Tondu railway station
Tondu lost its railway station in 1970 but regained it in 1992, in a drive to help residents of former coalmining communities to find new work, especially in Cardiff.
Tondu was once a busy railway crossroads. The Bridgend to Maesteg line was joined here by a line from Pyle (west of Tondu). Tracks diverged eastwards, forking at Brynmenyn to continue to Blaengarw or Nantymoel.
In Victorian times, the headquarters and workshops of the Llynvi & Ogmore Railway were at Tondu. Many steam locomotives were employed on coal trains from the district’s many collieries, and almost 50 locos were still based at Tondu depot in the 1940s. The Great Western Railway (GWR) took over the local railway companies and was one of Tondu’s main employers.
During the First World War, many railwaymen left for military service. This created temporary vacancies for women, among them Elizabeth Trevelyan of Bryn Road, Tondu. She was born in 1900 and schooled in Brynmenyn. She became a GWR porter in the war, and joined the Tondu branch of the National Union of Railwaymen (NUR) in June 1917.
Two months earlier, Elizabeth had “smashed three fingers” of her right hand at work. She left GWR employment in late 1919. You can read more about her and other wartime railway workers on the Railway Work, Life & Death website – follow the link below.
Tondu’s main passenger service was the one from Bridgend to Maesteg and on (via a tunnel north of Caerau) to Abergwynfi. There were also trains from Bridgend to Blaengarw and Nantymoel. The 1947 timetable also included five trains per weekday from Tondu to Pyle, two of which continued to Porthcawl.
During the 1960s British Rail (BR) withdrew many passenger services in an economy drive. The Bridgend to Maesteg service held out until June 1970.
In the 1980s Mid Glamorgan County Council began reopening railways and stations to support economic regeneration in the coalfield area. The programme included new stations along the Maesteg line, including Tondu. The new train service ran to Cardiff Central so that passengers would not have to change trains at Bridgend, as previously.
The photos, by Rhodri Clark, show: a train at Tondu on 3 October 1992, the first day of the new service; the signal box and the divergence of lines to Blaengarw (right) and Pyle (left foreground) in June 1992; and the station’s rebuilding in June 1992 (Pyle line on the right).
Postcode: CF32 9DY View Location Map
More about Elizabeth Trevelyan – Railway Work, Life & Death website