Aberystwyth railway station

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Aberystwyth

Vale of Rheidol Railway's Aberystwyth station is accommodated within the former Carmarthen bay.

Location

Place

Aberystwyth

Local authority

Ceredigion

Coordinates

52°24′50″N 4°04′54″W / 52.4139, -4.08157Coordinates: 52°24′50″N 4°04′54″W / 52.4139, -4.08157

Operations

Station code

AYW

Managed by

Arriva Trains Wales

Platforms in use

Live departures and station information from National Rail

Annual Rail Passenger Usage

2004/05 *

0.241 million

2005/06 *

0.254 million

History

June 23, 1864

Aberystwyth and Welsh Coast Railway Station opens

July 19, 1867

Manchester and Milford Railway station opens; later amalgamates with A&WC station

July 31, 1925

Great Western Railway station opens replacing Aberystwyth Smithfield

1925

Extended

August 31, 1939

Great Western station closes (World War 2)

July 23, 1945

Great Western station reopens

1964

Carmarthen Line services cease

April 17 1968

Great Western station amalgamates with Cambrian station

1968

Vale of Rheidol Railway services start

National Rail - UK railway stations

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

* Annual passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Aberystwyth from Office of Rail Regulation statistics.

UK Railways Portal

Aberystwyth railway station is a railway station serving the seaside and university town of Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, Wales. It is served by passenger trains operated by Arriva Trains Wales, being situated at the terminus of the Cambrian Line, and also by the narrow-gauge Vale of Rheidol Railway.

1 History
2 Today
3 Services
4 External links

[edit] History

The original station was built in the 1860s by the Cambrian Railway to serve trains arrived on the now-closed route from Carmarthen to Aberystwyth via Lampeter and the route to Machynlleth which remains today. The original railway station was greatly extended in 1925 with the original station building on one side of the platforms being replaced by a grand terminus building. This was built by the Great Western Railway, to show the locals their power, and to reassure them that the GWR had a vested interest in maintaining the railway service in West Wales- something that had been called into question at the grouping when the Cambrian Railway which owned the station and all the lines into it had been absorbed by the larger, rather more faceless GWR, that had its headquarters far away in London.

With the decline of railway usage and of tourism within the United Kingdom the facilities were far too large for its purpose. The railway yard was lifted in the 1980s, and the row of buildings along the front of it demolished in the 1990s to allow construction of a new retail park and bus station. The 1925 station building has seen several uses, including as a local museum, but was eventually sold off and converted into a Wetherspoons pub. This conversion maintained the architecture and won awards. Other parts of the building have become an Indian restaurant, office space and accommodation for a local furniture-recycling scheme.

Aberystwyth Motive Power Depot was notable as being the last steam locomotive depot on the British Rail network; all steam services ceased in 1968 with the sole exception of the Vale of Rheidol line, which was steam operated until privatisation in 1989, and remains so today. Accordingly it was an often requested posting for staff.

[edit] Today

The station itself as of 2006 has a single mainline platform used by trains to Machynlleth with a loop that is used to reverse locomotive-hauled specials, including steam services and maintenance trains. The second mainline platform had the track removed in 1982 and the signal box was also closed. Access to the station and the station facilities are now primarily via the original 1864 building.

The platform that was originally used by trains via Lampeter to Carmarthen is now used by the narrow gauge steam-operated Vale of Rheidol Railway. Opened in 1902, this railway originally had its own terminus at Aberystwyth Smithfield (named after Smithfield Road, now Park Avenue). This closed in 1925 and was replaced by a station a short distance from the main railway station; the station site is now a supermarket car park. In 1968 it moved again, this time to use the now-free platform at the main Aberystwyth station where there is a runaround loop and access to the former mainline railway shed. Nowadays this is used as the storage and works area by the Vale of Rheidol Railway.

[edit] Services

Arriva Trains Wales services operate to Shrewsbury and Birmingham New Street approximately every 2 hours although there are proposals, funded by the Welsh Assembly, to increase the frequency of this service to hourly. They currently call at Borth, Dovey Junction, Machynlleth, Caersws, Newtown, Welshpool, Shrewsbury, Wellington, Telford Central, Wolverhampton, and Birmingham New Street.