Hiking And Biking With Richard Trevithick
ARTICLES of GENERAL INTEREST
HIKING AND BIKING WITH RICHARD TREVITHICK
Of the delights to enjoy locally, the Taff Trail must surely be up there amongst the top and to this must be added the Trevithick Trail. The former covers a distance of some 54 miles from Cardiff Bay to Brecon and the latter some 7 miles from near Edwardsville to Merthyr Tydfil with some of that mileage co-incident. Both are mostly routed along former railbeds, canals and the like. This article is about the historical background of a five-mile section of both. But firstly, an introduction to Richard Trevithick and industry at this time, is called for.
Richard Trevithick (1771 – 1833) was a pioneering British engineer and inventor whose bold use of high-pressure steam transformed the possibilities of mechanical power at the turn of the nineteenth century. Born in 1771 in Cornwall which at the time was Britain’s most important tin and copper mining region. The mines were constantly threatened by flooding, and the demand for powerful pumping engines created an environment ripe for innovation. From an early age he was surrounded by the practical challenges of mining engineering. Although he received only a limited formal education he possessed exceptional mechanical insight and mathematical ability.
During Trevithick’s youth, steam engines were already in use, particularly those developed by Watt and Boulton. These engines operated using low-pressure steam and separate condensers, which made them efficient but large, complex, and protected by strict patents. Trevithick took a radically different approach. He believed that high-pressure steam, considered dangerous by many engineers of the time, could produce more compact, powerful engines,
By the late 1790s, Trevithick began constructing high-pressure steam engines for use in Cornish mines. They were smaller and lighter than Watt’s models and capable of generating greater power relative to their size. In 1801, he demonstrated one of his most famous creations, known as the “Puffing Devil,” a steam-powered road carriage.
Soon after, Trevithick was travelling and supplying his high-pressure steam engines far and wide. Witness some of his endeavours: London (for road transport and Thames Tunnel construction); Coalbrookdale (for a locomotive), Peru and Costa Rica (for pumping water from silver mines); a variety of maritime applications; and to South Wales which has been the precursor of this article.
Just a further step back in history. When the iron works in Merthyr Tydfil were first established in the mid-1700s, iron products were carried to the coast by pack animals for onward shipping. In 1790 the ironmasters and the 2nd Marquis of Bute promoted the construction of the Glamorganshire Canal between Merthyr and a sea lock to the south of Cardiff into the Bristol Channel. It was opened in 1795 But subsequent disputes between the iron masters led to a “plateway” also running from Merthyr and Cardiff, being partly constructed. The plateway had L shaped iron rails on which horse drawn wagons carried iron products and later coal. It reached as far south as Abercynon before agreements between the ironmasters were reached. It was however convenient to keep the plateway operating as far as Abercynon, from there cargo was transferred to barges on the canal for onward travel to the Cardiff sea lock for shipment by sea.
Back to Trevithick. In 1802 he built one of his high-pressure steam engines to power a forge hammer at the Penydarren Ironworks for Samuel Homfray, one of the iron masters (the others being Richard Crawshay and the Guests father and son). Homfray encouraged Trevithick to mount that engine on wheels in the hope that it would make a better locomotive than others that had been trialled elsewhere in Britain. Result: success!
Homfray was so impressed with Trevithick’s locomotive that he made a bet of 500 guineas with Crawshay that this locomotive could haul ten tons of iron along the tram way from Penydarren to Abercynon, a distance of some 10 miles. On 21 February 1804 this was achieved, hauling five wagons and 70 men the full distance in 4 hours and 5 minutes, at an average speed of 2.4 mph. Having proved the engine’s capability for locomotion, it returned to its original function for powering the forge hammer.
The routes I am describing for this article start on the Taff Trail in an industrial estate in Abercynon where the plateway and canal formerly met. From here one hikes or bikes north along the west bank of the Taff on the Taff Trail which utilises the bed of the tram way. After passing under the modern viaducts for the A470 and then the A472 the valley becomes well wooded. Near Quaker’s Yard and Edwardsville, the trail is bridged over the Taff twice before resuming its progression on the west bank.
After about 3 miles, where the only sounds to be heard are bird song and rushing water, a junction is reached. Here the Taff Trail (NCR 8) branches left to cross the Taff via the historic Pont y Gwaith to follow the west side of the A470. The Trevithick Trail proper (NCR 477) takes the right fork. Evidence of the plateway now presents itself as stone blocks with drilled holes which once held bolts that secured the “plates”. From here NCR 477 continues for a further 8 miles to Merthyr Tydfil, this is to be the subject of a further article.
Tony Hodge