A common phrase associated with London’s Underground never work is phrase “Mind the Gap”, as a friendly reminder to be aware of the space between the platform and the train. To use such a phrase in my part of the world, that gap represents just shy of 50 years since a little tank engine puffed its way up the Afan Valley, connecting what had once been an industrial heartland with the wider world. How the times do change.

Of course, evidence of this time is hard to erase. Just along the rim of the platform is a row of wooden sleepers; the anchors of iron rails now the subject of children’s jumping games, to see who can make it the furthest without touching the ground. Beyond that were three more lines, stacked up where the iced grassy field now stands, often jam-packed with wagons full of black gold, waiting to heat the furnaces of the world. All evidence of these lines is gone, save for the old photographs taken in a bygone era, many of which I’m glad to keep in my possession. Were they to exist today, they would run through the new leisure centre, the library at which I volunteer, and the health centre beyond it. The tunnel to the Rhondda Valley is soon to open as the longest cycle tunnel in Europe, and the box bridge that once creaked from tonnes of cargo now creaks in strong wind. Remember where you came from, my dear watchers, but be not afraid of change.

Hope you enjoy!