When did the Taff Vale Junction Railway get made?
Llantrisant and Taff Vale Junction Railway
Thomas Powell had extensive colliery interests in Monmouthshire and Glamorganshire, and he needed to get a transport link to pits he owned at Llantwit Fardre. Failing to generate interest elsewhere, he determined to build a railway himself to the Glamorganshire Canal at Maesmawr from Llantwit Fardre. This was known as the Dihewyd Railway or the Llantwit Fardre Railway. It was completed by 28 December 1843 and a connection to the Taff Vale Railway was opened on 25 April 1844, when a train of Powell's coal was taken to Cardiff. His line climbed out of Maesmawr on a 297-yard self-acting incline at a gradient of 1 in 6.6. The line was later extended to Ystradbarwig colliery.[3]
Ely Valley Railway
At the time these discussions were proceeding, the Taff Vale Railway were encouraging the promotion of what became the "Llantrisant and Taff Vale Junction Railway", a line to Llantrisant from near Treforest, connecting up numerous small mines on between, and forming an intrusion into territory that the broad gauge companies considered their own.