The Garw Valley, located in Bridgend County, is in the centre of the South Wales coalfields. The opening of the Garw railway line in the 1870s made the valley’s huge coal reserves accessible and facilitated the development of the Valley. Originally a passenger and freight line, it was closed to passenger traffic in 1953 but continued to be used by coal trains until the mid-1990s. The Garw Valley Railway are working to rebuild the line from Pontycymer to Brynmenyn, conserving the industrial heritage of the South Wales Valleys.