Volume One - Into the Victorian Age - The Taff Vale Railway (TVR) . . .

1847 - Taff Vale Railway - ( Mr. I. K. Brunel, engineer, with Mr. Bush ), was opened on October 8, 1840 ; its length is about 24½ miles ; it extends from the port of Cardiff to Merthyr Tydvil, and cost per mile (£) 25,000l. This line has but one track, and is worked by locomotives, except at Navigation House, where there is an inclined plane, and a stationary engine of 50-horse power. The inclined plane is ½ mile in length, and rises generally 1 in 20 but near the top 1 in 18. There are two short tunnels ; the principal one was blasted through the rock, and is 250 yards in length. Near Quaker's Yard is a viaduct, which crosses the Taff, the length of which is 600 feet, and the height above the river 100 ; it has six arches. Some of the bridges are large ; one has an arch of 100 feet span, and 60 feet in height ; this crosses the Rhondda at its confluence with the Taff. - Encyclopedia of Civil Engineering [1104] [499] 1847.

Quaker's Yard Viaduct during its construction - a colourised photograph. [1105]