Private company

Monmouthshire Railway and Canal Company

Transport operator

The Monmouthshire Railway and Canal Company was a canal and railway company that operated a canal and a network of railways in the Western Valley and Eastern Valley of Newport, Monmouthshire. It started as the Monmouthshire Canal Navigation and opened canals from Newport to Pontypool and to Crumlin from 1796. Numerous tramroads connected nearby pits and ironworks with the canal.² Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

1845Founded¹

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Products and brands

Enhancements on the network

A passenger service was started on the tramroad from Courtybella to Blaina in December 1850, and the line from Aberbeeg to Ebbw Vale was opened for passenger traffic on 19 April 1852. In 1853 the Eastern Valley Railway was opened for passengers only, from Pontypool to Mill Street, on 9 March 1852.

By 1 June 1854 the double line was extended from Pontypool Crane Street to Abersychan, but the rest of the line from Abersychan to Blaenavon remained single track. The line to Blaenavon was opened for passenger traffic on 1 October 1854. Stations were provided at Pontnewynydd, Abersychan, Cwmavon and Blaenavon. Three trains per day were run, taking one hour to complete the journey.

Meanwhile, in the Western Valley, Charles Hodges the contractor was making rapid progress in the conversion to edge rail. One line was open on the Ebbw Vale branch and the greater part of the Blaina branch was complete by September. The following May, the management committee were told that the Eastern Valley and Western Valley lines were complete, with the exception of Nine Mile Point, which were to be proceeded with immediately. The line from Risca to Nine Mile Point was completed by November 1855 but not opened to passenger traffic until the Sirhowy Railway did so ten years later.

After the opening of the weekday services in the Western Valley, there was considerable pressure for a Sunday service, and this was started on 8 June 1851. Passenger business soon exceeded all expectations. It was said that on one Sunday evening twelve ordinary and three or four goods carriages were required. Sunday services were introduced on the Eastern Valley lines on 4 July 1852. The weekday services were increased from three to four per day, and then to five trains the following November, with three on Sunday.

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In October 1855 a junction was made at Llanhilleth on the Western Valley line, forming a connection from the Taff Vale Extension line of the Newport, Abergavenny and Hereford Railway.

In 1858 the Western Valley Line was extended from Blaina to Nantyglo, and in 1864 the Cwmtillery branch was acquired; it had been built privately by a Mr Russell in 1858.

Network extensions

In 1870 two short branches were opened from Pontnewynydd, forking at Branches Fork Junction and proceeding to Cwmffrwdoer and Cwmnantddu respectively. Both were very steeply graded and served several pits and a clay mine. The Cwmffrwdoer branch had gradients of 1 in 22 but the Cwmnantddu branch had 1 in 19, an exceptional gradient for adhesion lines. Ascending the gradient, the locomotive was required to propel the train, but the brake van was next to the locomotive, restricting the driver's view. Two guards were required, one in the leading wagon and one in the van relaying the front guard's signals to the driver. Between 1888 and 1890 the GWR built four special vans for these duties: they had low bodies, less than 11 feet from rail level. They were replaced by new vans in 1949, and these were scrapped in 1968.

On 18 September 1879 a third branch was opened from Trevethin Junction, a little south of Pontnewynydd, to Abersychan & Talywain. It formed a tight semi-circle over the Cwmffrwdoer and Cwmnantddu branches. This last branch had a passenger service, and from 1912 rail motor trains were introduced, coupled with the provision of several halts for the service.

From Wikipedia’s article on Monmouthshire Railway and Canal Company, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.³

Acquisitions

A failed takeover

A new entity, the Monmouthshire Railway Company, obtained an act of Parliament, the Monmouthshire Railway Act 1846 (9 & 10 Vict. c. ccclxxi) giving them the authority to purchase the entire works of the Monmouthshire Canal system, including all the railways;

The First General Meeting of the Monmouthshire Railway Company was held [on 11 September 1846]... After congratulating the proprietors on obtaining the Act of Parliament, which received the Royal Assent on 13 August last, [the Managing Committee report] referred to the present state and future prospects of the Company. One of the objects which they had started was the purchase of Monmouthshire Canal Company, which beside its own course, had a connexion with some 50 or 60 miles of tramway travelling throughout its district. This canal had been purchased by the committee at £200 a share... Among the conditions of purchase it was left to the Canal Company to take shares in the railway in lieu of the purchase money... The Canal Company had not yet given notice of the number of shares that it might be their intention to take...

Although the purchase had been authorised, the Monmouthshire Railway Company failed to raise the cash it needed for the purchase. The purchase was not completed, and the powers lapsed.

Acquisition of the Brecon Canal

In 1865 the Brecknock and Abergavenny Canal was purchased by the Monmouthshire Railway and Canal Company, having been authorised to do so by the Monmouthshire Railway and Canal Act 1865 (28 & 29 Vict. c. cclxxxi). The commercial value of the canal is unclear, and the Monmouthshire had recently been offered, and had refused, acquisition of the Sirhowy Railway, which fell to the LNWR instead. The canal purchase cost the company £36,000, and in the first years tolls derived from traffic had come to £1,470 but essential repairs and maintenance had cost £1,274, leaving a working profit of £196.