Swansea District Line (GWR)

[TheObserver]

Unless others know differently The Swansea District Line was (according to Wikipedia) built in 1912 by the Great Western Railway:

• "The Swansea District Line is a section of railway line running through the northern part of Swansea, and is primarily used for freight transportation, although minimal passenger services also traverse the route. It was built by the Great Western Railway in 1912 to provide a faster and less steeply graded route between London and Fishguard, in connection with the recently opened harbour at the latter place. It can thereby claim to be the very last mainline railway to have been built in Wales. The double track line runs from Cwrt Sart junction at Briton Ferry on the South Wales Main Line to Morlais junction near Pontarddulais on the Heart of Wales Line."

The line can be traced on the Ordnance Survey 1:2500 series of maps of 1916 from Morlais Junction at the River Lougher (see here) eastward towards Pont Lliw where there was originally a railway station(see here).

The line continues eastwards towards Llangyfelach where there was also originally a railway station (see here) where in later years sidings north into (the former) British Steel, Felindre works were laid.

Then continuing east the line continues into a tunnel below Morriston golf course, across the River Tawe on a high level viaduct at Ynysforgan, which can be glimpsed for a short distance, to the south of the M4 motorway. The railway next curves south east, towards the former Felin Fran Halt (see here) and on through the Peniel Green Tunnel emerging below Frederick Place at what was in the day the ‘Lon Las Junction’ where a link formerly curved east to join the main Swansea - Neath line prior to entering Skewen railway station. However the main line continues SE from (the former) Lon Las Junction across green fields towards what was later to become the (now former) Llandarcy complex. Turning east again the line can be glimpsed passing below both the M4 and A 465 and next crossing over the River Neath, turning SE again and joining the GWR main line at Court Sart Junction, a little to the north of Briton Ferry station. (see here)

Some ten years ago (November 2005) a discussion document based on reinstating the former running conditions of this line, improving timings to west Wales, along with a combination of other possible local developments, was published by "Railfuture South Wales". The document makes an intreguing read, connect to:
http://www.chartist.demon.co.uk/rdsw/sdl.pdf

Other interesting links:
Railfuture Wales: http://www.railfuturewales.org.uk/
Railfuture Wales Newsletters: http://www.railfuturewales.org.uk/en/news.php

I have no connection with Railfuture Wales.

Regards, John, TheObserver.

[Mike87f]

The one passenger train these days that uses the District Line is the so called boat train to Fishguard Harbour, a Class 158 if your lucky but a 150 if not. It runs non-stop from Bridgend to Llanelli. The timing from Court Sart to Llanelli is 26 minutes. Other trains that take the Swansea route are timed around 34 minutes, e.g. Manchester - Carmarthen. That includes stopping at Neath and reversing at Swansea. The distance on the District Line is about 26 miles, but via Swansea is shorter by 4 miles or so. The boat train sometimes uses the main line and bypasses Swansea by travelling behind Landore depot. I'm told that using both routes keeps up driver knowledge.

Commercially the District Line is not attractive simply because passengers from West Wales are unlikely to proved the revenue and, of course, there would be no pick up of drop down at Neath and Swansea. It remains open as a strategic alternative to the mainline. There has been talk of opening stations along the line but the difficulty is that there is no direct access to Swansea.

When the GWR built the line they intended continuing the route westward to the north of Llanelli and re-joining the main line just west of that town. The war intervened and afterwards the seaborne traffic at Fishguard did not warrant the investment.