Volume One - Into the Victorian Age - The dock extension of 1883 . . .

The opening of the new extension was the subject of a detailed report by the Western Mail and also covers the subway under the railway sidings and the new access to the dock:

"The Extension of Penarth Dock - Opening of the New Tips - Inspection by the Barry Dock Promoters - The extension of the Penarth Dock may be said to have been formerly opened on Wednesday, when one of the new tips was brought into use for the first time in the loading of an Italian vessel named the Marina Benento. The work is by no means finished yet; but there is a passage for vessels over the bar which marked the limit of the old dock, and in the course of a few more weeks the whole of the new tips will be completed, and all obstructions in the bed of the dock, consisting of red marl, entirely cleared away.

By the extension there is an increase of five and a half acres to the dock accommodation, and an addition of four tips, making the total number of tips fourteen. To meet this extension four lines of railway sidings and approaches have been laid down and connected to the main line at the juncture of the old lines just below the Dock Station. There are two sidings for full wagons and two for empties, all gravitating. This arrangement will greatly facilitate the despatch of loading vessels, and save anything like a block on the lines.

In addition to the new sidings a subway has been made under the old lines for the purpose of accommodating the workmen living at Penarth who are employed at the dock and saving them the trouble of climbing over the lines and the exposure to danger which would otherwise be entailed upon them.

A new diversion of the main dock road is almost completed, and when the approval of the authorities has been obtained it will be immediately opened to the public. The road diverts from the main one near the top of the exceedingly steep and dangerous pitch leading down into Cogan, and after crossing a massive and elegant bridge which spans the road leading under the railway to the dock it leads past the front of the station, and joins the main road again just outside. This bridge is a fine structure, of what is known as the skew kind, built, like the walls of the dock, of Radyr stone, and consisting of 1,500 yards of masonry. The archway is 23ft. in width, and the roadway above 40 ft.

The whole of this work connected with the extension is in the hands of Mr. T. A. Walker. the contractor of the Severn Tunnel works, whose manager, Mr. Parker, hopes to have it completed in a month's time. The Easter holidays will somewhat interfere with the progress of the work, perhaps.