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Gelli Felen Halt railway station

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Coordinates: 51°48′12″N 3°08′31″W / 51.8033°N 3.1420°W / 51.8033; -3.1420
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Gelli Felen Halt
Station remains in 2011.
General information
LocationGellifelin, Monmouthshire
Wales
Coordinates51°48′12″N 3°08′31″W / 51.8033°N 3.1420°W / 51.8033; -3.1420
Grid referenceSO213122
Platforms2
Other information
StatusDisused
History
Original companyLondon, Midland and Scottish Railway
Key dates
6 September 1933 (1933-09-06)Opened
6 January 1958 (1958-01-06)Closed

Gelli Felen Halt railway station was a station on the London and North Western Railway's Heads of the Valleys line near the settlement of Gellifelin in the Welsh county of Monmouthshire.[1]

History

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The first section of the Merthyr, Tredegar and Abergavenny Railway from Abergavenny to Brynmawr was opened on 29 September 1862.[2] The line was leased and operated by the London and North Western Railway (L&NWR) which acquired the smaller railway company on 30 June 1866.[3][4] The L&NWR was itself amalgamated into the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) in the 1923 Grouping.[5]

Gelli Felen Halt was opened by the LMS on 6 September 1933.[6][7] It was situated to the west of the twin-bore Gelli Felen Tunnel (Down 386 yards (353 m); Up 352 yards (322 m)) from which the station was reached on a sharp left-hand curve where flangeless 0-8-4T locomotives had in the past derailed.[8] At this point the line ran along the sheer rock face of the cutting side which was reinforced with engineering brick.[9] Gelli Felen railway halt was in an isolated location on a 1 in 38 gradient on a sharp curve requiring check rails to prevent derailment.[10][4] Short staggered platforms were provided with a barrack-like brick huts as passenger shelters.[10][4] To the west of the station there had been a signal box, crossover and siding but these had gone by 1931; the signal box was opened on the Up side in 1898 and was known as Gellavalln.[11]

As a result of decline in the local industry and the costs of working the line between Abergavenny and Merthyr,[12] passenger services ceased on 4 January 1958.[13] The last public service over the Merthyr line was an SLS railtour on 5 January 1958 hauled by LNWR 0-8-0 49121 and LNWR Coal Tank No. 58926.[13][14] Official closure came on 6 January.[7][15][6][16]


Preceding station   Disused railways   Following station
Brynmawr
Line and station closed 		  London, Midland and Scottish Railway
Merthyr, Tredegar and Abergavenny Railway
 		  Clydach
Line and station closed

Present

[edit]

The platform shelters have survived in an overgrown state and the trackbed through the station is part of National Cycle Route 46.[4][17]

References

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Notes

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  1. ^ Conolly (2004), p. 8, section A5.
  2. ^ Tasker (1986), p. 18.
  3. ^ Awdry (1990), p. 93.
  4. ^ a b c d Hall (2009), p. 63.
  5. ^ Awdry (1990), pp. 88–89.
  6. ^ a b Butt (1995), p. 102.
  7. ^ a b Quick (2009), p. 183.
  8. ^ Tasker (1986), p. 121.
  9. ^ Hall (2009), p. 62.
  10. ^ a b Edge (2002), fig. 56.
  11. ^ Edge (2002), fig. 57.
  12. ^ Hall (2009), p. 68.
  13. ^ a b Tasker (1986), p. 139.
  14. ^ Edge (2002), fig. 65.
  15. ^ Clinker (1988), p. 51.
  16. ^ Page (1988), p. 155.
  17. ^ Tasker (1986), p. 140.

Sources

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  • Awdry, Christopher (1990). Encyclopaedia of British Railway Companies. Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-8526-0049-7. OCLC 19514063. CN 8983.
  • Butt, R. V. J. (October 1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199. OL 11956311M.
  • Clinker, C. R. (1988) [1978]. Clinker's Register of Closed Passenger Stations and Goods Depots in England, Scotland and Wales 1830–1980 (2nd ed.). Bristol: Avon-Anglia Publications & Services. ISBN 978-0-905466-91-0. OCLC 655703233.
  • Conolly, W. Philip (2004) [1958]. British Railways Pre-Grouping Atlas and Gazetteer. Hersham, Surrey: Ian Allan. ISBN 978-0-7110-0320-0.
  • Edge, David (September 2002). Abergavenny to Merthyr including the Ebbw Vale Branch. Country Railway Routes. Midhurst: Middleton Press. ISBN 1-901706-915.
  • Hall, Mike (2009). Lost Railways of South Wales. Newbury: Countryside Books. ISBN 978-1-84674-172-2.
  • Page, James (1988) [1979]. South Wales. Forgotten Railways. Vol. 8. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN 0-946537-44-5.
  • Quick, Michael (2009) [2001]. Railway passenger stations in Great Britain: a chronology (4th ed.). Oxford: Railway & Canal Historical Society. ISBN 978-0-901461-57-5. OCLC 612226077.
  • Tasker, W.W. (1986). The Merthyr, Tredegar & Abergavenny Railway and branches. Poole: Oxford Publishing Co. ISBN 978-0-86093-339-7.
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