FREIGHT REORGANISATION IN THE CARDIFF VALLEYS 1963 - 1969

We were delighted to welcome Brian Rolley, a well known and well-respected authority on railways in South Wales and elsewhere, who is also one of the administrators of the popular Railways in South Wales Facebook page. He gave us a veritable tour-de-force of all the freight workings from the many depots in the Cardiff Valleys between 1963 and 1965 and emphasised the intensive work that many of the Class 14 diesel hydraulics did in that time. One such turn from Canton, for example ran from 05.15 to 18.30 and another from 02.20 when the loco took the Papers up to Treherbert and then went to shunt Vaynor Quarry.

Freight was still a big earner in 1963 in South Wales, not just from steel and coal and Brian emphasised that, as in many other parts of the country, wayside stations such as St Fagan’s and Ely closed not because of Beeching but because they interfered with the profitable local freight. In 1966, before the introduction of the Blockplan programme there were 83 locos allocated to local freight, including 54 class 37s and 12 class 14s.

The reorganisation started in 1968 and one aim was to remove local shunting which Dr Beeching had already identified as heavily loss making. This inevitably led to the slow withdrawal of the Class 14s, not because they were ineffective (many went on to have a very useful life in the NCB) but because the work dried up; the last one (D9518 - now preserved on the WSR) did a week’s work from Radyr in April 1969. This reorganisation led to block trains which were much more efficient, but of course led to a significant reduction in locos - 28 class 37s in 1969 compared to 54 three years earlier.

A magnificent presentation, owing much to the records of the late Rowland Pittard, with 32 members and friends, which is becoming our normal post Covid attendance. Many thanks Brian.