Neath railway station
Neath town once had two railway stations, separated by canals and a river. Both are seen in the 1943 aerial photo below, courtesy of the Welsh Government – see the footnotes for details.
The surviving station was the first to open, on 18 June 1850, on the South Wales Railway from Gloucester to Swansea. The line was engineered by Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
Two steam engines, named Phantom and Hercules, made the first test runs from Cardiff in May 1850. A large crowd gathered around Neath’s incomplete station to see the machines “blowing and puffing about”.
Stationmaster David Thomas retired in 1882 after 30 years in the post. He was knocked down by a train in the 1870s but avoided serious injury, although the loco crushed a knife in one of his coat pockets!
Neath’s second station was opened a year after the first, in September 1851. It was the terminus of the Vale of Neath Railway, also engineered by Brunel. This line led to Glynneath and Aberdare, and later to Merthyr and Pontypool. Other lines were added from that station to Swansea docks and to Brecon.
The main line station was known as Neath Town and later Neath General. On the west side of the river was Neath Low Level, later Bridge Street and then Riverside. The Great Western Railway ran trains to Glynneath and beyond from both stations. There was a connection north of General station to the Vale of Neath line, but not to the Brecon line.
Riverside station closed in 1964 but track was retained for coal trains. A derelict platform is still visible from Bridge Street bridge.
The GWR demolished the South Wales Railway station in the 1870s and built the station platforms that survive. A century later, protestors tried to stop British Rail installing new buildings and canopies in place of the GWR ones, which you can see in the 1960s photos by John Davies. One photo shows a departing express to London passing a wagon at the goods platforms. The other shows a train to Pontypool passing Soar Chapel while in the background is the loco which had brought the train from Swansea.
With thanks to John Davies and the Welsh Government
Postcode: SA11 1BY View Location Map
Footnotes: What the 1943 aerial photo shows
Neath General station is in the bottom right corner. The main line to Swansea curves to the left, passing over the river and then over the Vale of Neath line, just beyond Neath Riverside station. The Vale of Neath line curves towards the top right corner, where it’s joined by the connecting line from Neath General. The line to Brecon diverges at the top of the photo, near the centre.
To the left of the river is the Tennant Canal. The Neath Canal is between Neath General and the river, with buildings on each side. Bridge Street bridge was the town’s only road over the river in 1943.