There were many elements involved in the making of the Mumbles Railway Trail, some of which are clearly visible in the finished project and others which cannot be seen.

We started by raising funds, and in the first instance appealed to the local community for support, for donations small or large, to demonstrate to the outside world that Mumbles wanted to celebrate this important aspect of its heritage. We were delighted with the response and wish to thank all those individuals and local businesses that made pledges through our Spacehive Crowdfund Swansea appeal.

We would also like to thank our main funding bodies, the National Lottery Heritage Fund, GWR Community Fund, Swansea Council, Mumbles Community Council and the Gower Society.

Then came the Planning Application process. This took a while! The process was most constructive, with input from various Swansea Council departments, including Heritage, Highways and Tourism.

Next came design work – designs for the replica station signs themselves as part of the Planning process and for the artisan craftspeople making the casting patterns and for the foundry, and then further designs for information posters at Blackpill and information boards at key points on the Trail. These designs came from Kneath Associates of Mumbles. The MRT logo was designed by Craig Jones Designs, Mumbles.

Starting on manufacturing the signs, wooden casting patterns had to be put together, into which the aluminium would be poured. The patterns came from Precision Woodcraft in Devon.

These went on to Cambrian Castings in Penclawdd for the exciting processes of molten metals and fire!

The cast aluminium signs then had to be prepared and painted, drilled for fixing their legs on, and to attach the small aluminium plaques showing the Trail logo and the all-important QR codes. All this work was done by The Box Furniture in Swansea, and included sandblasting, galvanising acid wash, signs primed, sprayed and hand-painted.

Meanwhile, the QR code content was being prepared. Members of the local community kindly agreed to be interviewed to tell their personal stories of the Mumbles Railway. Scripts were written in a collaborative process with Zorah 7 of Port Talbot. Narration by Swansea actor Huw Davies was then recorded, using recording facilities kindly provided by the Creative Music Technology Department at University of Wales Trinity Saint David in Swansea. Drone footage from the skies above Swansea Bay was shot by Cyfarth Ltd of West Cross. 3D modelling work was carried out by Keith Jones and Neal Petty, and all of these visuals, together with archive stills and footage and contemporary video of the former station locations, was put together in a further collaborative process with Zorah 7. The website too was put together following the same interactive process.

Finally, the replica station signs were installed impeccably by local contractors Andy and Neil.

During the Mumbles Coastal Protection Scheme works, temporary signs only can be displayed at Oystermouth and Southend, and we would like to thank Swansea Council and Knights Brown for their help with this.

MDT would also like to thank all those who gave specialist advice throughout the project, from Carol & John Powell who checked written texts for historical accuracy, Neil Thomas who liaised with Swansea University Media Department and led guided walks along the Trail, to Gower Unearthed, and all copyright holders for the use of images and archive footage. Thanks also to Mumbles Pier for their kind co-operation.