Recreating steam at Talgarth Station

August 27-28 2011

Our main Recreation Railway event for 2011 was the reopening of Talgarth Station as part of the annual Talgarth Festival.

The Event

Recreation Railways main railway re-creation event for 2011 saw the return of steam to Talgarth Station on the former Mid-Wales Railway (MWR). The two day event took place August 27-28 as part of the annual Talgarth Festival. The line was affectionately known as the “Eggs and Bacon Railway” because of the farm produce it carried from the market town of Hereford. Recreation Railways 7.25” narrow gauge Tinkerbell No. 3 provided passenger services for the first time in 49 years, running along the former platform at Talgarth alongside the preserved station building and waiting room. Recreation Railways made their debut in 2009 with the ambitious reopening of Charlton Road Viaduct to passengers, on the former Somerset and Dorset Railway.

Talgarth Station

The main crossing station on the busy seven mile single line between Three Cocks Junction and Talyllyn, Talgarth was double track with two platforms. A proposal to double track the entire line was made but never carried out. The platforms were unusually low and required a good stride by passengers when boarding and alighting trains. The railway was an important part of Talgarth which also had an active goods yard comprising cattle pens, coal merchants and an egg packing station.
There is very little visual evidence remaining in Talgarth today that there ever was a railway system in the district. The track bed now forms the route of a bypass road though the station buildings and one platform survive, converted into a private dwelling.
The line ran from Three Cocks, the junction with the Hereford Railway, to Talylln, where it joined the Brecon and Merthyr Railway (BMR). The Mid-Wales Railway had running rights over this last section into Brecon.

History of the Line

In the early 19th century construction of a 24 mile canal was proposed, linking the Brecknock and Abergavenny Canal at Brecon with Eardisley, but eventually a horse drawn tramway was built on 3ft 6in gauge tracks, opening between 1816 and 1818.
With Britain later firmly gripped with railway fever, the Hereford, Hay and Brecon Railways (HHBR) were granted an Act of Parliament in 1859 to construct a railway from Hereford to Brecon. Considerable argument as to the route followed, with the final proposal largely following that of the former tramway which was purchased the same year by the HHBR despite objections from the BMR and MWR. The first contractors, M’Cormick and Holmes, gave up their contract following boardroom disputes and wrangles and were replaced by Thomas Savin. The Act of Purchase was ratified with amendments resulting in the BMR purchasing the tramway between Brecon and Talylln, and the MWR from Talylln to Three Cocks Junction at Aberllynfi. It would be five years later that the first train would run into Brecon on 19th September 1864 following the opening of Three Cocks Junction. Despite the fanfare of a lavish opening ceremony with marching bands, fireworks and a huge picnic the railway was not a great success and was acquired by the Midland Railway in 1876.
The line saw 100 years of service with four trains daily in each direction, before closing to all traffic in 1964. Passenger services were withdrawn on 31st December 1962, just months before Beeching’s sweeping cuts would change the railway landscape forever. Departure of the last service from Brecon, a special, was delayed with extra carriages having to be added to cope with demand. The last Station Master at Talgarth was Mr B. Morgan who later retired to Hay. Goods traffic continued until 1964, when services from Eardisley and Three Cocks ceased and the entire line closed completely later the same year.