The Garw Valley Railway is the trading name of the Bridgend Valleys Railway Company Limited. It operates a short section of railway located in South Wales, which is being recreated as a heritage railway. Formerly part of the Llynvi and Ogmore Railway (L&OR) and built by the Great Western Railway (GWR), the line was used for freight and passenger services, with most of the track still in place between Brynmenyn and Pontycymer. The project currently has a train shed at Pontycymer, and hopes to initially offer brake van rides between Pontycymer and Pant-y-Gog, a distance of . History The Duffryn Llynvi & Porthcawl Railway Company (DL&PRC) obtained its Act of Parliament in 1825, running from Caerau Duffryn down the Llynvi Valley to Tondu, and then west to Porthcawl where it built a pier for trans-shipment of coal. Merging with the Bridgend Railway in 1834, built to the system centred on Tondu totalled . In 1845 the UK government authorised the building of the South Wales Main Line (SWML), which brought about the recreation of a new owning company for the existing DL&PRC system, the Llynvi Valley Railway (LVR), which agreed connection with the SWML at both and . Due to a dispute between the LVR and the owner of Tondu Ironworks, new independent railways were built to divert coal traffic to Cardiff: the Ogmore Valley Railway (OVR); and Ely Valley Extension Railway (EVER). Once Acts of Parliament were obtained, the LVR and the OVR merged to become the Llynvi and Ogmore Railway (L&OR), building both the new Tondu to Nantymoel railway as well as an extension to Porthcawl's harbour. The L&OR also became one of the first railways to add a third rail, hence enabling it to run both and broad gauge trains on the same track. From 1873, the Great Western Railway took over the running of the L&OR under a lease, on condition that it built a third railway originating from Tondu, from Brynmenyn to Blaengarw. The Garw Valley Line opened on 25 October 1876. Within 10 years of opening, four collieries and some associated drift mines were serviced by the Garw Valley line, producing and hence shipping 4,000 tonnes of coal per day. After the L&OR was absorbed into the GWR on 1 July 1883, the whole system became known as the Tondu Valley Lines Division. In 1906 the Glengarw Colliery opened, which by 1911 was producing