in 1825, running from Caerau Duffryn down the Llynvi Valley to Tondu, and then west to Porthcawl where it built a pier for trans-shipment of coal.
Merging with the Bridgend Railway in 1834, built to 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge the system centred on Tondu totalled 21 miles (34 km).
[1] In 1845 the UK government authorised the building of the South Wales Main Line (SWML), which brought about the recreation of a new owning company for the existing DL&PRC system, the Llynvi Valley Railway (LVR), which agreed connection with the 7 ft 1⁄4 in (2,140 mm) Brunel gauge SWML at both Bridgend and Pyle.
[1][3] Within 10 years of opening, four collieries and some associated drift mines were serviced by the Garw Valley line, producing and hence shipping 4,000 tonnes of coal per day.
[1][2] However, the only intense passenger service on the entire Tondu Valley Lines system were from Cardiff to Bridgend and Porthcawl.
Network Rail severed the connection to Tondu at Brynmenyn Level Crossing, just south of Bryngarw Country Park, in 2007.
Groundwork Neath Port Talbot (the government body responsible to Bridgend County Borough Council for the regeneration of the Garw Valley) leased the trackbed from Network Rail for 125 years on the understanding that it found a companion railway company to oversee the 4 miles 56 chains of track from Pontycymer to Brynmenyn.
[4] However, after the bridge over the river Ogmore was demolished,[5] the project was re-established: To re-create for present and future generations a typical South Wales Valleys branch line by providing a working museum atmosphere based principally upon the traditions of the Great Western Railway just prior to nationalisationThe project will also establish an archive of South Wales Valleys railways.
Beyond this, it will require two bridge replacement projects to be completed, before access can be gained to establish a station at Llangeinor, and then onwards to Bryngarw Country Park, which will be the southernmost limit of operations in the medium term.