Remembering Our Mumbles Railway

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It had begun life as a cargo line back in 1804 to transport limestone from Mumbles and, on a branch line, coal from Ynys in Clyne Valley, to Swansea Docks, but on 25^th March 1807, its first fare-paying passengers took a trip around the bay to the Castle Hill Terminus (on the site of today's Dairy Car Park) which was to cost two shillings return in 1813. When the turnpike road opened alongside in 1826, competition from horse-drawn buses proved too much for the railway and for some thirty years the line was virtually derelict, until its re-introduction (still horse-drawn) in 1860 along a renovated line running from the Royal Institution to Mumbles. First-class passengers now paid 10d and second-class 8d.

On 17^th August 1877, it began its time as a steam-powered railway, operating from Rutland Street to Castle Hill terminus (along the same track as the horse-drawn ones, which operated until 1896) and for fifty-two years carried thousands of passengers to work in Swansea or on day trips to the growing resort of Mumbles. In the 1890s, plans were implemented to extend the railway across the Horsepool harbour to Mumbles Head and there to construct a pier (opened 10^th May 1898) as well as to alter the route from Blackpill to Norton from the side of Mumbles Road to the shore (opened on 26^th August 1900).

On 2^nd March 1929, the line became electrically powered, equipped with thirteen new double-decker coaches, initially painted cream, then pillar-box red, which could carry two-hundred people or so at a time. During the War, when petrol was rationed and bus services curtailed, passenger numbers rose until in 1945, they reached a peak of 4,995,000.

In the late 1940s and 50s, we West Cross children went by train to school in Swansea or to the Church or Council Schools in Mumbles. At other times, we often took delight in walking along the unfenced track or jumping along the anti-tank blocks alongside or putting our pennies on the line to be flattened by the wheels of the passing coaches or climbing nearby trees to wave at startled passengers travelling on the upper deck! The electric railway seemed a permanent part of our lives and we did not realise that after only thirty-one years, its demise was imminent. Its 150^th anniversary was celebrated in 1954, but falling passenger numbers meant that by the late 1950s, the writing was on the wall. During its last few days, my boy-friend (now husband) John and I travelled on and alongside, the train recording the journeys on our ciné camera, before it took its final journey on 5^th January 1960, amongst emotional scenes.

Nevertheless, on a quiet evening if I listen carefully, I can still hear the train as it negotiates the points at West Cross Station!

More: The Mumbles Railway or Train