredegar and Abergavenny Railway
Pre-grouping	London and North Western Railway
Post-grouping	London, Midland and Scottish Railway
Platforms	4
History
1 March 1864 (1864-03-01)	Opened as Tredegar
1 November 1868	Renamed
2 November 1868	Becomes a junction station
4 January 1958	Withdrawal of Abergavenny and Merthyr services
13 June 1960 (1960-06-13)	Final closure
Disused railway stations in the United Kingdom
Closed railway stations in Britain A B C D–F G H–J K–L M–O P–R S T–V W–Z

Nantybwch railway station was a station on the London and North Western Railway's Heads of the Valleys line serving the village of Nantybwch in the Welsh county of Monmouthshire.

The first section of the Merthyr, Tredegar and Abergavenny Railway from Abergavenny to Brynmawr was opened on 29 September 1862. The line was leased and operated by the London and North Western Railway which acquired the smaller railway company on 30 June 1866. On 1 March 1864, the line was extended from Brynmawr to Nantybwch where a station was opened. Initially named Tredegar, it was renamed Nantybwch on 1 November 1868, the day before the public opening of the northward extension from Sirhowy of the Sirhowy Railway which had its own Tredegar station.

The station was reached by the 118 yards (108 m) nine-arch Blaen-y-Cwm viaduct. It was situated to the north of the small settlement from which it took its name and to the north-west of the local school. Road access was via an unmade up lane reached by passing staff cottages adjacent to the line. Situated at 1,165 feet (355 m) above sea level, the station was situated in a desolate and bleak landscape. To the west the three miles to Rhymney Bridge were at a gradient of 1 in 35, whilst to Sirhowy the gradients varied between 1 in 42 and 1 in 37. Single-engine loads between Rhymney and Nantybwch were restricted to 12 loaded wagons only.

Four platform faces were provided: two platforms either side of a curving island platform, a bay platform for Sirhowy services and a platform for Merthyr services. The Merthyr platform was adjacent to the road entrance and the platform building incorporated a ticket office and porters' room. A weather-boarded footbridge linked the platforms which were lit by Sugg's Rochester pattern gaslights. On the island platform was No. 1 signal box which was completed in 1891 and remained in use until 1959. On the Down island platform until 1929 was the Area Traffic Control Office near No. 1 box until it was relocated to Abergavenny. On the Up side was a water column fed from a brick-lined reservoir. Beyond the station to the west was No. 2 box which was stone-built and of Rhymney Railway design; it controlled the goods sidings adjacent to the double track which were used for stabling and running around stock after closure of the line to the west. Colliers' coaches were also stored here for the Sirhowy trains.