(Main article first
published in the South Wales Evening Post, 'Back on the Tracks'
supplement, Saturday 21 February 2004 and in edited form in the main
paper, Monday 15th March, 2004.)
The Mumbles Railway
was incorporated as the Oystermouth Tramroad, which began operating
in 1806 and became the World’s first passenger-carrying line when a
contractor was permitted to run a horse-drawn coach a year later.
The Oystermouth
Tramroad, of course, eventually became the Swansea & Mumbles
Railway which closed at the beginning of 1960 amongst much wailing
and gnashing of teeth - sporadic outbursts of which continue to
this day.
 |
Electrification of the Mumbles Railway took place in March, 1929.
It is believed that this photograph was taken on the first day. |
Emotions
If one considers the
emotions which are stimulated in Swansea by mention of the words
“Mumbles” and “Railway” in the same sentence, it is perhaps
surprising that so little of it has been preserved, particularly in
comparison with similar situations elsewhere in the UK.
In January 1960,
however, the transport preservation movement which has given rise
to splendid organisations such as the Severn Valley Railway and the
National Tramway Museum, was still very much in its infancy. And
Richard Beeching was still eighteen months away from being
appointed Chairman of the British Railways Board; abandoned
railways were a relatively unusual concept.
Contemporary press
cuttings confirm that there was very little interest locally in
preserving anything substantial, not even by local museums. One of
the electric cars eventually found a short-lived home at a
fledgling preservation site in Leeds, but it was only relatively minor
items which gravitated to local museums and, inevitably, to private
collections.
 |
| Retired: Three gents contemplating the downward path of civilisation
since the Mumbles Railway closed.
(Swansea Museum, 22nd January 2006). |
Surviving
Those items which
have survived now take on greater significance and a convenient
place to start tracking down relics of the line is Swansea Museum.
Exhibits include the end section of electric railcar no.7 which was
operated the last service all those years ago and which later was
left abandoned for over a decade at the rear of Swansea’s Royal
Institution. Thankfully, it is now in excellent condition and can
be seen daily in its proper context as the last surviving part of a
fleet of thirteen similar vehicles.
 |
| The 1954-built replica horse car at Rutland Street depot.
The car is now housed in the annexe of Swansea Museum. |
Also at Swansea Museum is a replica of the first passenger vehicle
of 1807. This yellow and black horse-drawn coach is itself of some
vintage, having been constructed in 1954 as part of the railway’s
150th anniversary celebration. It was built at South Wales Transport’s
Ravenhill depot and the underframe was part of a Hardy four-wheel
petrol locomotive purchased in 1929 to shunt the electric cars at
Rutland Street depot. The museum also has a number of smaller
exhibits, such as a pantograph current collector, tickets, signs
and photographs.
Plaque
Older readers will
be aware that the start of the Mumbles Railway’s route to the pier
was from Rutland Street Terminus, alongside what is nowadays
Swansea Leisure Centre. This fact is commemorated by a plaque on
the seaward pillar supporting Oystermouth Road footbridge. The
depot was on the site now occupied by St. Davids multi storey car park.
 |
In its heyday -
the Mumbles Railway as it will be remembered;
a line up of cars at Rutland Street depot. |
From Rutland Street
to St. Helens, the central reservation of the Oystermouth Road dual
carriageway marks approximately the position of the railway with
the only remaining structure being the short underpass opposite the
Tesco store through which once ran the lines connecting the
Mumbles Railway to the South Dock rail network.
Slip
At St. Helens (the ‘Slip’) the Bay View pub - itself a landmark of
some history - for a while acknowledged the railway in its overhanging sign. The Mumbles Railway formerly along what is now centre of the road here, with the LMS Victoria to Pontarddulais line between it and the beach.
A remnant of the railway can be found here on the landward side of
the road where two old electricity control boxes exist alongside
the footbridge. One bears the legend ’SWT Co. Ltd.’ and was once
part of the power system of the railway.
There is little to be found between here and Blackpill, the
trackbed having been totally consumed beneath the roadway until
that point. It is worth mentioning, however, that Swansea University
Library houses SWT and tramway minute books which give a significant
insight into the operation of the railway. Included in the
collection is a cash book from the very early days of the
Oystermouth Tramroad.
On the approach to Blackpill, those with sufficient motivation to
go exploring in the undergrowth alongside the service station will
find evidence of the Clyne Valley tramway, formerly a branch off the
Mumbles Railway and used to extract minerals from the Rhydydefaid
area.
 |
Electric car 11 at Blackpill during the final years of the railway
with the electricity sub-station that converted power for use on the line. |
|
| Blackpill today, with the substation now converted to 'The Junction' cafe. |
Substation
After
many years as a storage unit, the one time Blackpill substation
now has found use as the commendable ‘Junction’ café. This largely
red brick building was constructed in 1927 and formerly converted
power to 600 volts DC for supply to the railway’s overhead wires.
The concrete ‘Blackpill’ name above the canopy still exists and from a
distance on the seaward side the remains of wartime camouflage paint
can just be made out.
The greatest legacy of the Mumbles Railway is the
footpath-come-cycleway between Blackpill and Mumbles which is one of the
finest short walks anywhere in the UK. Sharp-eyed walkers will
spot evidence of the occasional traction pole footing in the sea
wall. The traction poles were use to support the overhead wires, or
catenary.
The whole raison d’etre of the Mumbles Railway was to collect the
products of mining in the Mumbles area. There is ample evidence of
quarrying to the rear of the guest houses on the approach to
Oystermouth and, later, in the cliffs between Southend and Mumbles Pier.
The remains of wooden sleepers dating back to steam days can be
found in the grassy bank at the rear of the present Oystermouth bus
shelter.
 |
Car 3 departing from Oystermouth with
the wooden station building much in evidence.
The railway connected with bus services to and from Newton,
Caswell and Langland at this point.
|
 |
The present scene at the same spot as the previous picture.
Note the two remaining traction poles and the last vestige
of the station building. |
Vestige
The wooden building at Oystermouth car park is the last vestige of
the station structure. One hears a lot about bus-rail interchanges
these days, but prior to 1960 we had an excellent example here at
Oystermouth with a spinal light rail route feeding into local bus
services! Also nearby are two white traction poles dating back to the
1920s.
Approximately opposite the former station building is a plinth
bearing a plaque commemorating the various stages in the Mumbles
Railway’s history. The same story is told by a stained glass window
unveiled in March 1982 at All Saints Church, Oystermouth.
Beyond Oystermouth most of the trackbed is still identifiable,
although developments at Knab Rock have obliterated part of it.
Incidentally, between Oystermouth and Southend a considerable amount of
land was reclaimed from the sea when the railway was built and so
the small park at this point is yet another legacy of the railway.
At Southend, where the footpath widens, is the location of the
former Southend Station.
 |
| Car 9 leads a twin set at the Pier terminus.
Note the section of rail acting as a marker for drivers. |
 |
The same spot today.
The traction poles remain in situ, now acting as lamp posts! |
Cutting
On the approach to
Mumbles Pier the former trackbed passes through a short cutting and
ceases just before reaching the Pier Restaurant and the terminus
of the railway. Many of the lamp standards at this point are former
traction poles from the railway and the Pier itself, opened in
1898, once was owned by the same company.
 |
| One of the boundary markers situated in the roadway at Mumbles Hill. |
The
final relics of the line can be found at the top of Mumbles Hill,
the steep climb which leads from the Pier towards Bracelet Bay. At
the top of the hill on the pavement is a small marker bearing the
initials SWT which indicated the limit of the land owned by the
company in railway days.
 |
| Car no.2 abandoned at the Middleton Railway, Leeds in about 1966. RIP. |
Memorabilia
As
with all railways, total obliteration following closure is a
process which can take many years and there is still plenty of
evidence of the Mumbles Railway’s existence. One suspects that a great
number of relics of the Mumbles Railway also survive in private
collections; indeed, some emerge at auctions from time to time.
Although they are not of any great monetary value, the surviving
artefacts still remind us of a once very popular railway which
continues to stimulate animated discussion whenever the subject is
raised.
Two video/audio files are available as part of this item:
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