Pontypool and Blaenavon Railway
| Pontypool and Blaenavon Railway | |
|---|---|
Hunslet 18 Inch 0-6-0ST Eastmoor Steelworks No. 18 'Jessie' runs round the train at Blaenavon High Level | |
| Locale | Blaenavon |
| Terminus | Blaenavon High Level |
| Commercial operations | |
| Name | Brynmawr and Blaenavon Railway |
| Original gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
| Preserved operations | |
| Operated by | Pontypool and Blaenavon Railway Company Ltd |
| Stations | 4 |
| Length | 3.5 miles (5.6 km) |
| Preserved gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
| Commercial history | |
| Opened | 1866 |
| 1922 | Absorbed by London, Midland and Scottish Railway |
| Closed | 1941 |
| Preservation history | |
| 1983 | Taken over by the preservation society |
| 2004 | Work starts on extension to Blaenavon High Level |
| 2010 | Opening of extension to Blaenavon High Level |
| 2011 | Opening of extension to Big Pit Halt |
| 2013 | P&BR marks 30 years of running (and operating services along) the line |
| 2015 | The Little Engine That Could Events |
Pontypool and Blaenavon Railway | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Phase 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Pontypool and Blaenavon Railway (Welsh: Rheilffordd Pont-y-pŵl a Blaenafon) is a 3.5-mile (5.6 km) volunteer-run heritage railway in South Wales, running trains between a halt platform opposite the Whistle Inn public house (famed for its collection of miners' lamps) southwards to the town of Blaenavon via a two-platform station at the site of former colliery furnace of the Big Pit National Coal Museum.
The line is the highest preserved standard-gauge line in the United Kingdom, and also uniquely having the only standard-gauge rail-over-rail bridge within preservation.