Volume Thirteen - Pre-Victorian to the Present Day - even more aspects - Articles from the Great Western Railway Magazine - 1922 - 1948 . . . .

Up to this time the production of Welsh coal was limited to the needs of the local ironworks. Naturally, the development of the iron trade forced forward the development of the little levels which dotted the northern outcrop of the coal basin. The levels quickly became busy collieries. An ancestor of the late Lord Rhondda won the steam coal at Waunwyllt, near Merthyr, while Walter Coffin won the No. 2 and No. 3 seams near Pontypridd and constructed a tramway to connect his pits with the canal. Other proprietors followed Coffin’s example.

	The General Offices of the late Taff Vale Railway Company, at Queen Street, Cardiff.
	The frontage of the Cardiff Station of the late Taff Vale Railway.

Encouraged by the great demand for Welsh coal, they abandoned the old method of sending their product on the backs of mules to the seaboard at Cardiff. They all connected up with the canal by means of private tramways, with the result that the artificial waterway from Merthyr to the sea, with its numerous locks, became seriously congested and incapable of coping with the increasing tonnage. Ironmasters and coalowners clamoured against the delay in getting their output to the markets — and then they took counsel together. The result of their conferences was the formation in 1835 of the Taff Vale Railway Company (with a capital not exceeding £250,000, to be raised in shares of £100 each, with a deposit of £3 on each share.).