Volume Two - The Era of Optimism, Investment & Development - Penarth's contribution to coal exports . . .

Under the able management of Mr. Ammon Beasley, Penarth Dock is now enjoying a period of great prosperity. In 1904 it handled a trade of over 4,000,000 tons (chiefly exports, as the traffic is mainly coal), a unique figure, it is believed, for a dock of 26 acres all told, including a basin of three acres.”

After referring to the famous high tips at Penarth, the writer adds: - “Penarth nay be said to live by despatch, and when it is called to mind that steamers carrying 2,200 to 2,400 tons enter Penarth Basin light and leave with a full cargo on the same tide – often before high water – it will be admitted that the authorities have reduced promptness to a fine art.”

Mr. Ammon Beasley, General Manager of the TVR [039]

"THE GENERAL MANAGER OF THE COMPANY, Mr. Ammon Beasley, entered the service of the Great Western Railway Company in the late fifties at Wolverhampton. After a period of rapid promotion, he in 1863 joined the staff of the late Mr. Grierson, when the latter was appointed to the post of General Manager of the Great Western Railway, and three years later he was offered and accepted the chief position in the general manager's department. In 1891 he was appointed General Manager of the Taff Vale Railway Company.

The difficulties which Mr. Beasley had to face have already been referred to, and the manner in which he rehabilitated the Company, enforced drastic economies, increased efficiency, and discovered new and developed existing sources of revenue, has stamped him as one of the strongest men in the British railway world. In the presentation of a case to Parliamentary Committees, Royal Commissions, or in the Courts of Law, on behalf of his Company, or of the general body of railways or dock owners, Mr. Beasley is recognized as one of the most able witnesses.

His close knowledge of law in its bearing on railway, dock, and labour questions was responsible for what is now known in history as the "Taff Vale Case," in which, after a prolonged struggle, the Taff Vale Company recovered £23,000 from the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, as damages resulting from a strike on the Company's system."