Swansea Vale Railway Swansea Vale Railway The Swansea Vale Railway (SVR) was a railway line connecting the port of Swansea in South Wales to industries and coalfields along the River Tawe on the northern margin of Swansea, by taking over a tramroad in 1846. It was extended to Brynamman in 1868. Passengers were carried from 1860, and a loop line through Morriston was built. The company was profitable but it was always short of capital, and it looked for a larger company to buy it out. The Midland Railway did so in 1874 when it leased the network, and it absorbed it in
Swansea Canal culvert through large metal grids. There was a short tramway from below the lock to Ynys-penllwch Graig-ola Colliery. Mond Lock was next, with the B4603 crossing the tail of the lock. Below the bridge is the Mond Nickel Works, set up in 1900 after the chemist Dr Ludwig Mond discovered a process for producing pure nickel. Nickel ore was imported from Canada, and the site was chosen because there were supplies of anthracite coal, water, transport links to Swansea, and an available labour force. The canal crosses the Lower Clydach River on an aqueduct, which discharges water into the river,