This scene is totally unrecognisable now with the demolition of Walnut Tree Viaduct. This was on the line from Penrhos Juction to Tynycaeau Junction (and onwards to Barry) which leapt across the Nantgarw Gap here in a spectacular fashion. It was only later in the year of this photograph, on 14th December 1967, that the railway across the viaduct finally closed, latterly just being a single track from Penrhos Junction to the Steetly Dolomite Works just across the valley on the left.
At the top of the wall on the right is the route of the Cardiff Railway, another railway route built to compete, ultimately most unsuccessfully, for coal traffic. It was prevented from connecting with the Taff Vale Railway in Treforest, thereby depriving it of its intended traffic, which instead continued to use the Taff Vale line, still open today, hidden behind the trees on the left.
The photographer is stood on the formation of the Glamorganshire Canal, still in use until World War II but by the date of this photograph filled in with the route largely invisible.
Road transport now dominates the scene here with the construction of the A470(T) dual carriageway and associated junctions. Back in 1967, though, it was a normal single-carriageway road which Rhondda 491 is traversing on the 332 service, dwarfed by the surrounding infrastructure.
Photograph from the David Beilby collection/J C Gillham
