other public order issues within the docks, as well as the more obvious conservancy issues. The 1893 Act also paved the way for an extension railway to Barry Island, as Barry was increasingly becoming a seaside leisure destination. At first this was to be a 3 ft 6in gauge tramway on reserved tracks, horse or steam powered, but not electrically powered. The tramway concept was abandoned in the following year, when a conventional railway branch was substituted. At miles long, it was quickly built, and opened on 3 August 1896. Extensions at the north end The Barry Company made further attempts to get access to the Rhymney Railway network in the years 1893 – 1895, but these were refused. In addition, running powers west of Trehafod on the Taff Vale Rhondda lines were sought and refused, but during the 1894 session it was suggested that the Barry Railway be allowed to operate passenger trains over the Taff Vale from Porth to Barry. Seeing this as a small concession to make, the Taff Vale agreed and from 16 March 1896 the Barry Railway operated such a service. Of course its own main line had not previously operated passenger trains, so new stations were required; in most cases these were made with platform loops to avoid conflict with the heavy mineral trains service. In the 20 miles from Cadoxton, the first stations were at Wenvoe, Creigiau, Efail Isaf, Treforest and Pontypridd. The Pontypridd station became known as Pontypridd (Graig) from 1924. Barry was not a prime travel destination for the residents of the Taff and Rhondda except on holiday days, and the Barry Railway went about providing a train service to Cardiff, over the GWR main line from St.Fagans. Such a service was not covered by the Taff Vale's running power concession, so the trains only ran southwards from the Barry station (Graig) at Pontypridd. It started operating on 7 June 1897. There was growing congestion between Cogan Junction and Penarth Curve South Junction, which was carrying all the Taff Vale traffic to Penarth Docks as well as The Taff Vale's own passenger traffic and the Barry traffic to Cardiff. The Taff Vale agreed to quadruple the line to ease the matter. Vale of Glamorgan Coal owners in the Llynvi, Garw and Ogmore Valleys were agitating for better access to dock facilities in the 1880s. They were using Porthcawl, which had very