Welsh Newspapers

Search 15 million Welsh newspaper articles

Hide Articles List

8 articles on this Page

COWBRIDGE AND ABERTHAW RAILWAY.

News
Cite
Share

'V' MIJMIW"' 11 t,,m a»«»un■njMijm.wiM* !■'■*—■—— COWBRIDGE AND ABERTHAW RAILWAY. OPENING OF THE LINE. OD. Saturday morning the new line of railway between Cowbridge and Aberthaw, was opened for public traffic, thus adding to the railway facilities of one of the richest agricultural portions of G-la- jjuorganshire in a material degree, and completing .a further link between the seaboard and the mineral area of the country. Constructed in direct connection with the Taff Vale ltailway, and, in fact, forming a portion of that line, the inhaoitants of the Rhondda, Merthyr, Aberdare, Garw. Llynvi, and Ogaiore Valleys, are brought within an hour's journey of delightful sea scenerv for the Leys, close to Aberthaw, has always been a favourite pleasure resort, though one difficult to reach-a. fine portion of the Vale of Glamorgan, the Garden of Wales, has been opened up, while an immeasurable impetus will, undoubtedly, be given to what is already a large and grow- ing industry, the manufacture of Aberthaw linr-, a large works at the seaward terminus of the line Toeinsr already in full operation. With the extra facilities for"transit now afforded the output cannot but grow very rapidly. The line. which, as has already been stated, connects Cow bridge and Aberthaw. is about six and a hulf miles in length, and passes through some of the finest scenery of the renowned Vale of Glamoxgan a district full of scientific, artistic, and historic interest, as well jas from practical points of view. It commences close to the old Cowbridge terminus, and upon it have been constructed a new station for that town and three others—St. Marvchureh-road, St. Athan- road. and Abc I thaw-thè two last named being within half a mile of the Leys—a most picturesque and charming spot. These stat-iona are stone- built of the best class, and ample provision in the -way of goods sidings and warehouses have been made. The Act for the contraction of the line was obtained in 1889, the first sod being cut in February. 1850. Since then the work has been in the hands of Mr. W. H. Mathias, contractor, of Porth, to the excellence of whose work complete testimony was given by railwaymen on Saturday, The joint engineers, who were also warmly eulo- gised, were Mr. H. 0. Fisher and Mr. J. W. Brewer the late and the present engineers of the Tafi Vale Company. The line is a single one throughout but the bridges, which are of most substantial eon. struction. have been designed with a view tc doubling at some future date. X 0 less than 250,00( cubic yards of excavation has been done, and though the hard nature of the rock was such as U make this labour of exceptional difficulty, not_ £ single fatal accident has taken place,'while casualtie: of a lesser degree have been singularly infrequent The cost of the undertaking is approximated a £ 120,000, and the line, in accordance with ai agreement made soon after the work commenced has been perpetually leased by the Taff Vale Rail way Company, who have started the working b; running three trams a day. THE OPENING CEREJIONY. The opening ceremony was performed on Satur- day by Mrs. Beasley, wife of the general manager of the Taff Vale Company, who kindly acquiesced in the wish that she should perform that function, to witness which a large party assembled at the invitation of the chairman and directors of the company. A special train left Cardiff at 11.15 on Saturday morning, and, proceeding by way of Treforest and Llantrisant Junctions, travelled to Cowbridge, the guests joining the train at various points on the journey. At Cowbridge Station, which was prettily decorated, the party was re- ceived and welcomed by Mr. Daniel Owen, Ash Hall (chairman of the Cowbridge and Aberthaw Company) Mr. Thomas Recs and Sir Morgan Morgan. directors Colonel Morgan (Brecon), and Mr. ° James Inskip. The other directors were unable to be present and take part in the interest- ing ceremony of the day. The invited guests nearly all of whom were present, were :—Ladj Morgan. Mrs. Daniel Owen, Mr. Tudor Owen, Mis. Joseland and Miss Hunt; Mrs. T. Rees, Mr. ano Mrs. W. T. Gwyn, the Misses Gwyn, and Mrs. John Llewellvn Mrs. Edwards, Mr. O. H. Jones. Mr R, B. 'Bassett, Mr. and Mrs. H. O. Fisher, the directors of the Taff Vale Railway, Mr. Lascelles Carr, Mr. Beasley (general manager Taff Vale Rail way) Mrs. Beasley. and the Misses Beasley, Mr And Mrs. W. Scott. Mr. Sidney Coleman (auditor) Mr Simpson, Mr. W. H. Mathias (contractor) ant Mrs Mathias, Mr. and Mrs. Richard Mathias, Mr Jones (secretary of the Tag Vale Railway), Mr and Mrs. Ingledew, Captain Thomas (Ocean House) Mr. D.T. Alexander. Mr. T. Matthews (Fontegarv). Mr. Huland (Taff Vale Railway), anc Mr R. D. Page (general manager's department) The mayor and mayoress of Cowbridge (Aldermai: and Mrs. Jenkins) were also invited, as well as th( following members and officials of the corporation -Alderman B. John (ex-mayor), and W. James Councillors M. Morgan, T. Williams, J. Llewellyn T. Parsons, David Thomas, J. W. Hall, Lewi: Jenkins, T. Thomas. John Hopkins, D. Tiley, an( J. Williams, with Mr. Stoskwood (the clerk), an( Mr. John Thomas (the borough treasurer). The whole of the stations en route were deco rated in honour of the occasion, and on reaching Aberthaw the party alighted. Mr. Daniel Owen as chairman of the company, then briefly asked Mrs Beasley to declare the line open. Mrs. Beasle; then formally opened the line, wishing, in a fev well-chosen words, that it might meet with ever; -nrosperity. &. THE LUiSCJtiEOM. After inspecting the Aberthaw Limeworks thE mrty adjourned back to Cowbridge, where an excellent luncheon was served by Mr. and Mrs. J Thomas, at the Bear Hotel. Mr. Daniel Owen presided there being with him at the cross table Mrs Owen the Mayor and Mayoress of Cowbridge Mr. and Mrs. Beasley, Sir Morgan Morgan anc Lady Morgan, Mr. and Mrs. Rees, &c. After lunch the toast of The Queen wasgivei from the chair and duly honoured. The H^yor of Cowbridge then gave" Succes: to the Cowbridge and Aberthaw and the Taf Vale Railways" The success of the former, hi, Worship said, had been long ago assured. He di< not anticipate that the energetic promoters of th line would stop at Aberthaw. (• .No.;) Consider in* that that place was within four miles of Barry he thought that assumption of his would be gene rally accepted, though he was in no degree in th «<»<»rpts of the gentlemen connected with the line If such a thing as ha had foreshadowed did tak place then the line would be a great trunk on from the hills to the sea. (Hear, hear ) Sir Morgan Morgan, in reply, said that for ver, many years it had been the desire of almost every one in that part of the country that the line shouL be made The district was a remarkable one fo the way' in which it had developed. A few year acro there were but a few farms where Barry an. Cadoxton now stood. At the present time it wa completely transformed, and Aberthaw, as ha been said, was within four miles of Barry. At th terminus of the new line there was a natural hai bour ■ already a great number of small vessel visited it. and with the greater facilities whic must follow the opening of the line, a grea many more would, too. Aberthaw, too, was ei ceedinody healthy, and there was suitable groun for building. Thus he thought a large number c families would seek work in the place and setti there (Applause.) He was also not unmindft of the fact that behind them lay a rich mmea district, the Garw Valley, almost untouched, bt the coal of which must be worked almos immediately. Surely the line was the most direc one to the sea. (Hear, hear.) He believed il construction was but the beginning of somethin which ultimately would be very big indeed. (A] plause.) Certainly, as it was at present it wou] enable thousands and thousands of the inhabitan of the mineral district to get to the sea for the recreation and recuperation. (Applause.) Mr T Rees and Mr. Beasley responded on beha of the faff Vale Railway Company. Mr. Lascelles Carr then gave the toast of T1 Mayor and Corporation of Cowbridg^. It h might be permitted to say so he thought th Mayor had been rather ungrateful to the Taff Va Kail way Company when he suggested that t line should be extended to Bairy. He (tl speaker) would suggest that as they could n, bring the docks up to Cowbridge at present, would be better to have the docks as near Cox bridge as possible. Why should not Aberthaw t the site of the future great dock system of th: part of the world? (Laughter and applause.) A doc at Aberthaw was certainly not more of a • wild ca enterprise than had been considered a railway 1 Aberthaw. (Hsar, hear.) Both, he believed, j possessed the germs of great prosperity to the district. The railway had already brought a great deal of labour to the district-a dock would do the same thing. (Hear, hear.) One of the mainstays of Newport had been the fact that there was a river which had been able to accommodate small craft on easy terms there would always be small vessels whose owners did not want to pay the cost of, nor did they need the accommodation of, a great and costly dock. However, the subject he had touched upon was one on which specialists alone could speak with authority, but he did not think the Taff Vale Railway would have guaranteed 3T per cent. upon the capital of the company if they had not seen something in the future. (Hear, hear.) The Mayor, Alderman John, and Alderman James briefly responded. Mr. Beasley then gave "The healths of the Engineers and Contractor," and Messrs. H. O. Fisher and Mr. Mathias responded. Mr. D. T. Alexander gave the toast of "The Chairman of the Cowbridge and Aberthaw Com- pany." The Chairman, who was warmly received, in reply, said he had always done his best for the district, and he would continue to do so as long as he lived. As to the Cowbridge and Aberthaw Railway, some thought its present prospects doubt- ful. He (Mr. Owen) was confident it would pay (hear, hear)—and. further, he had no doubt that in the course of a few years a magnificent harbour would be constructed at Aberthaw. (Applause.) With reference to what had been said regarding Barry by his partner. Mr. Carr. he (the speaker) disagreed. In his opinion the line should be ex- tended to Barry. (Hear, hear.) What was required was a railway along the coa3t gaps should not exist here and there, and it would be beneficial were the railway extended as he had^ said.^ That, [ however, was a matter for future consideration. > The proceedings then terminated, the special train returning from Cowbridge aoout five o clock,

FKEEMASONARY AT CADOXTON.

BARRY DOCK ? STARR-BOWKETT…

[No title]

YOUNG WALES SOCIETY.

Advertising

IMPORTANT NOTICE.

Advertising