Cockett railway station was a former station on the West Wales Line from Swansea to Gowerton and onwards to Llanelli.
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The station was located on the west side of Swansea in the residential area of Cockett.
Cockett railway station was a former station on the West Wales Line from Swansea to Gowerton and onwards to Llanelli.
The station was located on the west side of Swansea in the residential area of Cockett.
The railway line between Landore and Carmarthen was opened on 11 October 1852 by the broad gauge South Wales Railway, which later became part of the Great Western Railway. The engineer of this line was Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Originally the first station westwards from Landore was at Loughor; Cockett and Gowerton stations were opened at later dates. Cockett station was closed to passenger traffic on and from 2 November 1964.
There have been recent proposals to reopen the station as part of the Welsh Government's Rail infrastructure investment. [1]
Just east of the station, towards Swansea, was the 829 yard Cockett Tunnel. The tunnel was cut through unstable soft ground and had wide cuttings at a shallow angle at either end.
The tunnel suffered a partial collapse in 1899, which was held to have been caused by the resumption of pumping operations at the long-closed Weig-fawr colliery, [2] owned by Philip Richard (II), the flooded workings of which extended beneath the tunnel. The tunnel was completely closed for four weeks, after which traffic was resumed on a single line, but it was not fully restored until 1903, [3] by which time steel ribs had been inserted into the bore of the tunnel at its eastern end (not the location of the collapse) to strengthen the roof. These were found to unduly restrict the loading gauge within the tunnel and were removed [4] in 1908. [5] At the same time the eastern end of the tunnel was opened out (reducing the length to 789 yards) and the cutting sides were supported by two brick-built flying arches preceded by a very short tunnel ( 51°38′01″N3°58′02″W / 51.6336°N 3.9671°W ). [6] [7] The banks of the cutting were so unstable that even during this opening-out work, timber horseshoe shoring was required.
The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest and west of England, the West Midlands and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838. It was engineered by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, who chose a broad gauge of 7 ft —later slightly widened to 7 ft 1⁄4 in —but, from 1854, a series of amalgamations saw it also operate 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in standard-gauge trains; the last broad-gauge services were operated in 1892.
Cockett is a district and community in Swansea, Wales falling within Cockett ward. It is located about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) north-west of Swansea city centre. It includes the eastern half of Gowerton.
Waunarlwydd is a village and community in Swansea, Wales, within the newly formed Waunarlwydd ward in 2021. Wendy Lewis Labour is the first elected councillor for the newly created ward which she comfortably won in the 2022 local elections. In 2022 Waunarlwydd became a community.
The West Wales lines are a group of railway lines from Swansea through Carmarthenshire to Pembrokeshire, West Wales. The main part runs from Swansea to Carmarthen and Whitland, where it becomes three branches to Fishguard, Milford Haven and Pembroke Dock.
Gowerton railway station serves the village of Gowerton, Wales. It is located at street level at the end of Station Road in Gowerton 5+1⁄2 miles (8.9 km) west of Swansea. The station is unmanned but has a ticket machine, shelters on each platform and live train running information displays.
Merthyr Tydfil railway station is a railway station serving the town of Merthyr Tydfil in Wales. It is the terminus of the Merthyr branch of the Merthyr Line. Passenger services are provided by Transport for Wales. The station has one platform, and is situated near to the Tesco Superstore in the town.
The Landore viaduct is a railway viaduct over the Swansea valley and the River Tawe at Landore in south Wales. It provides a link between Swansea city center and the West Wales Line to the South Wales Main Line. The valley crossing provides a panoramic view of Landore, Kilvey Hill, the Liberty Stadium and the Swansea Enterprise Park.
The Loughor railway viaduct carries the West Wales Line across the River Loughor. It is adjacent, and runs parallel to, the Loughor road bridge. The 1880 viaduct was granted Grade II listed building status. Before it was demolished in early 2013, the viaduct was the last remaining timber viaduct designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
The Vale of Neath Railway (VoNR) was a broad gauge railway company, that built a line from Merthyr Tydfil and Aberdare to Neath, in Wales, chiefly to transport the products of the Merthyr iron industries to ports on Swansea Bay.
The South Wales Railway was a main line railway which opened in stages from 1850, connecting the Great Western Railway from Gloucester to South Wales. It was constructed on the broad gauge. An original aspiration was to reach Fishguard to engender an Irish ferry transit and transatlantic trade, but the latter did not materialise for many years, and never became an important sector of the business. Neyland was the western terminus of the line until 1906.
Gowerton is the name of an electoral ward in the county of Swansea, Wales, UK. It is named after Gowerton village which falls within the ward. The Gowerton community boundaries are coterminous with the ward.
The Swansea District line is a section of railway line running through the northern part of Swansea, Wales and is primarily used for freight transportation, although minimal passenger services also traverse the route. It was built by the Great Western Railway in 1912 to provide a faster and less steeply graded route between London and Fishguard, in connection with the recently opened harbour at the latter place. It can thereby claim to be the last mainline railway to have been built in Wales. The double track line runs from Cwrt Sart junction at Briton Ferry on the South Wales Main Line to Morlais junction near Pontarddulais on the Heart of Wales line.
Cockett is the name of an electoral ward in the City and County of Swansea, Wales, UK. The ward is coterminous with the Cockett community. It elects three councillors.
Abernant railway station served the village of Abernant in Wales. Served by the Vale of Neath railway, the station lay at the other end of the 2497 yard Abernant Tunnel from Merthyr Tydfil.
A flying arch is a form of arch bridge that does not carry any vertical load, but is provided solely to supply outward horizontal forces, to resist an inwards compression. They are used across cuttings, to avoid them collapsing inwards.
The Great Western Railway was a railway company that was dominant in West Wales, in the United Kingdom.
Loughor railway station was on the South Wales Railway, now the West Wales Line, from Swansea to Llanelli. The station was located on the west side of Swansea in the residential area of Loughor.
Landore High Level railway station was opened on 19 June 1850 by the South Wales Railway, which later became part of the Great Western Railway. The station was located on the north side of Swansea in the residential area of Landore. The engineer of this broad gauge line was Brunel. The line was later extended westwards to Carmarthen. After closure of Landore Low Level in 1954 the station became known as Landore.
Pontrhydyfen railway station served the village of Pontrhydyfen, in the historical county of Glamorganshire, Wales, from 1885 to 1962 on the Rhondda and Swansea Bay Railway.