Created 17-Jan-20
Modified 8-Mar-24
This gallery tries to cover quite a range of services which generally cover services in the Tonyrefail and Gilfach Goch area. The story starts with Rhondda Tramway's ill-fated adventure with trolleybuses. This route is believed to have started on 22nd December 1914 and ran from Williamstown, the boundary of the tram system in this direction, through Tonyrefail to Gilfach Goch, the route being a U-shape. Issues arose quite quickly with the road surface, keen debate arose about whether the trolleybuses were damaging the road or vice versa. However in March 1915 one of the trolleybuses ran out of control and into a house. With all the problems this was the last straw and the trolleybuses stopped, never to run again. There was a Light Railway Order taken out to build a tramway on the same route but the powers were not exercised and it was not until January 1921 that a bus service was commenced.
The service initially followed the trolleybus route from Williamstown but was extended to Tonypandy by 1929. Much of this route was shared with a service starting again from Williamstown but after Hendreforgan continuing to Blackmill, Ogmore Vale and Nantymoel. This service started in October 1924 and by 1929 originated from Porth. By 1932 the terminus was cut back to Penygraig and the service remained like that until it was withdrawn as part of the service cuts at the start of World War II.
The Tonypandy to Gilfach Goch service was extended to Evanstown by 1933 and from 11th May 1935 changed to run in a loop round Gilfach Goch and Evanstown. This would not appear to have been possible until then as there was previously no suitable road. A supplementary service started in 1937 running on Fridays and Saturdays only (starting around 1600hrs). This ran from the Collier's Arms in Trealaw through Tonypandy (Hippodrome - later to become the Plaza), Penygraig and Williamstown to Trebanog. This supplementary service also seems to have been a casualty of World War II.
Otherwise the main service settled down and next changed when it was first shown with the route number R28 in the June 1957 timetable. By 1960 (and possibly for some time) it had only run on the section from Penygraig to Tonypandy on Fridays and Saturdays and by 1964 this had reduced to just Saturday afternoons and evenings. Journeys to Tonypandy stopped at the same time (or just before) the service was renumbered 528 on 3rd January 1971.
By 1978 the service was running to Tonypandy again, then with the Market Analysis Project (MAP) revisions commencing 24th May 1981 the service was extended beyond Tonypandy to Clydach Vale, but there was no longer a Sunday service. Around January 1985 the service was changed again, from Tonypandy it now ran to Ystrad, Penrhys, Ferndale and Blaenllechau. The service at this point was coordinated with the 172 Aberdare to Porthcawl service which shared a common section of route from Ferndale to Garden City, with the exception that the 172 ran via Trebanog whilst the 572 ran through Penrhiwfer. The 572 ceased operation at deregulation on 26th October 1986 replaced by the 153 and the G1 and to get to those services it is now necessary to pick up another thread of this history.
The initial service from Porth through Trebanog to Tonyrefail appears to have started in July 1924, extended through to Cardiff in February 1925. When the Cardiff service changed in May 1927 to serve Treherbert a connecting service covered the Porth to Tonyrefail section and this continued until 1934 when Porth to Tonyrefail through Trebanog and Thomastown was listed as a separate service. From 1932 there had been an additional service from Trebanog across Porth to Nythbran (Llwyncelyn) although this was certainly on Saturdays only by 1935.
By 1949 the service had changed to serve additionally Pretoria Road in Tonyrefail and was also extended through Tynybryn to Coedely. There were several changes made by the June 1957 timetable which also included allocation of route numbers as shown below. The 173 service, which only ran on Saturdays, didn't actually start until 1958:
170 - Porth-Trebanog-Pretoria Road-Tonyrefail-Coedely
171 - Porth-Trebanog-Collena Road-Tonyrefail-Coedely
172 - Turberville Road-Porth-Glynfach-Trebanog-Collena Road-Tonyrefail
173 - Porth-Trebanog-Collena Road-Tonyrefail-Gilfach Goch
Beyond Porth the 172 terminus changed its name in the timetables rather rapidly as it was referred to as Bryngwyn Street by 1959 and then by 1960 as Upper Gynor Place. I suspect Bryngwyn Street may have been a temporary expedient and Upper Gynor Place was definitely an extension. By 1968 an additional 174 service had been introduced which ran from Porth to Rhiwgarn via Trebanog. From 3rd January 1971 these services gained new Western Welsh route numbers such that the 170-174 became the 505-509.
There was an additional Saturdays only service from Talbot Green to Gilfach Goch which started around 1954 and finished around 1958, by which time it had been given the number 180.
From 9th July 1973 there was some re-arrangement of the services, with the 508 to Gilfach Goch ceasing, at least for now. The revised services became:
505 - Porth-Trebanog-Pretoria Road-Tonyrefail-Coedely (as before)
506 - Upper Gynor Place-Porth-Glynfach-Trebanog-Collena Road-Tonyrefail
507 - Porth-Trebanog-Rhiwgarn (the previous 509)
The service to Rhiwgarn had gradually developed into a thirty-minute service from the fairly sparse level when the 174 was introduced in 1968. The services now remained stable for a few years until the MAP service revisions of 24th May 1981, with just one minor change as the 505 started to serve Capel Estate instead of Pretoria Road by 1980.
At this date a new 506 replaced the previous 505 and was an extension of that service thorough Talbot Green, Church Village, and Creigiau to Cardiff. As such it was also a replacement for the 333 and 334 from Cardiff to Church Village, the full story of which is told in the history of those services. At first most daytime 506 journeys continued to Nythbran (but didn't start from there) but by July 1983 they started and finished in Porth centre. The 507 was largely unchanged, running from Porth to Rhiwgarn still, however almost all journeys ran via Glynfach. The final component of the change was the re-introduction of the 508 from Porth to Gilfach Goch, now via Capel Estate rather than Pretoria Road to fill the gap left by the now-withdrawn 505. From 24th July 1983 the 507 was withdrawn and the 508 served Rhiwgarn instead, also during the day all 506 buses also served Glynfach.
Around January 1985 the 506 was curtailed to become a Cardiff to Beddau service and a replacement 509 service introduced from Porth to Coedely. This new service served Rhiwgarn instead of the 508.
At deregulation on 26th October 1986 there were further service changes and this is where it is appropriate to consider the services from Tonypandy and those from Porth together. The main component of the change was the introduction of Bustler service G1. There were four other services which provided a link from Porth and Tonypandy to Gilfach Goch and an evening service as the G1, like many Bustler services, only ran Monday to Saturday daytime. The five services were:
G1 - Porth-Trebanog-Rhiwgarn-Trebanog-Capel Estate-Tonyrefail-Gilfach Goch (Mon-Sat daytimes only)
151 - Porth-Trebanog-Rhiwgarn-Trebanog-Tonyrefail-Tynybryn-Coedely (Mon-Fri evenings only)
152 - Tonypandy-Penygraig-Penrhiwfer-Tonyrefail-Tynybryn-Coedely (Mon-Sat daytimes only)
153 - Tonypandy-Penygraig-Tonyrefail-Penrhiwfer-Gilfach Goch (Mond-Fri evenings only)
154 - Porth-Trebanog-Rhiwgarn-Trebanog-Capel Estate-Tonyrefail-Gilfach Goch (Sundays and Bank Holiday Mondays only)
It is simpler to treat each service individually. From 23rd November 1987 the G1 was modified such that alternate journeys served Ton Hywel and Rhiwgarn or direct and via Henllys (part of the same estate as Rhiwgarn). From 14th November 1988 alternate journeys were extended from Porth to Pontypridd (running via the Trehafod by-pass). By 1990 the journeys via Henllys also served Bryngolau in Tonyrefail. By February 1991 the G1 had started running in the evenings and on Sundays but the Sunday service doesn't appear in the November 1991 leaflet as it was a tendered service worked by someone else (in 1996 it was worked by Thomas Motors). Rhondda Buses initially kept the service as the G1 but renumbered it 151 relatively quickly, but there was otherwise no significant change before the Stagecoach takeover.
The original 151 listed above was reduced to a single late evening journey from Tonyrefail to Coedely and back to Porth by 1988, replaced by additional 154 journeys. The 152 seems to have been supplemented from 31st August 1988 with a new Bustler service G2 which ran from Tonypandy to Gilfach Goch via Penygraig, Trebanog, Rhiwgarn, Trebanog, Capel Estate and Tonyrefail, however this G2 service doesn't seem to have been successful and was withdrawn by 1989. I believe both the 151 and 152 were replaced by tendered services provided by other operators from 28th July 1991.
The 153 service by 1988 also ran on Saturday evenings and continued unchanged into Rhondda Buses days. By 1996 the daytime Thomas Coaches service 201 section from Tonypandy to Tonyrefail was included in the timetable, then from 4th August Rhondda Buses won the tender for daytime services which led to the final version of the 152-154 services. The 152, which replaced the 201 service ran from Porth (Coronation Terrace) to Tonyrefail (Concorde Drive) via Porth centre, Trealaw, Llwynypia, Tonypandy, Penpisgah and Penrhiwfer. The 153 remained unchanged and a new 154 service was introduced which ran from Penygraig to Garden City via the new Hendreforgan
© David Beilby
