Established in 1988 and incorporated in February 1994 the Bridgend Valleys Railway Company Ltd (BVRC) operated as a not-for-profit community business. It has achieved notable success securing in March 2001, a 125-year lease on 5 miles of railway track in the Garw Valley between Brynmenyn north of Bridgend and Pontycymer. BVRC has successfully secured a Transport Works Act order 2001 No. 1295 (W.76) from the National Assembly of Wales empowering it to provide passengers services along the line.

With the original track mostly still in place, the Garw Valley Railway hope that once the initial track renewal phase is finalised for the Pontycymer - Pontyrhyl section, this will lead to an operational service on the line. Once initial operations are successfully established between Pontycymer and Pontyrhyl, there is considerable opportunity for further expansion and development towards Brynmenyn in the next 5-years. In the interim period it is intended to operate the Pontycymer site as a rail centre and to this end, Open Days are now being run by the Garw Valley Railway volunteers.

The Bridgend Valleys Railway Company (with the trading name Garw Valley Railway) became a registered charity in May 2006. At this time the Rhondda & Cynon Valleys` Railway Society dissolved and some of its members and all its assets were transferred to the new charitable railway organisation.

The organisation is currently updating their Business Plan for the project and has commissioned consultants to design track layout plans and locomotive Works extension at Pontycymer.

The Railway Management Board is hopeful that train services will soon return again to the Valley with phase 1 being a 1-mile shuttle service between Pontycymer to Braich Y Cymmer in Pont Y Rhyl, operated by a class 108 diesel multiple unit with possible special steam weekend services during the year.

This is a photo of Pantygog (foreground), Pontycymer (centre) and Blaengarw (distance). The GVR shed is in the centre of the photo with the line running down to bottom left. The line originally continued north to Blaengarw but the line was severed during landscaping as part of the Garw regeneration.

The mountains in the distance mark the end of the Garw valley, the valley beyond is the Afan valley running down to Port Talbot. I hope this gives some idea of the beautiful scenery in the valley on a cold, sunny day and suggests the potential of the line as a preservation scheme. Click the photo for a larger version.

Community links.

The GVR fosters links into the community, in particular, the ARC group (Assisted Recovery in the Community). The ARC group regularly attends the shed at Pontycymer to carry out programmed restoration work or lineside maintenance and clearance thoughout the year. Recent work has included work on the Shark brakevan and lineside brush clearing.