78-498: VNR could stand for: Vale of Neath Railway Hungarian People's Republic , Russian transliteration of Vengerskaya Narodnaya Respublika (satellite state of the Soviet Union) Video news release Vietnam Railways Vomeronasal receptor , GPCR receptor Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with
156-565: A Bessemer converter or by other means including smelting reduction processes such as the Corex Process . Smelting has serious effects on the environment , producing wastewater and slag and releasing such toxic metals as copper , silver, iron, cobalt , and selenium into the atmosphere. Smelters also release gaseous sulfur dioxide , contributing to acid rain , which acidifies soil and water. The smelter in Flin Flon, Canada
234-523: A broad gauge connection to Merthyr, agreed to take the unallocated shares; the arrangement was ratified in an act of Parliament, the Vale of Neath Railway Amendment Act 1847 ( 10 & 11 Vict. c. lxxiv) in 1847. By July 1847 the first construction contract was let, but the Merthyr Tunnel contract was held over for the time being. It was started the following year, but exceptional difficulties in
312-754: A chain of narrow (standard) gauge railways running from the River Severn to the River Mersey . The London and North Western Railway hoped to acquire it to gain access to Newport Docks , but in the end the NA&;HR formed part of the West Midland Railway in 1860, and that in turn was absorbed by the Great Western Railway in 1863. Long before that, in 1847, the NA&HR had obtained an act of Parliament giving powers for
390-532: A guaranteed 7.5% on their capital. The Dare branch to Nantmelyn Colliery was opened on 7 November 1854. The colliery was on the mountainside west of Aberdare, but the line reached it from Gelli Tarw Junction, and reversing at Dare Junction. A short extension to the Bwllfa Colliery (part of the Merthyr Dare group) at the end of the branch was reached by June 1857. The Cwmaman colliery branch
468-424: A hammer to produce wrought iron . Some of the earliest evidence to date for the bloomery smelting of iron is found at Tell Hammeh , Jordan, radiocarbon-dated to c. 930 BC . From the medieval period, an indirect process began to replace the direct reduction in bloomeries. This used a blast furnace to make pig iron , which then had to undergo a further process to make forgeable bar iron. Processes for
546-709: A low concentration of sulfur dioxide that was difficult to capture; a new generation of copper smelting technologies has supplanted them. More recent furnaces exploit bath smelting, top-jetting lance smelting, flash smelting , and blast furnaces. Some examples of bath smelters include the Noranda furnace, the Isasmelt furnace, the Teniente reactor, the Vunyukov smelter, and the SKS technology. Top-jetting lance smelters include
624-567: A railway following the River Neath , and connecting Merthyr with Neath; at Neath there would be the alternatives of onward railway transport on the South Wales Railway, or transfer to ships at the staithes on the river. On 21 May 1845 he put his ideas to the provisional directors of the South Wales Railway, although they had not yet secured their own authorising act of Parliament. They were supportive, providing that Coke's railway
702-481: A range of more complex organic compounds known collectively as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). Treatment technologies include recycling of wastewater; settling basins , clarifiers and filtration systems for solids removal; oil skimmers and filtration; chemical precipitation and filtration for dissolved metals; carbon adsorption and biological oxidation for organic pollutants; and evaporation. Pollutants generated by other types of smelters varies with
780-434: A secondary service after the reduction step is complete; they provide a molten cover on the purified metal, preventing contact with oxygen while still hot enough to readily oxidize. This prevents impurities from forming in the metal. The ores of base metals are often sulfides. In recent centuries, reverberatory furnaces have been used to keep the charge being smelted separately from the fuel. Traditionally, they were used for
858-660: A standard-gauge coal train was run from Gadlys Colliery near Aberdare to Swansea. Hired LNWR engines were used at first. Still the link at Middle Duffryn was uncompleted, until a temporary connection was made on 19 March 1864. The line was more properly opened on 18 April 1864, when two goods trains a day used the connection. Little traffic was carried and the LNWR seem to have been the chief beneficiary. The line opened to passenger traffic on 5 October 1864. Hitherto passenger trains had run through from Neath to Merthyr Tydfil , and Aberdare passengers had to change at Hirwaun . This
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#1732801226129936-420: Is a process of applying heat and a chemical reducing agent to an ore to extract a desired base metal product. It is a form of extractive metallurgy that is used to obtain many metals such as iron , copper , silver , tin , lead and zinc . Smelting uses heat and a chemical reducing agent to decompose the ore, driving off other elements as gases or slag and leaving the metal behind. The reducing agent
1014-455: Is commonly a fossil-fuel source of carbon , such as carbon monoxide from incomplete combustion of coke —or, in earlier times, of charcoal . The oxygen in the ore binds to carbon at high temperatures, as the chemical potential energy of the bonds in carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) is lower than that of the bonds in the ore. Sulfide ores such as those commonly used to obtain copper, zinc or lead, are roasted before smelting in order to convert
1092-542: Is easily produced during the heating process, and as a gas comes into intimate contact with the ore. In the Old World , humans learned to smelt metals in prehistoric times, more than 8000 years ago. The discovery and use of the "useful" metals – copper and bronze at first, then iron a few millennia later – had an enormous impact on human society. The impact was so pervasive that scholars traditionally divide ancient history into Stone Age , Bronze Age , and Iron Age . In
1170-408: Is occasionally found in commercially significant quantities. These minerals are primarily carbonates , sulfides , or oxides of the metal, mixed with other components such as silica and alumina . Roasting the carbonate and sulfide minerals in the air converts them to oxides. The oxides, in turn, are smelted into the metal. Carbon monoxide was (and is) the reducing agent of choice for smelting. It
1248-597: Is only marginally harder, and had even less impact by itself. The earliest evidence for iron-making is a small number of iron fragments with the appropriate amounts of carbon admixture found in the Proto-Hittite layers at Kaman-Kalehöyük and dated to 2200–2000 BC. Souckova-Siegolová (2001) shows that iron implements were made in Central Anatolia in very limited quantities around 1800 BC and were in general use by elites, though not by commoners, during
1326-562: Is unknown. The first such bronzes may have been a lucky accident from tin-contaminated copper ores. However, by 2000 BC, people were mining tin on purpose to produce bronze—which is remarkable as tin is a semi-rare metal, and even a rich cassiterite ore only has 5% tin. The discovery of copper and bronze manufacture had a significant impact on the history of the Old World . Metals were hard enough to make weapons that were heavier, stronger, and more resistant to impact damage than wood, bone, or stone equivalents. For several millennia, bronze
1404-517: The Americas , pre- Inca civilizations of the central Andes in Peru had mastered the smelting of copper and silver at least six centuries before the first Europeans arrived in the 16th century, while never mastering the smelting of metals such as iron for use with weapon craft. Copper was the first metal to be smelted. How the discovery came about is debated. Campfires are about 200 °C short of
1482-551: The Cynon Valley to cross to Glynneath for the canal. The Aberdare Canal was opened in 1812 leading instead down the valley to Abercynon , where it connected with the Glamorganshire Canal . In the 1830s it had become clear that the way forward for heavy transport was railways of a modern pattern, with steam locomotives . Although the early technology was very primitive, progress was being made following
1560-619: The New Hittite Empire (~1400–1200 BC). Archaeologists have found indications of iron working in Ancient Egypt , somewhere between the Third Intermediate Period and 23rd Dynasty (ca. 1100–750 BC). Significantly though, they have found no evidence of iron ore smelting in any (pre-modern) period. In addition, very early instances of carbon steel were in production around 2000 years ago (around
1638-636: The South Wales Railway was authorised, by the South Wales Railway Act 1845 ( 8 & 9 Vict. c. cxc), to build from near Gloucester to Milford Haven Waterway . This was to be a trunk line, in fact connecting with the Great Western Railway and the English railway network. Engineered by Isambard Kingdom Brunel , it was to be built on the broad gauge . The authorisation of the South Wales Railway brought fresh energy to
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#17328012261291716-607: The Taff Vale Extension , which was to run westward from Pontypool to Quakers Yard , where it would join the Taff Vale Railway . This line had the potential to connect with numerous of the south-to-north lines in the valleys, thereby conveying mineral products from collieries and ironworks on their network to the industrial north of England without having to pass through Cardiff or Newport . The Taff Vale Extension opened progressively from 1855, and many of
1794-460: The river was unnavigable. Yet the demand for satisfactory transport was powerful, and eventually the Neath Canal was opened fully in 1795, running down from Glynneath to Neath itself. Even then the canal did not immediately serve the originating point of mineral products, and some short tramways were built to make the connection. Indeed, coal from Aberdare was hauled uphill by horse power in
1872-459: The 18th century, Merthyr Tydfil was the centre of a huge iron smelting industry; excellent coal was beginning to be mined at Aberdare , and these two industries became dominant in their respective localities. The town of Neath itself became a centre of engineering industry. Down to the 18th century, the difficulty was transporting the heavy products of the mineral industries to market, overseas and domestically. The roads were extremely poor, and
1950-499: The Aberdare and Merthyr lines separated) was double track. The Merthyr line was planned to be double track, and the southern end of the long tunnel to Merthyr was constructed accordingly, but that objective was given up and the majority of the tunnel was built to single track dimensions only. There was a tunnel at Pencaedrain , near the summit above Glynneath; it was 526 yards (481 m) in length. Gradients were stiff; from Neath to
2028-777: The GWR could not risk, and they negotiated quickly, absorbing the West Midland Railway in August 1863. The Newport, Abergavenny and Hereford Railway and its successor the West Midland Railway had opened the Taff Vale Extension Railway as far as Quakers Yard in 1858. It appears that the West Midland Railway had already made the connection with the Taff Vale Railway at Mountain Ash ; at any rate
2106-605: The Great Western Railway (having amalgamated with the West Midland Railway in 1863) was now remarkably dilatory in completing the Taff Vale Extension Railway through to Middle Duffryn. This may have been because the LNWR had running powers over the former NA&HR line to that point, and the GWR did not wish to encourage its rival. Nevertheless, on 28 December 1863 the VoNR ran a demonstration narrow gauge engine and brake van from Swansea to Middle Duffryn, and soon after
2184-546: The Mitsubishi smelting reactor. Flash smelters account for over 50% of the world's copper smelters. There are many more varieties of smelting processes, including the Kivset, Ausmelt, Tamano, EAF, and BF. Of the seven metals known in antiquity , only gold regularly occurs in nature as a native metal . The others – copper , lead , silver , tin , iron , and mercury – occur primarily as minerals, although native copper
2262-486: The NA&HR obtained an act of Parliament giving authorisation to extend to Aberdare, and it approached the VoNR concerning a mutual arrangement giving the NA&HR access to Aberdare from Middle Duffryn alongside the Aberdare Valley Railway, effectively part of the VoNR, in exchange for a similar arrangement from Middle Duffryn to Navigation Colliery . The VoNR turned this proposal down, but in 1860
2340-745: The Taff Vale). In the meantime it had become plain that a colliery at Gadlys was expanding considerably, but access to that required the VoNR line to cross the Aberdare Railway route on the level. Approaches to the Taff Vale interest met with a rebuff, and in the end the VoNR located its station across the River Cynon from the TVR/AR station. (The colliery itself built the connection in 1853, and it became an important interchange point between
2418-498: The VoNR and the TVR.) The construction took much longer than expected, and this led to friction in board meetings in 1850, and this was followed by site difficulties during the following winter. Brunel now predicted a June 1851 opening, and it was time to order rolling stock . Six locomotives were ordered from Robert Stephenson , and 25 coaches and 72 wagons were ordered. The majority of the wagons for coal were flat wagons , on which coal
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2496-494: The VoNR. In the first years of the Vale of Neath Railway, business grew steadily and profitability as good. From 1857 this situation began to change. A coal strike, general depression of trade, and heavy costs of maintaining the permanent way, all reduced profit. No dividend was declared in August 1857. The VoNR decided on an unsatisfactory compromise; they would convert most of their network to mixed gauge, and they would assist in
2574-418: The ancient world. It is too soft to use for structural elements or weapons, though its high density relative to other metals makes it ideal for sling projectiles. However, since it was easy to cast and shape, workers in the classical world of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome used it extensively to pipe and store water. They also used it as a mortar in stone buildings. Tin was much less common than lead,
2652-440: The area, with its Taff Vale Extension line, the Vale of Neath Railway saw that there was potential in connecting up; it laid a third rail to make mixed gauge . The link was made in 1864 and coal was conveyed to London and the north-west of England by that route. By that time the VoNR and the NA&HR had been absorbed into the Great Western Railway (GWR) system. Connections to the docks at Swansea had not been fruitful in
2730-461: The base metal ore. For example, aluminum smelters typically generate fluoride , benzo(a)pyrene , antimony and nickel, as well as aluminum. Copper smelters typically discharge cadmium, lead, zinc , arsenic and nickel, in addition to copper. Lead smelters may discharge antimony , asbestos, cadmium, copper and zinc, in addition to lead. Labourers working in the smelting industry have reported respiratory illnesses inhibiting their ability to perform
2808-408: The discovery happened several millennia before the invention of writing, there is no written record of how it was made. However, tin and lead can be smelted by placing the ores in a wood fire, leaving the possibility that the discovery may have occurred by accident. Recent scholarship however has called this find into question. Lead is a common metal, but its discovery had relatively little impact in
2886-518: The early days, and the Swansea and Neath Railway , soon taken over by the VoNR, made some improvement, but the docks area remained congested and difficult. The main line of the VoNR was always busy in GWR days, mineral traffic being intensive and difficult because of steep gradients and inadequate infrastructure. The decline of the coal industry after 1945 brought decline of the VoNR route as well and in 1964 passenger operation ceased, followed by much of
2964-569: The emphasis was on developing the former. Three more locomotives were ordered as well as a few carriages, but two second-class carriages were disposed of, for lack of use. Profits and dividends continued to increase, and although the Dare and Aman valley extensions were delayed, a further extension from Aberdare to Middle Duffryn was authorised by the Aberdare Valley Railway Act 1855 ( 18 & 19 Vict. c. cxx). Middle Duffryn
3042-513: The establishment of trade networks that spanned large areas of Europe and Asia and had a major effect on the distribution of wealth among individuals and nations. The earliest known cast lead beads were thought to be in the Çatalhöyük site in Anatolia ( Turkey ), and dated from about 6500 BC. However, recent research has discovered that this was not lead, but rather cerussite and galena, minerals rich in, but distinct from, lead. Since
3120-531: The example of the Stockton and Darlington Railway , opened from 1825. In South Wales, the Taff Vale Railway was authorised by an act of Parliament , the Taff Vale Railway Act 1836 ( 6 & 7 Will. 4 . c. lxxxii). This was a purely local railway, connecting the iron-producing town of Merthyr to Cardiff Docks ; it was constructed on the standard gauge; it opened in stages from 1840. In 1845
3198-409: The facilities available for handling it, and the GWR commissioned J. Armstrong to review the problem and its solution. He published a number of proposals. There included enhanced siding accommodation where mineral trains had to be formed, avoiding doing so on the running line; new engine shed arrangements, and the prioritising of long-distance trains over local pick-ups. Iron smelting Smelting
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3276-513: The final oxygen atoms from the raw metal. The carbon source acts as a chemical reactant to remove oxygen from the ore, yielding the purified metal element as a product. The carbon source is oxidized in two stages. First, carbon (C) combusts with oxygen (O 2 ) in the air to produce carbon monoxide (CO). Second, the carbon monoxide reacts with the ore (e.g. Fe 2 O 3 ) and removes one of its oxygen atoms, releasing carbon dioxide (CO 2 ). After successive interactions with carbon monoxide, all of
3354-429: The first step of smelting: forming two liquids, one an oxide slag containing most of the impurities, and the other a sulfide matte containing the valuable metal sulfide and some impurities. Such "reverb" furnaces are today about 40 meters long, 3 meters high, and 10 meters wide. Fuel is burned at one end to melt the dry sulfide concentrates (usually after partial roasting) which are fed through openings in
3432-454: The first-century .) in northwest Tanzania , based on complex preheating principles. These discoveries are significant for the history of metallurgy. Most early processes in Europe and Africa involved smelting iron ore in a bloomery , where the temperature is kept low enough so that the iron does not melt. This produces a spongy mass of iron called a bloom, which then must be consolidated with
3510-641: The idea was revived; it was to include laying a narrow (standard) gauge rail as far as Aberdare station and NA&HR use of the station. Although the SWR-nominated directors on the VoNR board were hostile to the idea, the VoNR were concerned that a rebuff might result in the NA&HR (now merged with others to form the West Midland Railway) building its own line to the Swansea Vale Railway and reaching Swansea independently of
3588-503: The junctions with valley lines were only effected in later years. The NA&HR had as its original purpose a connection between Hereford and Newport Docks, but it was now obvious that the connection to the South Wales Valleys was more lucrative. The rise of Aberdare as a source of high-quality coal was an obvious attraction, and the NA&HR started to talk to the Vale of Neath Railway about linking up. In fact in 1857
3666-521: The line went to the 1846 session of Parliament; Brunel as engineer gave evidence to the committees. He was questioned in detail about the gradients on the line, as the steep and lengthy gradients were not considered suitable for mineral lines. Brunel's persuasive evidence carried the matter through, and the Vale of Neath Railway was authorised by act of Parliament, the Vale of Neath Railway Act 1846 ( 9 & 10 Vict. c. cccxli), of 3 August 1846. Share capital
3744-411: The metal out of its ore. Most ores are the chemical compound of the metal and other elements, such as oxygen (as an oxide ), sulfur (as a sulfide ), or carbon and oxygen together (as a carbonate ). To extract the metal, workers must make these compounds undergo a chemical reaction . Smelting, therefore, consists of using suitable reducing substances that combine with those oxidizing elements to free
3822-490: The metal. In the case of sulfides and carbonates, a process called " roasting " removes the unwanted carbon or sulfur, leaving an oxide, which can be directly reduced. Roasting is usually carried out in an oxidizing environment. A few practical examples: Reduction is the final, high-temperature step in smelting, in which the oxide becomes the elemental metal. A reducing environment (often provided by carbon monoxide, made by incomplete combustion in an air-starved furnace) pulls
3900-490: The mineral activity. The Merthyr station is in use today (by trains approaching on the former Taff Vale Railway route), rationalised and slightly relocated, and the Aberdare station has been similarly treated when its passenger service was reinstated in 1988. The Vale of Neath is a river valley descending from Pontneddfechan and Glynneath to the town of Neath , close to Baglan Bay , itself part of Swansea Bay . By
3978-722: The oldest evidence, now appears to be hammered, native copper. Combining copper with tin and/or arsenic in the right proportions produces bronze , an alloy that is significantly harder than copper. The first copper/arsenic bronzes date from 4200 BC from Asia Minor . The Inca bronze alloys were also of this type. Arsenic is often an impurity in copper ores, so the discovery could have been made by accident. Eventually, arsenic-bearing minerals were intentionally added during smelting. Copper–tin bronzes, harder and more durable, were developed around 3500 BC, also in Asia Minor. How smiths learned to produce copper/tin bronzes
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#17328012261294056-464: The ore during smelting to catalyze the desired reactions and to chemically bind to unwanted impurities or reaction products. Calcium carbonate or calcium oxide in the form of lime are often used for this purpose, since they react with sulfur, phosphorus, and silicon impurities to allow them to be readily separated and discarded, in the form of slag. Fluxes may also serve to control the viscosity and neutralize unwanted acids. Flux and slag can provide
4134-431: The oxygen in the ore will be removed, leaving the raw metal element (e.g. Fe). As most ores are impure, it is often necessary to use flux , such as limestone (or dolomite ), to remove the accompanying rock gangue as slag. This calcination reaction emits carbon dioxide. The required temperature varies both in absolute terms and in terms of the melting point of the base metal. Examples: Fluxes are materials added to
4212-464: The possibility of new railway lines in South Wales, but it was to skirt the southern margin of the valleys. Industrial locations in the valleys themselves would need their own railways to link to the South Wales Railway, or to harbours for onward conveyance of their production. H. S. Coke was the town clerk of Neath, and a solicitor by profession. He was the driving force in promoting the idea of
4290-512: The promotion of a Swansea and Neath Railway , a mixed-gauge line. It received royal assent on 6 April 1861 and was opened on 15 July 1863. Passenger operation commenced from a new station in Neath to a temporary platform at Wind Street in Swansea, on 1 August 1863. There were intermediate stations at Neath Abbey and Briton Ferry Road . The Swansea and Neath Railway was absorbed by the VoNR under
4368-401: The roof of the furnace. The slag floats over the heavier matte and is removed and discarded or recycled. The sulfide matte is then sent to the converter . The precise details of the process vary from one furnace to another depending on the mineralogy of the ore body. While reverberatory furnaces produced slags containing very little copper, they were relatively energy inefficient and off-gassed
4446-585: The second stage include fining in a finery forge . In the 13th century during the High Middle Ages the blast furnace was introduced by China who had been using it since as early as 200 b.c during the Qin dynasty . [1] Puddling was also introduced in the Industrial Revolution . Both processes are now obsolete, and wrought iron is now rarely made. Instead, mild steel is produced from
4524-492: The second time the VoNR reacted defensively and at its own expense laid the third standard-gauge rail on their system, starting the work early in 1863. When completed this offered the West Midland Railway a standard-gauge link over the VoNR from Middle Duffryn to Swansea. This alarmed the broad-gauge Great Western Railway because the West Midland Railway might fall into an alliance with the standard-gauge London and North Western Railway , which could then get access to Swansea. This
4602-455: The sulfides to oxides, which are more readily reduced to the metal. Roasting heats the ore in the presence of oxygen from air, oxidizing the ore and liberating the sulfur as sulfur dioxide gas. Smelting most prominently takes place in a blast furnace to produce pig iron , which is converted into steel . Plants for the electrolytic reduction of aluminium are referred to as aluminium smelters . Smelting involves more than just melting
4680-482: The summit at Hirwaun was a steep climb, with 5 + 1 ⁄ 2 miles (9 km) of continuous slope between 1 in 51 and 1 in 47. The passenger business was gratifyingly busy, and colliery interest in mineral transport was also high. A 1.5% dividend was distributed at the end of 1852, and at the same time a decision was taken to extend the line at Aberdare to reach the head of the Aberdare Canal , which
4758-651: The temperature needed, so some propose that the first smelting of copper may have occurred in pottery kilns . (The development of copper smelting in the Andes, which is believed to have occurred independently of the Old World , may have occurred in the same way. ) The earliest current evidence of copper smelting, dating from between 5500 BC and 5000 BC, has been found in Pločnik and Belovode, Serbia. A mace head found in Turkey and dated to 5000 BC, once thought to be
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#17328012261294836-430: The terms of the Vale of Neath Railway Act 1863 ( 26 & 27 Vict. c. cxx). The West Midland Railway had been formed in 1860 from the amalgamation of the NA&HR with other lines. It still harboured a desire to reach Aberdare, but in frustration it now considered joining the Taff Vale Railway at Mountain Ash to do so, although this would have deprived it of the possibility of reaching above Aberdare. For
4914-483: The title VNR . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=VNR&oldid=1162803474 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Vale of Neath Railway The Vale of Neath Railway ( VoNR )
4992-471: The tunnelling led to two successive contractors failing, and the company decided to make Aberdare the interim objective, recognising now that Merthyr would not be reached for some time. The authorising act of Parliament of the Vale of Neath Railway had specified that the Aberdare terminus was to be close to the Taff Vale Railway station (actually the station of the Aberdare Railway , sponsored by
5070-438: The valley lines. The Vale of Neath Railway was now on the shopping list; the advantages of its acquisition to the GWR were numerous. The VoNR directors negotiated skilfully, being aware that considerable capital expenditure on their own line would be necessary in the near future, depressing dividend distributions, and playing on GWR fears of LNWR incursion. Terms were agreed, and the absorption took place from 1 February 1865; it
5148-532: Was a broad gauge railway company, that built a line from Merthyr Tydfil and Aberdare to Neath , in Wales , mostly to transport the products of the Merthyr iron industries to ports on Swansea Bay . The railway focused on transporting coal from the rapidly developing rich colliery area around Aberdare. When the narrow (standard) gauge Newport, Abergavenny and Hereford Railway (NA&HR) made moves to link to
5226-471: Was a focus of coal mining activity, in time controlled by the Powell Duffryn group. The Aberdare Valley Railway being sponsored by the VoNR, which itself increased its share capital by the Vale of Neath Railway (Capital) Act 1855 ( 18 & 19 Vict. c. xxv). The Aberdare Valley Railway was leased to the VoNR from the outset, and acquired by it on 1 January 1864; Aberdare Valley shareholders got
5304-589: Was a problem with silting at Swansea, so it was not until April 1852 that coal traffic was started. Ordinary goods traffic had started in December 1851. Construction of the tunnel to Merthyr had been resumed in February 1851, and on 2 November 1853 the Merthyr section was opened, and Merthyr Road station could be closed. Passengers for Aberdare were now required to change trains at Hirwaun to continue their journey. The line from Neath to Gelli Tarw Junction (where
5382-438: Was also on the broad gauge system. His intended route was from Neath up the relatively gentle valley as far as Glynneath ; from there the line was to climb much more steeply and penetrate the mountain at the watershed, then descending the Cynon Valley to Cwmbach (near Aberdare ) and turning northeast to pass through another mountain by a long tunnel to reach Merthyr. There would be a branch to Aberdare itself. The bill for
5460-501: Was half a mile (1 km) below the town. For the time being tramways were used to close the gap, and the coal containers were craned at the transfer points. The extension was brought into use in June 1853. In addition short extensions at Aberdare to the Dare and Aman Valleys were to be built. Plainly now the coal resources at Aberdare outweighed the iron production output at Merthyr, and
5538-427: Was now reversed, with Aberdare becoming the primary route, and Merthyr passengers needing to change at Hirwaun. The South Wales Railway had long since (in August 1863) been absorbed into the Great Western Railway, and in the same year the GWR had acquired the West Midland Railway, securing standard gauge access for it northwards to the industrial areas of England, and westwards from Pontypool to intersect with many of
5616-1041: Was one of the largest point sources of mercury in North America in the 20th century. Even after smelter releases were drastically reduced, landscape re-emission continued to be a major regional source of mercury. Lakes will likely receive mercury contamination from the smelter for decades, from both re-emissions returning as rainwater and leaching of metals from the soil. Air pollutants generated by aluminium smelters include carbonyl sulfide , hydrogen fluoride , polycyclic compounds , lead, nickel , manganese , polychlorinated biphenyls , and mercury . Copper smelter emissions include arsenic, beryllium , cadmium , chromium , lead, manganese, and nickel. Lead smelters typically emit arsenic, antimony , cadmium and various lead compounds. Wastewater pollutants discharged by iron and steel mills includes gasification products such as benzene , naphthalene , anthracene , cyanide , ammonia , phenols and cresols , together with
5694-700: Was opened in November 1856 This was reached by continuing on from Dare Junction and curving round the east side of Rhos-gwawr. Both these branches were laid in Barlow rail . Iron started to be imported from early 1857. Running uphill it was expensive to carry. Nevertheless, the dividend in the first half of 1857 was declared at 4.75%. After that time the profit and the dividend declined continuously, due to high costs of infrastructure upgrades, and also to congestion at Swansea docks. The Newport, Abergavenny and Hereford Railway had opened in 1852, and soon formed part of
5772-651: Was retrospectively authorised by an act of Parliament, the Great Western Railway (Vale of Neath Amalgamation) Act 1866 ( 29 & 30 Vict. c. ccclvi). The Great Western Railway saw the Vale of Neath line and the Taff Vale Extension line as a continuous route, connecting Aberdare and Swansea with the West Midland line to Pontypool and the north. It was a busy and very congested—in fact overloaded—route. The mineral traffic overwhelmed
5850-526: Was the material of choice for weapons such as swords , daggers , battle axes , and spear and arrow points, as well as protective gear such as shields , helmets , greaves (metal shin guards), and other body armor . Bronze also supplanted stone, wood, and organic materials in tools and household utensils—such as chisels , saws , adzes , nails , blade shears , knives , sewing needles and pins , jugs , cooking pots and cauldrons , mirrors , and horse harnesses . Tin and copper also contributed to
5928-448: Was the station for reaching Merthyr by a road connection; it was located where the present-day A465 road crosses the route. The ordinary public service started on 24 September 1851, with three trains each way daily, two on Sundays. The journey time was 70 minutes. Passenger traffic was immediately buoyant, but at first wharves at Briton Ferry were not ready to receive coal trains; the company had been relying on these. Moreover, there
6006-497: Was to be conveyed in bottom-opening iron boxes, a form of containerisation . A further earthslip took place in May 1851, frustrating the desire to open the line. Finally on 23 September 1851 a ceremonial opening train for directors and their friends ran from Neath to Aberdare. There were stations at Neath , jointly with the South Wales Railway, Aberdulais , Resolven , Glynneath , Hirwaun , Merthyr Road , and Aberdare . Merthyr Road
6084-403: Was to be £550,000. The company's act of Parliament merely authorised the £550,000 of share capital; securing commitment from subscribers proved more difficult, especially as the money market had suddenly become depressed, and by September it seemed apparent that about £127,000 of shares were going to be unissued. The South Wales Railway, by now under construction and seeing the value to them of
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