Cardiff and the railways

Cardiff panorama

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Battle over the barrage

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All mixed up and proud of it!

The Welsh capital is a diverse place, and Butetown is right at the heart of a multicultural Cardiff.

In the company of John Davies, Open Minds explored the link between Cardiff and the railways.

John Davies

John Davies, Historian and Author

A brief history of the Taff Vale Railway

Until the 1750s, Merthyr Tydfil was a small, rural Welsh village relying on agriculture to support its community. However, in 1759 Merthyr’s first ironworks were opened and by 1801 this quiet village had become the largest town in Wales, with a population of nearly 8,000. By 1874 there were four large ironworks within a two-mile radius of the original village and by 1851 the population of the town had rocketed to 46,000. Merthyr was now one of the most important towns in the world.

Merthyr Station

Methry Tydfil railway The largest of Merthyr’s ironworks, and also the largest ironworks in the world, was Dowlais, owned by the Guest dynasty. The family were known for their innovation and use of new technology and Josiah ‘John’ Guest, head of the family for much of the 19th century, was no different. He realised that the speed and efficiency of a rail link to the coast would enable him to enlarge his export market, and thus the Taff Vale Railway Company was born.

Cardiff Bay Station

Cardiff Bay railway The rail link to Cardiff was completed in 1841 and made it possible to transport goods to the new Bute docks in less than an hour. The business brought by the increased flow of iron and coal not only benefited the iron producers, but also enabled Cardiff to grow, its population increasing 7 fold in less than 50 years. In 1905 it was declared a city and was officially selected as Wales’ capital in 1955. But it might never have been the city it is today without a forward thinking industrialist from Merthyr Tydfil.