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The Brecon Mountain Railway
On leaving Blaenavon our coach travelled the relatively short journey to the Brecon Mountain Railway, the southernmost “Great Little Train of Wales”, in reality situated just a few miles north of Merthyr Tydfil in the foothills of the Brecon Beacons National Park.
This line, whilst having quite a simple layout- single line, with run-round loops at each end, and two stations, one with Workshop facilities and the other with permanent way shed, worked by one loco and three coaches & guards caboose- has nevertheless very impressive purpose-built facilities at Pant, where the workshops would be the envy of many a railway with a gauge greater than 1 foot, 11 and three quarter inches.
The station building here houses booking, tourist and administrative offices, a large café, shop, waiting room, three road loco and carriage shed, plus fully equipped workshop - all in one building on three levels with the platform alongside. All very comprehensive for pretty much a “one train” narrow gauge railway but with the facilities to build locos and rolling stock virtually from new and carry out the most major of renovation and repair projects. Indeed, in addition to major renovation projects, two large (narrow gauge) steam locos are currently being built. In addition the carriage bodies were built on site, on the frames of South African freight wagons and featuring popular open end balconies where passengers can stand outside and appreciate the views- much used on our visit.
We arrived with time for refreshments and a look around, with the viewing gallery providing a view of the works/ shed with a number of long term rebuild projects.
For many years the loco used was maroon- liveried Graf Schwerin- Lowitz, a 0-6-2 Well Tank built by Jung in 1908, and this was parked outside the shed following a recent overhaul. However, an impressive 4-6-2 Baldwin Loco built in 1930 for a South African Railway has been the mainstay in recent years, and this arrived at Pant station ready to take out our train, the last return trip of the day.
The line itself is in three main parts- the first, leaving Pant takes it along the hill side before skirting the partially wooded shores of the Taf Fechan reservoir, with a station at Pontsticill, before terminating amongst the trees in a run-round loop.
Apart from the first section, this follows the trackbed of the former standard gauge line from Brecon to Newport. On the return run, the train pauses at Pontsticill for a refreshment stop in the pleasant lakeside location, before returning to Pant. Members and guests enjoyed ice creams and drinks here alongside the lake, before rejoining the train and returning to our coach for the journey back to Weston. By now, those following England’s progress in that afternoon’s World Cup match against Germany were somewhat despondent on hearing the result coming through.
However, this was the only negative on what was an excellent day, the idea conceived and delivered by Peter Carr, who did an excellent job, even arranging good weather. Now if only he could have arranged for the right result in the World Cup match as well!!