and from the Taff Trail cycle route. The beauty spot at Pontygwaith Bridge over the River Taff lies about 1 mile north on the trail. Arriva Trains Wales allow cyclists on local trains with some restrictions on timing. Access to the Taff Trail is via a foot crossing over the railway line a short distance north of the railway platform. This section of the Taff Trail includes the original stone sleepers from Edwardsville towards Pontygwaith and beyond towards Mount Pleasant, where Richard Trevithick ran the first ever steam locomotive to run on rails and the first to carry passengers in 1804. Services Trains run every half-hour each way, north to and south to & . Southbound trains continue alternately to and via the Vale of Glamorgan Line. On Sundays there is a two-hourly service each way to Merthyr & Bridgend. Edwardsville Edwardsville is the name given to the small urban area that grew up around the Quakers Yard station. The railway pre-dated the villages of both Edwardsville and Treharris. Although not close to Quakers Yard village, this was the only local placename of any note at the time. The Edwardsville area began as a public house and a few houses on the road along the valley to Merthyr. The Great Western Hotel, still exists just above the railway station, with strong links to the railways obvious by its name. Around 1900 the area acquired its name from the landlord of this pub, Edmund Edwards. Mrs C M Williams of Grove House, Edwardsville, wrote: The suffix ‘-ville’ was popular for new placenames around this time, particularly those largely built by speculative builders or landlords. It suggested both a pastoral ‘village’ and also a then-fashionably French aspect of 'ville' (town). Edwardsville expanded on both sides of the road and soon had a board school and chapel. On 27 October 1913, much destruction was caused in Edwardsville when it was hit by a tornado. The roofs of many houses, the school and chapel were destroyed. Three people were killed and over a hundred injured. Damage was caused over a wide area, with chimneys also demolished as far down the valley as Pontypridd. This toll remains Britain's highest for a tornado. Recently Edwardsville has expanded below the main road, with new houses filling the space of the previous high-level station. Edwardsville is part of the Treharris community, as is Quakers Yard. Boosted by the