Brecon and Pant, 19 miles of single line, opened on 1 May 1863. First stations were Brecon (temporary station), Talyllyn (temporary station), Talybont, Dolygaer, and Pant. A horse omnibus connected for Merthyr; in due course the Dowlais Railway was to make the connection to the ironworks for mineral traffic. The engineer for the line was Henry Conybeare, who described it as a good locomotive road throughout. Coming south, locomotives were going to have to ascend the Seven Mile Bank, making a 925 feet climb. Extending the network While construction was in progress, the B&MR was busy getting Parliament to approve its plans for extension. In the 1861 session it obtained authority to build down the Bargoed Rhymney valley, but the Rhymney Railway was given similar powers and they were mutually exclusive. Eventually the powers were divided, the Rhymney Railway building up to Deri Junction, and the B&MR building down to that point from the north. In 1862 the B&MR got powers to abandon the Dowlais Railway connection that had become superfluous, and to connect directly to the Taff Vale Railway at Merthyr. The Rumney Railway The Rumney Railway had been incorporated in 1825 and opened in 1826 as a horse operated plateway, running from the ironworks at Rhymney to Bassaleg, near Newport, connecting there with the Sirhowy Railway and giving access to Newport Docks. Some steam locomotive operation was undertaken after about 1854, and in 1861 Parliamentary powers were taken to modernise the line and adapt it for passenger operation. It is evident that the true objective was to sell the line to one or other more modern neighbouring company as a going concern. It was the Brecon and Merthyr Railway that acquired it for £90,000 under powers of 28 July 1863. The B&MR had got hold of an obsolescent railway but with it came access to Newport over the Monmouthshire Railway from Bassaleg. The B&MR now had to set about the modernisation of the line itself, including a considerable amount of easing of the sharp curves. Captain Rich, after two refusals, agreed to reopening for passenger operation following his inspection on 7 June 1865, and the line opened to passenger operation between Pengam and Newport Dock Street (Monmouthshire Railway) on 14 June 1865; the operation was extended up to Rhymney from 16 April 1866, and in 1867 coal traffic started running. The Rhymney station was about a mile down