I recall travelling on the former GWR Line from Ebbw Vale Low Level Station to Newport - and beyond - from 1948 until passenger services were axed by the notorious Doctor Beeching in 1962.

For the majority of these years passenger coaches and goods trains were pulled by steam locomotives. One of the sights I looked forward to seeing was the famous Crumlin viaduct, which featured in the 1966 motion picture Arabesque starring Gregory Peck and Sophia Loren.

The next thrill was when the train went through the Brynglas tunnel - the only tunnel on the Ebbw Vale Newport line. During these days, especially after the closure of Ebbw Vale High Level station, goods trains used to transport a lot of products into the town.

I remember seeing trainee projectionists, who worked in the former Ebbw Vale cinemas (the Astoria, Palace, Plaza and White House)going to collect the feature film programmes, newsreels etc, which were often sent from the film distributors in Cardiff for screening in the cinemas - trundling up Comers Hill with their trolleys loaded with film transit cases.

For the majority of times you had to change trains at Aberbeeg station to continue your journey to Newport and beyond but there were times when you didn't. The carriages, during the steam train era, were self-contained units. On certain occasions British Rail did put on a "corridor train". At the end of the 1950s, when I went on holidays to Clacton on Sea, it was possible to book straight through to London and provided you got into the correct coach you didn't have to change at Newport as you were coupled to the back of the London train.

During the 1960s, when I was employed in Richard Thomas & Baldwins, Ebbw Vale works, I had two great friends who used to work for British Rail - the late Fred Pruet (Abertillery) and the late Graham Herbert (Tredegar). Often they would recall their days working on the railway.

In their opinion the closures by Doctor Beeching were undertaken without thought. With the improvements in roads and the increase in car ownership the rail passenger figures might have dropped drastically, but the saving grace to keep these rail links open was the revenue generated by the goods traffic which then journeyed up the valleys to supply the Ebbw Vale works and other industries.

Thanks must be extended to the late Peter Law, who began the fight to restore the rail link when he was still a member of the New Labour Party, and this successful end was also strongly aided by the likes of Deputy Mayor, Blaenau Gwent, Councillor Jennifer Morgan - North Ward, Ebbw Vale - and many others who were/are members of the Gwent Gazette's 'Back On Track' campaign.

Roy Nancarrow - February 2008

Services on the reopened Ebbw Valley line