Margam Stones Museum

Railway crossing and shunting yard at southern end of the Port Talbot steelworks.

Looking SW near centre of grid square

Looking North towards main building, just North of the reservoir

Dramatic Wooded Hillside - looking NE from centre of square (across the M4)

East of Steelworks (note mill sheds in background)

Heavily wooded hillside East of motorway

Swansea Bay CHL/Coast Defence Radar Station. The Coast Defence/Chain Home Low chain was set up to provide radar plotting of both shipping and aircraft movements and operated on the same 1.5 m wavelength as CHL stations. The CD/CHL stations were originally manned solely by the Army, or jointly by all three services, until the RAF assumed responsibility for them. A 60 Group (RAF) Statement Map (2nd edition) identifies Swansea Bay as a CHL (Type 2) Station.The equipment was housed in a building sharing many similarities with the brick CHL combined transmitter/receiver block, but the gantry supporting the aerial array was mounted on top of the block rather than on the ground with four buttresses for support. Three concrete buildings survive at the Swansea Bay site on the east side of a public footpath running along the ridge that overlooks Swansea Bay. The largest of these, at the north end of the site, was the operations block which is of the standard design illustrated in the diagram above. It is divided into three rooms with some of the windows retaining their metal shutters. The building is completely empty apart from some wiring remnants. A 10 foot high metal gantry on the roof would have mounted the radar array.The power house is located a few yards to the south, this is a smaller rectangular concrete building with a blast protected door at one end and small vents high in each wall. As this station was not connected to mains electricity this building would have housed a diesel generator. All that remains now is the concrete engine bed. An identical building stands 100 yards to the south east close to an electricity pylon. This would have housed a standby generator which would have been used if the main set failed.

The waters of Eglwys Nunydd reservoir can be glimpsed behind the barrier with the steelworks beyond. The reservoir covers the site of an early medieval monastic settlement associated with St Non, mother of St David.

View of the eastern entrance to the crossing. Immediately beyond the gate in the foreground lies the main Cardiff to Swansea line. Once this has been negotiated, there remain to be crossed several stretches of track which are in sidings and/or serve Margam steelworks.

Last in a series of mileposts along the A48 before the M4 at Junction 38. This is located less than a mile from the previous one near Margam Country Park, and is opposite a lay-by. Was it moved when the M4 was built and the A48 was remodelled between Junctions 38 and 39?

Permanent Way crew work as a west bound train passes.

Brombil reservoir, near Port Talbot. The start of the walk can be accessed via Latitude: 51°34'24.56"N Longitude: 3°44'52.54"W. The trail splits off to the left, but where the photo was taken is across the river to the right. If you start walking up a long steep trail, you've gone the wrong way.