In 1795 the Blaenavon Tramroad was opened from Pontnewynydd to Blaenavon Ironworks with branches to Abersychan, Varteg and Cwm Ffrwd to carry iron nearly 6 miles from Blaenavon Ironworks to the Monmouthshire Canal at Pontnewynydd.[1] The line was modified to a standard gauge railway by 1855 by the Monmouthshire Railway and Canal Company.[2][3]
In financial terms the line was doing no worse than any of the other lines in the South Wales valleys but, like the local ironworks, the closure of the railway line was also linked to the opening of Llanwern steelworks.[citation needed] The amount of freight traffic the new plant generated was causing severe rail congestion in the Newport area and in an era when passenger rail transport was in decline a number of local services in Monmouthshire were withdrawn by the British Transport Commission as an operational measure.[citation needed]
Barrie, Derek Stiven Maxwelton (1980). A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain. Vol.11 South Wales. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN0-7153-7970-4.
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