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The Pontypridd, Caerphilly and Newport Railway connected the collieries of the Aberdare and Rhondda valleys directly with the new Alexandra Docks at Newport. Using the Taff Vale Railway lines above Pontypridd, it ran on its own metals to Penrhos where it connected with Caerphilly station of the Rhymney Railway. It then ran on the Brecon and Merthyr Railway through Machen to Bassaleg junction for connection to either the Alexandra Docks, or Newport Station for passengers connecting to the South Wales Railway or the London and North Western Railway. The line closed to passengers in 1962, and was shut to freight from 1965. Some of the northern stretches of the lines from Upper Boat to Pontypridd form the redeveloped dual carriageway sections of the A470 road, while the southern section from Rhydyfelin to Penrhos form part of the Taff Trail cycleway, constructed at a cost of £42,000.〔 ==Background== The need for the PC&NR was brought about by the stranglehold of the Taff Vale Railway on railway traffic to both the Aberdare and Rhondda valleys. From 1870 onwards, the demand for Rhondda steam coal was expanding quicker than the infrastructure of the Taff Vale Railway and Cardiff docks could provide. In 1874 the total coal and coke exported from Cardiff and Penarth was 2,886,000 tons, which had risen to 7,774,828 tons by 1882. By 1880 a train typically took 23 hours to travel from the Ocean Colliery to Bute Dock, and 27 hours for the empty wagons to return. This slowed production, as no additional railway capacity had been built, and only the Roath Basin provided additional dock capacity.〔(Rhondda Railways )〕 Two attempts were made to break the monopoly of the Marquess of Bute. The Barry Railway and Docks built at a cost of £2 million a new dock at Barry Island with a railway which served the Rhondda via the Wenvoe Tunnel and what - after amalgamation - became known as Pontypridd Graig Station. A branch served the Rhymney Valley, which crossed the narrow Tongwynlais gorge by means of the high-level Walnut Tree Viaduct. The first coal was shipped on 18 July 1889, with a second dock opened in 1898, and a third in 1914. On 16 March 1896 the main line between Porth and Barry was opened for passenger traffic, to connect with the paddle steamers of P and A Campbell. The second was the provision of the Rhondda and Swansea Bay Railway company to provide access to Swansea docks, but due to the incline through the Rhondda Tunnel this was only a commercial proposition for the collieries furthest up the Rhondda Fawr. The other driver behind the building of the PC&NR was to provide a direct route to the Alexandra Dock, thereby reducing both the time and cost of shipping coal directly to the new facility. Lord Tredegar and Sir George Elliot of Powell Duffryn collieries agreed that the only way to secure the future income of the Alexandra docks was the provision of a direct railway route.〔Hutton, John: "The Newport Docks and Railway Company" Pub: Silver Link, ISBN 1-85794-163-2〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Pontypridd, Caerphilly and Newport Railway」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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