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Mumbles Railway Trail
By Carol Powell

A NOSTALGIC WALK ALONG THE TRACKS
OF THE MUMBLES RAILWAY
Part One

From Blackpill to Oystermouth

Please note:

This Trail was first published in 2004 and some features may have changed -

Our walk will point out some of the present-day points of interest and some, which existed in times gone by. In its earlier days, the track hugged the seaward side of the road as far as Castle Hill terminus (now the Dairy car Park) but from  the 1890s until 1960, from Blackpill to Oystermouth, it ran along what is now the prom. 

1) We start our journey at the Junction Café, which is housed in one of the few remaining Mumbles Railway buildings (shown above)—an Electricity Sub-station built in 1929. Outside, the display boards record the history of this,  the world’s first passenger railway and in the tarmac nearby, we can see the indentations of the remains of some of the railway sleepers.

2) We then pass the petrol garage, the site of which was the home of Lloyd’s Garage and a row of cottages—Brookside Terrace, the birthplace of the railway’s longest-serving driver, Mr. Frank Dunkin.

3) The neighbouring green was once bordered on the road-side by several cottages—Beaufort Terrace, adjoining a market garden, which in the 1880s, was the childhood home of Melville Clare. He later became a photographer, who could often be seen travelling by bicycle carrying his tripod, to capture many of the local everyday scenes of the early 20C. Also on this site was an electricity booster station for the railway, dated on its fascia as 1939 and opposite on the seaward side a World War two pill-box.

4) We then come to some gaps in the stone topping of the sea wall. In these were placed the massive concrete blocks which were war-time anti-tank defences. Further on, there is a NO WAY sign, fronting a flight of steps to the beach, which during that time had been out of bounds to the public.

5) Beyond this, opposite the ramp to the beach was the site of one of the oldest buildings in the area—Lilliput Hall, which was described in M. Mathew’s Swansea Guide of 1830 as ‘the whimsical home of Thomas Deering’, measuring just  20 feet by 16 feet. This was demolished in the 1960s/70s as part of the sea front landscaping scheme.

6) On through the ‘Cutting’ past the site of another very old cottage, whose apple tree is now the only sign of its existence.

7) At West cross Station there was a passing loop and in the sea wall, can be seen the remains of one of the electricity poles, which supported the overhead cables. On our right hand side in the early 19C stood a marble works and the hotel nearby was then called the Currant Tree.

9) From West Cross, the walk is along the single-track passing the old Norton Station at ‘Ripples’ and onwards to the later Station opposite Alexandra Terrace.

10) At Oystermouth, our destination on this walk, the original Victorian ticket Office (shown overleaf) still stands, occupied until recently by the TIC and a taxi firm.

We hope you have enjoyed your walk along the track and that you will continue with part two from Oystermouth to the Pier.

Please note: 

Since first publication in 2004, some features may have changed.

The details noted may have changed and should be checked before making a journey.

Mumbles Train Cab from car 7.

This is the last remaining section of Mumbles Railway rolling stock in existence. It is in fact the cab of the car which made the last service run in 1960. The tramcars, with their distinctive livery, were built in 1928 by the Brush Electrical Engineers Company of Loughborough. They were the largest tramcars in service in Britain, being 45 feet long. They could carry 106 seated passengers and covered the journey to Mumbles in 19 minutes.