The Villige of Talyllyn exists only because of the railway. Prior to the railway, just Brynderwen Farm existed in this area.

In 1860 The Midland Railway built a simple station, at the Northern point of the triangle to serve the small village of Llanfihangel Talyllyn. However The Brecon and Merthyr Railway opened first, in May 1862 and found it inconvinient to divert off their line, so in 1869 they built their own station near the mouth of the tunnel, in an area known as "Brynderwen Field", the two stations were joined by a footpath known as "Ash Path". This led to the demise of the original station, which closed on the 15th May 1878, and was then used as a house, the new station then assumed the name of Talyllyn, and a small hamlet was soon built to house the large number of railway staff employed in the area. In 1895 the "extension platform" creating a third platform was added for midland trains to avoid delaying through traffic. A pagoda style corrigated iron waiting shelter was provided on this platform, and seen in many photographs of the station. The main platform had a number of substantial buildings built from local stone, and included a Refreshment Rooms for the passengers changing trains at this important junction. Trains were controlled from three signal boxes, situated at each point of the triangle.

 
 

Top Left:         Original station built 1860 by Midland Railway, being used as a house
Top Right:       The Junction showing loop-line towards Oennorth (left) The Midland line to Talyllyn and Brecon is on the other side of the station
Bottom Left:   Talylynn Station (opened 1869) looking west towwrads Brecon. Not the Station-master's house above the tunnel
Bottom Right:  Station looking east. A Pagoda style waiting room can be seen on the extension platform in the distance used by Midland Trains, leadin Three Cocks. The Merthyr-line diverges to the right

The bottom 2 photographs were taken just after closure of the line in 1963

Video - Neath to Brecon Steam Train runs through Talylynn Junction 1960

Many more photographs are available in our View Photo Gallery