Place Pontsticill Post-grouping Great Western Railway Platforms in use 3 | Grid reference SO06281210 19 March 1863 Station opens | |
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Area Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Pre-grouping Brecon and Merthyr Tydfil Junction Railway Original company Brecon and Merthyr Tydfil Junction Railway | ||
Pontsticill Junction railway station (or simply Pontsticill railway station) served Pontsticill, in the historic Welsh county of Brecknockshire, now Merthyr Tydfil County Borough. It was the junction at which the Brecon and Merthyr Tydfil Railway line from Torpantau in the North split to serve the Brecon & Merthyr Railway main line and the Merthyr Tydfil branch.
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The line opened originally in 1859 and closed in 1964.
History
The Brecon and Merthyr Tydfil Junction Railway obtained an Act of Parliament on 1 August 1859 to construct a line between Talybont and Pant. Train services between Brecon and Pant officially began on 23 April 1863 but two trains per day ran from 19 March 1863.
It became part of the Great Western Railway during the Grouping of 1923.
The station closed on 31 December 1962.
The site today
Construction of the Brecon Mountain Railway started in 1978, with the grant of a Light Railway Order in 1980. Track laying between Pant and Pontsticill took place in 1979-80. At Pontsticill the station house was renovated, the old waiting room was converted into a small workshop and a storage shed was built. 7 bridges were repaired or replaced. The railway opened to passengers in June 1980 using the engine Sybil and one carriage.
Pontsticill was the terminus of the Brecon Mountain Railway from the opening in 1980 to 1994, when the line was opened up northwards.
The original signal box and station house are on the right hand side. The original stone waiting room has been converted and extended, it now houses a small museum with a collection of small stationary steam engines and 3 small steam locomotives.