Cardiff Clarence Road station

[br2975]

Probably my only photo taken at Ferry Road, and judging by the 'firms car' ('G' prefix Ford Escort, we bought a large batch) in the foreground it's the mid 80s.

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Ferry Road runs left to right ( i.e. south to north) and we are looking down from the Ferry Road Branch at the access road to the council tip.

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Taff Wagon & Engineering is to the left of the tip access road, the former wagon works, Bill Way's scrap yard and Grangetown Gas Works were away to the right. 

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Through the fog in the distance can be seen the viaduct section of the  A4232 Cardiff Docks - M4 Jct.33 link road under construction, very near to Messrs Lord & Butler's premises.

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Brian R

[br2975]

A trio of BrA1ns pubs all close to Cardiff General (Central) and all now gone.

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Bian R

[The Stationmaster]

Dammit - he's caught me (but which one was my regular watering hole back in the first half of the '70s?).

[Danemouth]

Dammit - he's caught me (but which one was my regular watering hole back in the first half of the '70s?).

Thinking back to another thread The York?

 

Though Kairdiff born and bred I haven't been in any of those three pubs!

 

Dave

[The Stationmaster]

Thinking back to another thread The York?

 

Though Kairdiff born and bred I haven't been in any of those three pubs!

 

Dave

In many respects I don't blame you!  You stood a good chance of getting your throat cut in The Custom House if you didn't fit in or had the appearance of belonging to the 'wrong' employer and there used to be some rumours about the York Hotel although I've no idea if there was any truth in them as I didn't go in there ever.

[Jongudmund]

Is The York still standing? It had been all boarded up for years and I think it's earmarked for demolition if it hasn't gone already.

[tomparryharry]

I remember the Glastonbury. I used to walk past it every day, I seem to remember that the building opposite started to fall into Bute Street, about 1975....

 

Ian

[BlackRat]

Can't remember which but one was a Hells angels club.......went in one nite and almost got a shoeing! Luckily one of the ladies in their was a former class mate and saved my bacon!

 

DONT FORGET TO MENTION LISA!

[tomparryharry]

Is the large sign still on Tyndall Street goods depot? ISTR that there were some trolley buses dumped in the yard. I'd bet that's all gone now. 

 

East Moors, went on forever.....

 

Ian

[Fat Controller]

Probably my only photo taken at Ferry Road, and judging by the 'firms car' ('G' prefix Ford Escort, we bought a large batch) in the foreground it's the mid 80s.

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Ferry Road runs left to right ( i.e. south to north) and we are looking down from the Ferry Road Branch at the access road to the council tip.

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Taff Wagon & Engineering is to the left of the tip access road, the former wagon works, Bill Way's scrap yard and Grangetown Gas Works were away to the right. 

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Through the fog in the distance can be seen the viaduct section of the  A4232 Cardiff Docks - M4 Jct.33 link road under construction, very near to Messrs Lord & Butler's premises.

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Brian R

Rehabilitating the 'cratch' site was the last project little sister worked on for Cardiff Bay, before starting off on her own; it must have given her a taste for rubbish, as she now deals exclusively in waste disposal sites of all types.

[br2975]

Is The York still standing? It had been all boarded up for years and I think it's earmarked for demolition if it hasn't gone already.

 

I believe it is still standing, but it will never see the like of this again:-

 

http://www.thebattens.me.uk/d7079%20-%20cardiff%20-%20aug%201967.jpg

 

For those who don't know the area, The road immediately outside The York Hotel and disappearing under the railway is "East Canal Wharf"

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The car park is the former Glamorganshire Canal, and "West Canal Wharf" is out of sight below the photographer.

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The canal is now a road and forms the south end of St.Mary St. passing under the railway to reach Callaghan Square immediatly south of the railway.

 

The buildings on the immediate far side of the line are now beneath the office developments  that form No.1 and No.2 Callaghan Square

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I believe the white building with three windows on an uper storey almost centre of the photo is "The Custom House Hotel" described to a 'tee'  by Mike aka The Stationmaster above.

 

Brian R

Edited August 25, 2014 by br2975

[The Stationmaster]

 

I believe the white building with three windows on an uper storey almost centre of the photo is "The Custom House Hotel" described to a 'tee'  by Mike aka The Stationmaster above.

 

Brian R

I think I might have related once before about the occasion a chap who occasionally lodged in the same place as me went into The Custom House for a drink one evening.  As it happened he was a work study officer in the prison workshops and accordingly visited Cardiff several times a year - after I'd given the bloke behind the bar my usual cheery greeting I was quietly informed that he had been an inmate in an establishment on the other side of the railway after being done on a charge of GBH while several others in the bar were also recognised by my 'pal'.   I still carried on my visits once or twice a week to that hostelry until I left Cardiff early in 1974 and I think I was part of the accepted scene so never had any trouble - in fact I always felt quite safe in there!

[tomparryharry]

I've just had a look on Google Street Maps for Cardiff......

 

If it hadn't been for the railway lines, I don't think I'd recognise the place.....

 

Ian

[The Stationmaster]

Spot on Ian - it has changed an enormous amount.

 

 

I've just had a look on Google Street Maps for Cardiff......

 

If it hadn't been for the railway lines, I don't think I'd recognise the place.....

 

Ian

[br2975]

The best I can do chaps.

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Taken from the top flor of the Wood Street NCP car park on 22nd April 2007

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Two hotels now block this view.

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East Canal Wharf bridge is just off shot to the left.

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Then moving right or west or 'down' comes the Glamorganshire Canal bridge, now scanning the bottom end of St. Mary St.

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Then immediately after that, and immediately to the right of the vertical auger comes East Canal Wharf overbridge.

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The next bridge with the Fordthorne advert spans what was once Penarth Road, but since the areas roads were redevloped I'm not sure what it's now called ??????

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The white gable end is Jacobs Market, an antique centre. 

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The office building across the tracks on the left hand edge is Callaghan Square, as is the street it fronts onto.

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The car park at Callaghan Sq. provides a grandstand view of the station approaches (as the shots of 37411 & Tornado show)  - but only if you can get in !!!

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Brian R

[br2975]

A really tenuous link now with Clarence Road - a 1947 aerial view of Ely Paper Mill looking west, once owned by Thomas Owen, Later Wiggins Teape and finally Arjo Wiggins.

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What a mine of information this photograph is.

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The GWR South Wales main line (SWML)  runs from bottom to top toward St.Fagans, Bridgend and eventually Swansea.

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The former Penarth Harbour & Dock Railway which connected Penarth Jct. (original name for Radyr Jct.) to Penarth Curve North crosses the mainline, then Cowbridge Road East and heads off north toward Radyr.

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The roundabout straddling the SWML in the middle distance is known throughout Cardiff as 'Ely Bridge' and is at the intersection of Cowbridge Road East, Cowbridge Road West (left), and Western Avenue (right)........... just beyond the overbridge is Ely (Main Line) station, the station footbridge is visible, and farther on in the 'down' direction another footbridge linking Wroughton Place (Ely) and Finchley Road (Fairwater) where I started trainspotting and took my first number, pannier 3790, and where I swooned at the sight of a monster called 'Evening Star' sweeping through on a fitted van train.

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Surrounding Ely (Main Line) were two breweries, a jam factory, coal sidings and horse landing, as off the photo to the left was Ely Racecourse and until the outbreak of WWII many race meetings were held here, under the patronage of the Earl of Plymouth who had a residence at St. Fagans Castle (visible amongst the trees in the distance and now Amgueddfa Werin Cymru) ) and provided much of the land for the Ely housing estate - allegedly with the proviso that no public houses be built.

 

To the left of the SWML is the Ely area - where I grew up, before my parents and Imoved across the tracks to Fairwater !

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The stretch of SWML between Ely Bridge and St.Fagans was known to many drivers as 'bomb alley'.   

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The footbridge in the foreground spanning the SWML still stands behind the Royal Mail sorting office and is a good short cut for jaunts to watch Cardiff City home games.

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At the foot of the fotbridge steps can be seen the paper mill gatehouse atop which was an air ride siren that sounded every Monday - Friday at about 7:55am.

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The paper mill had its own internal railway system, which connected with both the SWML and the P.H & D. - and in this photo the then resident loco, a Peckett 0-4-0ST can be seen half in/half out of the engine shed.

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In 1952 this was disposed of through Messrs A.R.Adams of Newport and a brand new Robert Stephenson & Hawthorns 0-4-0ST took up office.

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When indisposed a loco was hired from A.R.Adams, the last being an ex-BR Cl.03 circa 1971/1972. 

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The RSH was disposed of to preservation (c/o the Welsh Industrial & Maritime Museum collection, initially Caerphilly, then Barry Island and now goodness knows where).

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The last encumbent was a Planet diesel.

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The mill closed circa 1995 (ISTBC) and is now awaiting redevelopment into 700 plus affordable homes !

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And yes, you can see my house (just).

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Brian R

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PS

The 'tenuous link' with Clarence Road ?

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"The St. Fagans Pullman" i.e. the Abercynon 'JB' duty auto train travelled this stretch of the SWML each morning on it's convuluted trek from Pontypridd to Clarence Road via Tonteg Halt, Efail Isaf, Creigiau, Ty'n-y-caeau Jct,  St.Fagans, Ely (Main Line), Cardiff General and Clarence Road.

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During it's daily perambulations "JB" travelled the metals of the former Taff Vale Railway, Barry Railway, Great Western, Rhymney Railway & Cardiff Railway, not bad for a 64XX and two trailers !

Edited August 28, 2014 by br2975

[tomparryharry]

Passed my locomotive driving exam on 7705, when it was at Caerphilly......

 

I've got a feeling the loco is now at Garw Valley Railway, Pontycymmer.

 

Ian

[Prometheus]

That aerial view - a fantastic photograph. The brewery is visible centre-right also. Was it Crosswells then ? Later became the Rhymney Beer brewery ['Rhymney Beer - the best 'round 'ere'. And if you like old advertising copy, the Fernvale brewery in the Rhondda described its bitter as 'the Prince of Ales']. And once you could drink Rhymeny beers in The Clarence in Ponty, so there's your link !

 

Tony

[br2975]

If I remember correctly one was Rhymney & Crosswells, the other was "Ely Ales the best in Wales"

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The brewery on the Fairwater side of the SWML lasted the longest, and I work in what was one of the brewery offices.

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Until the early 80s there was an electric clock advertising Rhymney Brewery products just over Ely Bridge at the junction of Cowbridge Road West / Wroughton Place & Station Terrace ........... the phrase "r.v. under the clock'" was known to all my colleagues, who also knew how to access the sampling room(s) at all hours and which was referred to as "the Taj".

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As for RSH 7705 - I have some shots somewhere of it in steam at Caerphilly, must dig them out.

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I now take my four year old twin grandsons to the footbridge in the foreground, which they know as "Bampy's Bridge" - and they can tell you a Cl.20 from a Cl.40, a Cl.31 from a Western and a King from a pannier, even tell you a GP38 (not many of them in South Wales).

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Brian R

[naturol]

It would appear that the Quarry pub, is identifiable on the hill in the distance, as is the buildings of the old hospital at glan Ely, I delivered papers there in the late 70s

But there is no hill view, no houses on st Fagans road, opposite fairwater school, and no glan Ely close,

Woooa.

[Jongudmund]

I drove along Cowbridge Road East under the Penarth - Radyr line yesterday and saw the Hancock's Beers sign on the bridge. My wife was with me and I told her all about this thread.

[br2975]

I bet that cured the wife's insomnia !

[Dave47549]

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Edited October 2, 2021 by Dave47549
Removed pointless guff

[chrisf]

That aerial photo is stunning!  It prompts a little story which, surprise surprise, is a bit of a digression for which I hope readers will forgive me.

 

It is Saturday 26th September 1953.  Cardiff City are riding high - yes, really.  Alan Jarvis, whose passing was reported recently in another thread, is at Ely Main Line with his camera and his motorbike.  The St Fagans Pullman is due at 2.12 pm but, this bring Saturday, will run only as far as the General.  More passengers than usual alight and they remain on the platform.  Within five minutes another train draws to a halt and the passengers board.  The second train is a footex from Penygraig to Ninian Park Platform.   There would have been a couple of dozen specials to carry the faithful from City's catchment area.   One such, from the Rhondda, was due to pass the site of what is now Danescourt station on the City Line at 2.30 pm.  Could our hero photograph all three trains?   In 1953 with clear roads and a motor bike, YES, and with any luck the sandwich auto running empty from Ninian Park to Radyr to stable, also at around 2.30.  Could it be done today?  No chance!

 

Chris

[br2975]

 Alan Jarvis, whose passing was reported recently in another thread, is at Ely Main Line with his camera and his motorbike.  

 

Chris

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I am sorry to hear this news.

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I was unaware of the passing of Mr.Jarvis, who lived just off the aerial photo (to the right) in the Victoria Park area.

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Along with the likes of R.O. 'Bob' Tuck, Sid Rickard and John Hodge, he has left us a rich photographic legacy of a neglected area - and in Alan's case he also snapped other local transport subjects, such as the Cardiff trollies.

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Brian R,