Volume Twelve - Pre-Victorian to the Present Day - further aspects - Railway Magazine - Interview with Mr. Ammon Beasley - TVR - 1898 . . . .

Taff Vale stock has been as low as 22 and as high as 300, and between these extremes opportunities both for making and losing money must have been enormous."

Mr. Thomas Edward Harland - Out-door Superintendent, Taff Vale Railway.

"Thank you, Mr. Beasley. When was the first portion opened for traffic, and what kind of locomotives , rolling stock, and facilities were then provided?"

"The original Taff Vale main line extended from Merthyr to Cardiff, and was opened throughout in 1840. The scheme also included a branch to Cogan Pill, on the site of the present Penarth Dock, but that was abandoned by agreement with the late Marquis of Bute."

"How came that about?"

"Well, the story is a long one, and not a very pleasant one for me to relate, although I have had to tell it many times to Committees of both Houses of Parliament, and may, I fear, have to tell it again.