The Burry Port & Gwendreath Valley Railway and its Antecedent Canals - Volume One: The Canals, by Raymond E. Bowen
The Burry Port & Gwendreath Valley Railway and its Antecedent Canals - Volume One: The Canals, by Raymond E. Bowen
Book published by The Oakwood Press in 2001, 184 pages. Paperback (N6654)
Brand New Book
The author's father was posted to Burry Port in 1933 to work over the Old Company, the erstwhile Burry Port & Gwendreath Valley Railway. He was passionately interested in any form of history. His four year sojourn at Burry Port was particularly interesting for him, as there he was operating over a route which had been a canal and had evolved into a railway with its many eccentricities. Conditions were often so difficult with flooding that his father on occasions was not sure whether he was an engine driver or a bargee! The author would accompany him on footplate trips over the Gwendraeth. Features of the old canal works and other interesting industrial items would be pointed out to him. Many years later the seeds planted in his young mind have brought this important work on the company's history to fruition. This first volume deals with the earliest years, the canal history.
Four substantial canals fulfilled the needs of the expanding anthracite mining industry which was to become world renowned. The Kidwelly & Llanelly Canal & Tramroad Co. became the main waterway. From Burry Port it was carried over two substantial aqueducts and was lifted by three massive inclines to Cwmmawr. By 1866 this waterway was transformed into the Burry Port & Gwendreath Valley Railway Co. Although experiencing great operating difficulties because of the limited canal bridge clearances and constant flooding, the company became an efficient and immensely profitable passenger-carrying system.
Four substantial canals fulfilled the needs of the expanding anthracite mining industry which was to become world renowned. The Kidwelly & Llanelly Canal & Tramroad Co. became the main waterway. From Burry Port it was carried over two substantial aqueducts and was lifted by three massive inclines to Cwmmawr. By 1866 this waterway was transformed into the Burry Port & Gwendreath Valley Railway Co. Although experiencing great operating difficulties because of the limited canal bridge clearances and constant flooding, the company became an efficient and immensely profitable passenger-carrying system.
| Condition | New |