Rhondda Valley Line
An ATW twin car Class 143 Pacer unit coupled with a Class 142 twin unit at the front (a common combination on the Valleys lines) are seen passing the old Hetty Shaft near Trehafod in the Rhondda Valley between Porth and Pontypridd, working a Cardiff Treherbert service.
The Hetty shaft was sunk in 1875 by The Great Western Colliery Company. The Hetty pit was one of the four pits of the Great Western Colliery, which supplied coal for the locomotives of the Great Western Railway. By 1918, 3,162 men were employed at the Great Western. The Hetty shaft closed in 1926 but remained as an up-cast shaft for the Tymawr Colliery. In 1958, the Great Western Collieries amalgamated with the nearby Lewis Merthyr Colliery and in 1969 the combined collieries were known as Tymawr & Lewis Merthyr Collieries. The last coal was raised at Tymawr in 1983 and the collieries demolished soon afterwards. The only surviving relic of the mine today is the head frame, and the winding house, which is a Grade I listed building. The winding house and engine are now being renovated by volunteers.
Rhondda Valley Line
An ATW twin car Class 143 Pacer unit coupled with a Class 142 twin unit at the front (a common combination on the Valleys lines) are seen passing the old Hetty Shaft near Trehafod in the Rhondda Valley between Porth and Pontypridd, working a Cardiff Treherbert service.
The Hetty shaft was sunk in 1875 by The Great Western Colliery Company. The Hetty pit was one of the four pits of the Great Western Colliery, which supplied coal for the locomotives of the Great Western Railway. By 1918, 3,162 men were employed at the Great Western. The Hetty shaft closed in 1926 but remained as an up-cast shaft for the Tymawr Colliery. In 1958, the Great Western Collieries amalgamated with the nearby Lewis Merthyr Colliery and in 1969 the combined collieries were known as Tymawr & Lewis Merthyr Collieries. The last coal was raised at Tymawr in 1983 and the collieries demolished soon afterwards. The only surviving relic of the mine today is the head frame, and the winding house, which is a Grade I listed building. The winding house and engine are now being renovated by volunteers.