PHOTO GALLERY: RHYMNEY RAILWAY

Bargoed Pits

OPENED: c1904     CLOSED: 1975

Click or tap the images for enlarged views

There was never a lot of architectural variety amongst the signal boxes on the Rhymney Railway – virtually all were built to McKenzie & Holland’s long-lived 1875 design, with stone bases.

Bargoed Pits signal box opened around 1904, and was provided with a 32-lever McKenzie & Holland frame of the Cam & Tappet type. The name of the box tells you what it was built to serve.

It led an uneventful life until 1976, when track circuits, colour light signals and motor points were provided to allow the layout to be controlled from the modern mechanical box at Bargoed. Working beyond this point (to Ystrad Mynach South) remained under Absolute Block regulations, so the track circuiting was not quite as beneficial as it might have been!

Some years later the colliery closed and although the pointwork was removed the new signals remained in use.