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

The surprising thing is that, in 1920, so soon after the war, trade rallied sufficiently to give the Taff a goods mineral traffic of 14¾ million tons, and nearly 11 million passenger journeys - an actual increase on the pre-war record in the latter department. In 1921 came the disastrous three months’ national coal strike and its incidence is seen in the drop in these totals to 10½ millions and 7¾ millions respectively. Whichever way the statistics are analysed they force the conclusion that the Taff Vale system can confidently anticipate the breaking of its existing remarkable records as soon as the world’s markets are once more established and South Wales pulls up its sleeves to meet the world demand for its incomparable productions.

The same may be said of Penarth Dock and its record of over 4½ million tons of exports. At the moment it is feeling the effects of the slump in common with all other dock undertakings, but there are palmy days to come to it.

The early locomotives of the Taff Vale (eight in number) deserve more than a passing notice. One must go back 80 years to recall them and to remember the astonishment of the native population who came to cottage doors to look at the puffing “iron horses” in wonderment. First there was the "Taff,” a neat little engine, very compact, and her sister engine, the “Rhondda.” “Merthyr” came next, a heavy engine of great power, intended to work the iron rails down from Merthyr to Cardiff and the long train of wagons back. Its sister was the “Cardiff,” also of formidable size. Then came “Llancaiach,” with its chimney the wrong way — placed on the top of the firebox. The sister of this was “Dinas,” with the same peculiar arrangement of chimney, but in both engines this was afterwards rectified. The last two were the “Dowlais” and “Plymouth.” These were the original engines of the Taff, and the first drivers were all imported from Newcastle-on-Tyne.

It is also a thousand pities that one of the original carriages has not been preserved as a curiosity. They were simply open vans, known as “tubs,” with a seat around and no protection from the weather or from the volumes of smoke and cinders of the locomotive. All kinds of merchandise, including animals, were crowded with the passengers into the tubs, and the consequent discomfort can be well imagined. But this was as nothing compared with the early excursions on the Taff, when the puddlers — there were few colliers in those days — went for a trip to Cardiff. The row at night was terrible. The Queen Street station master always had a pair of handcuffs in readiness, and these were generally used on the argumentative and pugilistic puddler.