Barry Railway Company

Dock facilities

The Barry Docks were constructed on a lavish scale with the most modern equipment,

designed to enable rapid loading and discharge of vessels. Hydraulic power was provided for the operation of cranes and other plant, and the lock gates, and electric lighting was installed, as 24-hour working was in force.

After 1898, the Barry Docks consisted of a 7-acre (2.8 ha) basin and two docks of 73 and 31 acres (30 and 13 ha) respectively. In 1901 the company stated that there were 21 high-level and nine low-level coal hoists with a further eight movable (using traversers) two of which were placed on No. 1 dock. Nos. 1 to 11 on No. 1 dock and 22 to 31 on No. 2 dock, were served by high-level rail tiers and short viaducts and with generally two lines for the laden wagons to a single line weighbridge and two lines from the single line empties weighbridge returns. Low-level hoists on No. 1 dock were numbered 12, then 13 to 18 on the Mole and thence 19 on the Barry Island side of No. 1 dock. Following 1915, the Barry Railway Company established low-level fixed hoists Nos. 32, 33, 34 and Nos. 4 and 5 movable, on the Barry Island side of No. 1 dock. Two earlier low-level hoists, Nos. 20 and 21 were fed from Graving Dock Junction and Caisson sidings area. In 1893 these were numbered 2 and 3 but were removed prior to 1927 and one early map shows No. 18 on the Mole, renumbered 20, 18 being substituted for one on the Barry Island side of No. 1 dock quay where three low-level hoists, Nos. 1, 2 and 3 movable (with traversers) existed either side of No. 19. Most of the 1st-generation high-level coal hoists on both docks were replaced by Armstrong–Whitworth structures capable of more rapid discharge of coal wagons. There had been three high-level movable hoists at the north end of No. 2 dock and close to Nos. 30 and 31 hoists and on one docks plan, these too were referenced "No. 3 Movable" and "No. 4 Movable." Besides other dedicated plots, that area had been used by the US Army towards the end of World War II. None of the hoists remain, and only pictorial records of their format survive.

The Barry Railway General Manager, Edward Lake, told The Railway Magazine:

Other provisions for dealing with merchandise traffic have not been lost sight of. Along the south side of dock No. 2 has been erected a commodious transit shed with cellarage and ground and upper floors, and bonded stores, of 500 ft. long and 156 ft. wide. In connection therewith, cranes and other appliances have been provided to enable traffic to be received into the sheds either from ships or trucks or to be loaded from the warehouse into trucks or vessels with the utmost despatch.

Close to this building a huge flour mill has erected by Messrs. Joseph Rank, Ltd. Every provision has been made thereat fur dealing with an extensive trade in the most complete manner, and no doubt this will add considerably to 'the future prosperity of the Barry Railway. A modern dock like Barry would not be complete without a cold store. and one has been constructed adjacent to the dock quays, in which frozen meat and other goods requiring cold storage are stored, and the arrangements are such that the Traffic may be discharged direct from the ship’s hold into trucks and despatched to the consuming centres or stored in the cold store with the least possible despatch and exposure. At present the store is capable of accommodating 80,000 carcasses of sheep and other goods, and is capable of being largely extended.

Passenger services

Although the mineral traffic was massively dominant, the Barry Railway ran a respectable passenger operation. Between Barry and Cardiff, the company ran 33 trains each way every weekday. Barry to Porth was less intensive, typically six return trips and about the same frequency on the Barry to Bridgend section.

In 1898 there were ten trains daily between Cardiff Riverside and Pontypridd of which four were non-stop. Railcars were briefly used on the service from 1905. The service on the route declined in later years, in favour of the Taff Vale route which gave better connectivity.

Many railway companies adopted railmotors, or "motor cars" as they were described, in the early 1900s. These were single coaches with a small steam engine integrated. They were generally used with very basic stopping places with minimal facilities, and the aim was to enable the cheap establishment of passenger calls at locations where demand was low. The motor car stopping places were very short platforms, and suitable only because a single entrance and exit door in the vehicle could be controlled by the guard.

The Great Western Railway and the Taff Vale Railway made great use of the system, and in 1905 the Barry Railway experimented with it also, opening new stops at St-y-Nyll near the village of St. Brides-super-Ely, a short distance north of Tynycaeau Junctions, and Tonteg, between Efail Isaf and Pontypridd. The Barry Railway purchased two steam rail motors from the North British Locomotive Co; they were very similar to contemporary GWR railmotors. It ran the motor cars between Pontypridd and Cardiff via Tynycaeau Junction and St.Fagans. The service started on 1 May 1905, with the steam railmotors intermingled with conventional trains. It appears that the Tonteg platform was indeed very short, so that conventional trains were not allowed to stop, but St-y-Nyll seems to have been long enough for ordinary trains to use it.

The railmotors had great difficulty in surmounting the climb from St.Fagans to Tynycaeau Junction. Moreover, there were complaints about timekeeping, longer journey times and inadequate accommodation. Richard Evans, the general manager, reported four weeks later on the inadequacies of the motor cars and stated that he was discontinuing the service on the line from 1 June 1905, reinstating the former timetable. Tonteg Platform was closed from that date, but ordinary trains called at St-y-Nyll as a request stop. Passengers for St-y-Nyll were to travel in the carriage next to the rear guard's van.

The two steam railmotors were redeployed on the Vale of Glamorgan line and also as reliefs between conventional trains on the line to Barry Island. Stabled at a special shed at Barry motive power depôt out of use most of the time, they were later de-engined and converted to gangwayed coaches with corridor connection and locally referred to as the 'vestibule train'. (Other records show that they were withdrawn in 1913). However St-y-Nyll Platform was closed from 20 November 1905.