Incline Top railway station

Incline Top railway station, later Top of the Incline was a short-lived early railway station on the Taff Vale Railway in South Wales, located at Penlocks, Treharris.

Top of the Incline
General information
Location	Treharris, Rhondda Cynon Taf Wales
Coordinates	51.650885°N 3.3181774°W / 51.650885; -3.3181774
Grid reference	ST089955
Platforms	2?
Other information
Status	Disused
History
Original company	Taff Vale Railway
Key dates
1846	Opens as Incline Top
May 1849	Renamed Top of the Incline
1 January 1858	Closed

The station was on the original section of the line between Abercynon and Quakers Yard, which was to the left of the present-day line. The eponymous Incline was a steep gradient of 1 in 22, and trains required a stationary winding engine (installed by Brunel) to surmount it. The station was accessible only by a steep flight of steps leading to the bottom of a deep cutting in the incline. The station's life was brief and it closed after 12 years. The original line was eventually abandoned completely and replaced in 1864.^[1]

After the station closed, it was left to decay until being largely destroyed by a violent cyclone on 27 October 1913, a storm, which caused considerable damage across the district,^[2] including destroying the spire of St. Mary's Church, Glyntaff.^[3] The site of the station is now overgrown with trees and is not easily noticeable.

Preceding station		Disused railways		Following station
Abercynon Line & station open		Taff Vale Railway		Quakers Yard Line & station open

References

1. Hutton, John (2006). The Taff Vale Railway Volume I. Kettering: Silver Link. p. 72. ISBN 9781857942491.
2. Hutton, John (1988). The Taff Vale Railway Miscellany. Sparkford: Oxford Publishing Company. ISBN 0860934144.
3. Powell, R (2005). Treforest, Glyntaff & Rhydyfelin. Stroud: Tempus. p. 95. ISBN 0752435078.