South Wales Railway
The South Wales Railway was a broad gauge railway with a gauge of 7 feet 1/4 inches (2,140 mm). It connected the Gloucester and Forest of Dean Railway with Neyland in southern Wales .
history
- 1845 Concession for a line from Chepstow to Fishguard
- 1846 Gloucester and Forest of Dean Railway franchises
- Opened in 1850 Chepstow - Swansea
- Opened in 1851 Grange Court - Chepstow East
- Neath Valley Railway to Neath opened
- 1852 Chepstow Bridge opened; Connection of the two sections of the route
- Opening Landore - Carmarthen
- Swansea Port Railway for freight
- Change of license allows transfer of the terminus from Fishguard to Neyland
- 1854 Extension to Haverfordwest
- 1856 line to Neyland complete
- 1862 Merger with the Great Western Railway
The gauge war
In the so-called "gauge war" ("gauge war"), the GWR fought fierce competition with the London and North Western Railway (LNWR). In 1846 the Bristol and Gloucester Railway was bought by the Midland Railway and converted to standard gauge in 1854. Three- rail tracks were laid on this route , on which trains of both gauges could run. Plymouth was reached in 1849 and Penzance in 1867 on the south-western tip of England with other own line structures . The South Wales Railway was opened in 1850 and connected to the GWR by the Wye Bridge built by Brunel in 1852 and Birmingham with Snow Hill station in the same year . Through such takeover and further line construction, the GWR grew to the largest company in the south-west of England.
Operational management
The South Wales Railway was entrusted with the operation of the Carmarthen and Cardigan Railway , which today is only in operation on small sections: the bankruptcy administrator did not cease to operate until 1878. In 1872 the line was converted to standard gauge . Today the Gwili Railway operates on a section of the route near Carmathen and the Teifi Valley Railway museum railway operations on a section near Henllan .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Grange Court
- ↑ a b La Luciole - Britain's 7 foot gauge railways ( Memento of the original from August 1, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ ET MacDermot: History of the Great Western Railway, volume I 1833-1863 . Great Western Railway , London 1927.
