From the Merthyr Guardian 170 years ago today……
To Let
Tag: Dowlais Caeharris Railway Station
The District Nurse Always Got There
by Mansell Richards
Prior to the 1960s and the arrival of the mass-produced, affordable motor car, district nurses visited their patients on foot or by bus. These hard- working ladies often walked miles in extremely bad weather,- rain, hail, snow and gale force winds.
One such lady was Nurse Frances Evans of Muriel Terrace, Caeharris, Dowlais. The mother of two children – David and Dwynwen; she had, sadly, lost an eight year old son, Elwyn to diphtheria in 1938, a child-killing disease of the time.
For several years during the 1950s her once-a-week journey was sometimes unusual to say the least.
Normally, she travelled every Tuesday on the 1.15PM train from Caeharris Railway Station (located behind the Antelope Hotel on upper Dowlais High Street) to the isolated, windswept former coal-mining community of Cwmbargoed some 4 miles away, the home of her elderly patient, former miner, Mr Horace Morgan. He was a surgical case who needed skilled attention every week. Back in those days the isolated village of Cwmbargoed was situated on the main line from Dowlais to Bedlinog.
THE COLLIERS’ TRAIN
Nurse Evans always referred to this train as ‘The Colliers’ Train’, recalling vivid memories of her younger days when hundreds of colliers disembarked every afternoon at Caeharris Station from ‘The Cwbs’, (these were old, basic carriages with wooden benches for seats). These colliers were returning to their homes having completed their early morning shifts in the pits at Cwmbargoed, Fochriw and Bedlinog etc. With so many pit closures between the wars however, far fewer colliers by the 1950s were travelling on this route.
Meanwhile after puchasing a ticket at the ticket office (priced 6d each way), Nurse Evans would begin her journey to Cwmbargoed. But with other patients to visit, she would sometimes miss the 1.15pm train, the next train leaving some three hours later. On these occasions she would be given a lift by other means. But no ordinary train this. It consisted of a single steam-driven locomotive and a guard’s van. She would be offered the only seat and would sit uncomfortably, behind the kindly driver and his sweating, grime-faced, coal-shovelling fireman.
JOURNEY’S END
On arrival at Cwmbargoed Nurse Evans would have a ten minute walk to the home of old Mr Morgan. On one occasion she fell into a snow drift and was rescued by a passing workman who heard her cries for help.
All district nurses had large areas to cover and they walked miles every day. In some parts of the country, some may well have adopted the means of transport favoured by a nurse in the modern, 1950s-based television series ‘Call The Midwife’, by making use of a bicycle. However, there is no evidence of local nurses relying on this method of transport.
Needless to say Nurse Evans, who retired in 1962 enjoyed her occasionally unusual journey inside a hot and noisy steam locomotive, across the lonely, windswept moorland above the town of Merthyr Tydfil.
Older folk may recall Nurse Evans, a kind and gentle lady, who was held in great affection by her patients during the 1950s and early 60s.
(This story was taken from an article in the Merthyr Express on 8 March 1958. Meanwhile, I thank Sian Anthony, Dowlais Library Service, Terry Jones, John Richards and the family of the late Dewi Bowen for their valuable assistance).
Explosion at Dowlais
The article transcribed below appeared in the Western Mail 150 years ago today (28 October 1870).
THE EXPLOSION OF THE “KINGFISHER” LOCOMOTIVE AT DOWLAIS
INQUEST ON THE BODY OF JOAN THOMAS
The adjourned inquest on the body of Joan Thomas, aged 18, the woman who was scalded to death by the explosion of the locomotive known as the “Kingfisher” the property of the Dowlais Company, on the 1st instant, was resumed on Thursday by Mr. Overton, the coroner.
The nature of the accident may be best gathered from the evidence of David Price, the driver of the engine. He said: About half past eight on the morning in question, my engine was standing on a siding by the Bargoed pit, waiting for another engine to shunt trucks. I went to talk with the driver of another engine within twenty yards; and, within a few minutes of my leaving my engine, I saw the steam issuing from the fire-box. As I was passing from one engine to another, I met the deceased going towards my engine. She was employed by her uncle, who was the contractor for oiling the trams, and fetching nails and other things from Dowlais to the collieries, and was in the habit of travelling every day from Cae Harris Dowlais, where she resided, to the collieries, a distance of six miles, and returning in the evening. She was constantly in the habit of going backwards and forwards from the collieries to Dowlais for different things required at the works. I do not allow any persons to ride on the engine, unless they are engaged on the business of the company.
When I got back to my own engine, I found the deceased lying on the rails behind the engine. Mr. Matthew Truran came up at the time, and ordered the driver of the other engine to take her to Dowlais. She was scalded all over, and very bad. My two firemen were also scalded, but not severely. I then examined what was the cause of the accident, and found that one of the plates of the fire-box had burst, and caused the steam and water to escape. The locomotive was the Kingfisher, a tank engine, built by Sharpe and Co., of the Atlas Works, Manchester, and it had been at work four years and a half. We had taken in a supply of water half an hour before. It had been leaking a little below the part that burst, and we intended sending it to be repaired that night. There is no regular inspection of the engines unless we suspect there is something amiss, when they are sent in and examined by the fitters. My engine was examined by David Edwards, the fitter, a fortnight before, and he never complained. The young woman died that night.
David Edwards, fitter, said: I examined the engine after the explosion, and found that there was a hole of about six by four inches on the left side of the fire-box, two of the stay heads broken off, and the smoke end of the boiler blown open. I believe the explosion occurred from the weakness of the copper fire-box, which was so thin as to be unequal to bear the pressure. The fire-box has not been renewed since the engine came, four and a half years ago. I cannot undertake to say whether the plate was weakened by some cause or was originally too slight. I think the fire-boxes ought to last nine years.
Mr, Samuel Truran, the mechanical engineer of the company, confirmed the evidence of Edwards.
Mr. Wales, the Government inspector, gave the following evidence:- I have made an examination of the locomotive in question. I found that the copper of which the fire-box was made was originally 7-16ths of an inch thick, but from some cause that thickness was, at the time of the explosion, reduced to the thickness of a sixpenny piece. This rendered the copper at that point unable to longer resist the pressure of steam, which was 1201bs. per square inch, and hence the explosion. It is difficult to arrive at an average length of time copper fire-boxes last, so much depends upon the quantity of coal or coke consumed, and the work done by the locomotive; but I fancy from twelve to fourteen years might be taken as a fair average in this I case. Of course repairs are required during that time. It appears that the fire-box in question had only been used between four and five years. The pressure of steam at which locomotives are worked varies from 90lbs. up to 150lbs. per square inch, and it appears that the pressure in this case was 105lbs. per square inch. I am therefore of opinion that the copper was not reduced in thickness by the pressure of steam, but by the action of the fire, which would be greatly increased if the coal used contained much sulphur. The only safeguard against such danger which suggests itself to my mind is, that the copper fire-boxes should be regularly and frequently examined by an experienced boiler-maker, and when any doubt exists after the usual tests, then holes should be bored to ascertain the thickness of the copper, and if it is found that the thickness has been slightly reduced, the pressure of steam should also be reduced; but if found reduced to any considerable extent the fire-box should be removed altogether.
Mr. Samuel Davis, of the Atlas Works, Manchester, said: I have attended this inquiry by the direction or Messrs. Sharpe and Co. They were the manufacturers of the Kingfisher locomotive. There were two pieces of copper sent to us by the Dowlais Company. They were described as part of the copper box of this engine. They are reduced to a very thin state – to about 1-30th of an inch. The thickness originally was 7-16th. We do not use any test to each plate separately, but our men would easily discover if there was any deficiency in the thickness. I feel satisfied that the plates of this box were originally 7-16th thick. From the appearance of the plates, I should say the fire was the cause of the reduction in thickness. There was no incrustation arising from the water, I cannot perceive any indication of any operating causes to explain the explosion beyond the wear and tear by use. It is usual on all railways to have the boilers periodically tested with water pressure, but I do not know what is done in iron works and collieries and I consider that it should be made imperative. I quite concur in the major part of Mr. Wales’s evidence.
The Coroner having summed up, the Jury returned the following verdict:- “Accidental death from an explosion of a locomotive engine; and we recommend that in future a competent boiler maker be employed to make a regular inspection of the engines and boilers.”
Merthyr Memories: Merthyr’s Railways
by Kenneth Brewer
The railway has played an important part in Merthyr’s history, but also in my own personal history.
My earliest memory of the railway stems from the beginning of the Second World War when the evacuees arrived in Merthyr. Quite a number of them came to live in Abercanaid, and I remember them arriving at the old Abercanaid Station. I don’t remember any details however, as I was only a small child myself at the time.
I have many more memories of Abercanaid Station – it is where we would start out on our annual holiday to stay with my father’s auntie at Castlemorton near Malvern. This wasn’t a straightforward journey – we started out in Abercanaid, changed at Quakers Yard, and again at Pontypool before catching the train to Malvern, and then a bus journey to Castlemorton. The great excitement of the journey was going over Crumlin Viaduct – it was so high and so rickety-looking there was always a sense of trepidation mixed in with the excitement.
My other childhood memory of Abercanaid Station was having to catch the train from there to Quakers Yard to go to school at Quakers Yard Technical School. After a while I came to realise that from where I lived in Pond Row, I could watch the train passing Rhydycar Junction, and if I ran like the clappers I could make it to Abercanaid Station in time to catch my train. Little did I realise in those days that I would end up working on the railway.
I started my career working on the railway in November 1952, and ended up working there for almost 50 years. I first started working at Merthyr Railway Station as a carriage oiler and greaser.
The old Merthyr Station bears no resemblance to the small station we have today. Originally designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, by the 1950’s, Merthyr Station had five platforms and was covered by a huge glass roof. There were two waiting rooms (ladies and general), and also a refreshment room. There were many staff there, including the stationmaster and his clerk, four booking office clerks, two inspectors, seven or eight porters, Mrs Watley who announced the trains, and many others. I particularly remember Mrs Pritchard who was a cleaner – she lived to the grand old age of 106.
I left Merthyr Station to do my National Service, and having completed it, I went to work at Dowlais Caeharris Station. I trained as an examiner (or a wheel-tapper as it was called), and my job was to examine passenger rolling stock at Caeharris and Dowlais Central Stations, as well as freight rolling stock at the Ivor Works and the ICI Factory. Although much smaller than Merthyr, Caeharris was a very busy station, and in the time I worked there, there were four people in my department (Carriage & Wagon) as well as a stationmaster, booking clerk, two porters and four carriage cleaners.
Whilst I was at Caeharris Station, Dr Richard Beeching, chairman of the British Railways Board, produced his report to streamline Britain’s railway system. This resulted in the closure of dozens of railway lines and hundreds of stations. Caeharris Station was one of the casualties, and Merthyr’s railway network was decimated. I returned to work at Merthyr Station, and one of my lasting memories of that time was catching the last goods train from Brecon to Merthyr – a very poignant occasion. Merthyr Station eventually closed to be replaced by a smaller building, and my job moved at that time from Merthyr to Pontypridd.
Looking back on the way the railways played such a pivotal role in Merthyr’s history, and thinking of the different lines and stations there were in the borough, it is sad to see what we have lost – all in the name of progress.
The Royal Visit of 1912
105 years ago today, Merthyr was honoured with a visit from King George V and Queen Mary.
On 25 June 1912, the Royal Couple had embarked on a three day visit to Wales, the primary reason for which was to lay the foundation stone for the new National Museum of Wales in Cardiff. The King, however, had expressed a wish to see the social conditions of the area and Sir William Thomas Lewis (see previous posts) arranged a tour.
On the 27 June they travelled on the Royal Train, first visiting the Lewis Merthyr Colliery at Trehafod, then on to the Mines Rescue Station at Dinas. The tour then continued by train through Pontypridd, Llancaiach, Bedlinog, Cwmbargoed, to Caeharris (Dowlais) Station where the King and Queen were scheduled to visit the Dowlais Works.
To mark the occasion, craftsmen at the Dowlais Works had specially constructed two monumental archways for the Royal Couple to pass through – one made of coal and one made of steel.
They entered the works on foot, through the ‘Coal Arch’, and were greeted by a rousing rendition of ‘God Save the King’ by the Penywern Choir, who had been invited to entertain the Royal party. A message was later sent by the King and Queen to the conductor of the choir – Mr Evan Thomas, complimenting them on their singing, saying that the Penywern Choir “were the best choir of voices they had heard on their tour of South Wales”. The Royal Couple then entered Dowlais House where they met several invited distinguished guests and were served a sumptuous lunch. The Penywern Choir entertained the visitors during the lunch from a marquee that had been specially erected in front of the dining room.
Following lunch, the King and Queen were given a tour of the Works by Sir W T Lewis and Mr Arthur Keen, the owner of the works (he had purchased to Dowlais Iron Company from Ivor Bertie Guest in 1899, and the Works were now operating under the management of Guest, Keen & Nettlefolds). Having visited the Blast Furnaces, the Bessemer Plant, Goat Mill, Sleeper Mill, Sole Plate Mill, Fishplate Mill and the Siemens Plant, the Royal Couple exited the Works via the ‘Steel Arch’, and proceeded to Merthyr in their own Daimler car, to arrive at the Town Hall steps at 4.00pm where Sir W T Lewis presented them to the Mayor and Mayoress, Mr & Mrs J M Berry.
The Dowlais Works have since closed, the Steel Arch was dismantled in the 1920’s and the Coal Arch was dismantled in 1960.
Photographs courtesy of http://www.alangeorge.co.uk/index.htm