Gelli Felen Halt railway station

Gelli Felen Halt
Station remains in 2011.
General information
Location	Gellifelin, Monmouthshire Wales
Coordinates	51.8033°N 3.1420°W / 51.8033; -3.1420
Grid reference	SO213122
Platforms	2
Other information
Status	Disused
History
Original company	London, 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

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

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

Notes

1. Conolly (2004), p. 8, section A5.
2. Tasker (1986), p. 18.
3. Awdry (1990), p. 93.
4. Hall (2009), p. 63.
5. Awdry (1990), pp. 88–89.
6. Butt (1995), p. 102.
7. Quick (2009), p. 183.
8. Tasker (1986), p. 121.
9. Hall (2009), p. 62.
10. Edge (2002), fig. 56.
11. Edge (2002), fig. 57.
12. Hall (2009), p. 68.
13. 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

• 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.