Tondu revisited

An enjoyable return visit to Pantyffynnon in February 2026 prompts me to pay another overdue return on 21 April 2026 to what is now the only other mechanically-signalled location west of Cardiff in South Wales, and a trip to Tondu on the Bridgend-Maesteg branch line.

Four years on from my March 2022 visit and the only real change since then has been to the rolling stock and destinations served by branch services, with TfW Class 170/175 units replaced by Class 197s, all of which now shuttle between Maesteg and Ebbw Vale Town, rather than serving places as far afield as Cheltenham Spa and Holyhead.

Despite longstanding rumours of a re-signalling, the former Tondu Middle Signal Box, a Great Western Railway Type 3 design from 1884 standing just north of the station, soldiers on and controls the only passing place along the eight-mile long Bridgend-Maesteg branch line.

On a visit to the signal box in January 2019 (courtesy of Network Rail) I had noted that a remarkable 60 of its 65 levers remained operational, although regular passenger services will only pass five semaphores – three in the down direction and two in the up (Bridgend-bound) direction.

That quintet, from south to north, comprises a down outer home signal (TU64), which can be seen from the platform at nearby Sarn, down home signal TU63 on a tall bracket close to the signal box, up home signal TU3 on a bracket (with TU9) at the end of the out-of-use passing loop, down section signal TU57 and up outer home signal TU2, out of sight and impossible to photograph.

Tondu is still nominally a junction, with its other semaphores controlling entry and exit from a long-mothballed diversionary route to Margam, and the surviving stub of a closed route to Blaengarw, which was retained to allow any train from the Margam direction to cross and clear the Maesteg line, allowing a loco can run round its train and continue towards Bridgend, or vice versa.

Besides the platform end at Sarn and a disused over-bridge north of the station platform, the two other best vantage points at Tondu are a footbridge near the signal box, from where you will see up trains passing signal TU3 before pausing in front of the signal box to surrender the single line token for the section from Maesteg, and another bridge north of the station close to signal TU57.

Looking north from this second bridge (“Coedtrehen”) you will see another down signal (TU26) protecting exit from the out-of-use loop, with up outer home signal TU2 sadly out of sight round the left hand curve in the line, and no vantage point to see it.

The diversionary route to Margam is now heavily overgrown in the Tondu station area, as seen below, having not seen a train since about 2018. It remains signalled, and was subject to a T3 possession (blockade) for many years before being officially closed in 2024, apparently due to the poor track condition.