Rhondda Fach Junction South was located at the south end of Porth
station, found in the Cardiff Valleys. It represents the brick equivalent of
Gyfeillon Upper - being to the Taff Vale's
customised version of the McKenzie & Holland box design. Significant
differences to McK&H's design are the larger panes of glass in the windows
and the unusually fancy barge-boards. Earlier brick boxes featured a panelled
arrangement - an example can be seen at Llandaff
Loop Junction. A tall version of this design is illustrated at
Walnut Tree Junction.
Below the standard Great Western/British Railways (Western Region) cast nameplate can be seen the outline of the original Taff Vale Railway wooden nameboard.
In the doorway of the box stands signalman Ivor Blewitt, whilst on the landing is shunter, lampman and general odd-jobman Edgar Huggins. More information on these two gentlemen can be found on the Signalling People page.
Although externally the box did not appear to be particularly
large, the Taff Vale managed to shoe-horn a 75-lever frame in, although this
was helped by the levers being spaced at four inch intervals rather than the
five inches found on earlier McKenzie & Holland frames.
This view emphasises the design of McKenzie & Holland's
frames, where the levers stood vertically in the frame when in the normal
position. Working levers arranged like this took a little getting used to, but
did allow a good swing being given without actually stepping on the frame.