The Van Railway was a

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), international gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge in Europe, and SGR in East Africa. It is the ...

railway in

mid Wales Mid Wales ( or simply ''Y Canolbarth'', meaning "the midlands"), or Central Wales, is a region of Wales, encompassing its midlands, in-between North Wales and South Wales. The Mid Wales Regional Committee of the Senedd covered the unitary autho ...

. The line was built in 1871 to link the highly productive

lead Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...

mines at

Van A van is a type of road vehicle used for transporting goods or people. There is some variation in the scope of the word across the different English-speaking countries. The smallest vans, microvans, are used for transporting either goods or ...

, near

Llanidloes Llanidloes () is a town and community on the A470 and B4518 roads in Powys, within the historic county boundaries of Montgomeryshire (), Wales. The population in 2011 was 2,929, of whom 15% could speak Welsh. It is the third largest settleme ...

to the main

Cambrian The Cambrian ( ) is the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 51.95 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran period 538.8 Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the Ordov ...

line at

Caersws Caersws (; ) is a village and community (Wales), community on the River Severn, in the Wales, Welsh county of Powys; it was formerly in Montgomeryshire. It is located west of Newtown, Powys, Newtown, halfway between Aberystwyth and Shrewsbury. ...

. The mines closed in 1920, but the railway remained open until 1940.

Route

The line ran westwards from Caersws along the Cerist and Trannon river valleys, with halts at Red House, Trefeglwys, Cerist and Garth & Van Road. An underground railway portal has been restored at the mine site.

Traffic

Passengers were carried from 1873 until 1879. General freight was carried by the

Cambrian Railways The Cambrian Railways owned of Railway track, track over a large area of mid Wales. The system was an amalgamation of a number of railways that were incorporated in 1864, 1865 and 1904. The Cambrian connected with two larger railways with c ...

in 1896, to which company the line was leased. The railway was a private venture by

Earl Vane Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. In modern Britain, an earl is a member of the peerage, ranking below a marquess and above a viscount. A feminine form of ''earl'' never developed; instead, ''countess'' is used. The titl ...

, who also leased the mine to the mining company and was the chairman of the Cambrian Railway Company. It was built by David Davies of Llandinam, the contractor and colliery owner.

John Ceiriog Hughes

Until his death in 1887,

John Ceiriog Hughes John Ceiriog Hughes (25 September 1832 – 23 April 1887) was a Wales, Welsh poet and collector of Welsh language, Welsh folk music, folk tunes, sometimes termed a Robert Burns of Wales. He was born at Penybryn Farm, overlooking the village of L ...

was Manager of the Van Railway, and it is said that many passengers "made pilgrimage along its short length ... for a chance of conversing with one of (Wales') most notable characters".

References

* Pre-grouping British railway companies Railway lines opened in 1871 Railway companies disestablished in 1940 Industrial railways in Wales Railway companies established in 1871 1871 establishments in Wales 1940 disestablishments in Wales {{UK-rail-transport-stub