Carmarthen railway station
Encyclopedia
Carmarthen railway station is situated south of the River Towy on the edge of the town of Carmarthen
Carmarthen
Carmarthen is a community in, and the county town of, Carmarthenshire, Wales. It is sited on the River Towy north of its mouth at Carmarthen Bay. In 2001, the population was 14,648....

. It is located on the West Wales Line
West Wales Line
The West Wales Lines are a group of railway lines from Swansea through Carmarthenshire to Pembrokeshire, West Wales...

 and is managed by Arriva Trains Wales
Arriva Trains Wales
Arriva Trains Wales is a train operating company, owned by Arriva, that operates urban and inter urban passenger services in Wales and the Welsh Marches...

, who operate most of the passenger trains serving it. First Great Western
First Great Western
First Great Western is the operating name of First Greater Western Ltd, a British train operating company owned by FirstGroup that serves Greater London, the South East, South West and West Midlands regions of England, and South Wales....

 also operates a limited service to London Paddington from here (currently a single daily train each way).

Services

The station is served by ATW trains between Swansea
Swansea railway station
Swansea railway station is a railway station that serves Swansea, Wales. The station is one of four in the City and County of Swansea and is the fourth busiest in Wales after Cardiff Central, Cardiff Queen Street and Newport.-History:...

 and Milford Haven
Milford Haven railway station
Milford Haven railway station serves the town of Milford Haven in Pembrokeshire, Wales. Opened on 7 September 1863, it was originally known as Milford, becoming Old Milford by January 1902, and finally being renamed Milford Haven by April 1910....

 and Pembroke Dock
Pembroke Dock railway station
Pembroke Dock railway station serves the town of Pembroke Dock in Pembrokeshire, Wales.The station is served by a regular daily service to/from Swansea via Whitland, with connections for the South Wales mainline available at Swansea....

, plus the aforementioned single FGW train to/from London. The latter runs through to Pembroke Dock (along with a second through train) on Summer Saturdays. Many of the Swansea trains (including those from Milford Haven) continue to Cardiff
Cardiff Central railway station
Cardiff Central railway station is a major railway station on the South Wales Main Line in Cardiff, Wales.It is the largest and busiest station in Wales and one of the major stations of the British rail network, the tenth busiest station in the United Kingdom outside of London , based on 2007/08...

, Newport
Newport railway station
Newport railway station is the 3rd busiest railway station in Wales , situated in Newport city centre. It is part of the British railway system owned by Network Rail and is operated by Arriva Trains Wales, although First Great Western and CrossCountry also provide services...

 and the Welsh Marches Line
Welsh Marches Line
The Welsh Marches Line , known historically as the North and West Route, is the railway line running from Newport in south-east Wales to Shrewsbury in the West Midlands region of England by way of Abergavenny, Hereford and Craven Arms, and thence to Crewe via Whitchurch...

 to Manchester Piccadilly or Wrexham General. This gives the station a half-hourly service to Swansea for parts of the day, with two-hourly (plus peak extras) to Pembroke Dock and Milford Haven. The twice-daily service to/from Fishguard
Fishguard Harbour railway station
Fishguard Harbour railway station serves the port of Fishguard Harbour, Wales. It is the terminus of one of the branches of the West Wales Line from Swansea.-Ownership:...

 also calls here, although the daytime train runs direct to/from Cardiff rather than via Swansea.

British Transport Police
British Transport Police
The British Transport Police is a special police force that polices those railways and light-rail systems in Great Britain for which it has entered into an agreement to provide such services...

 maintain a presence at Carmarthen
Carmarthen
Carmarthen is a community in, and the county town of, Carmarthenshire, Wales. It is sited on the River Towy north of its mouth at Carmarthen Bay. In 2001, the population was 14,648....

.

Facilities

The station has two remaining platforms both having a high security in place, Almost all services use platform 1 which has a full set of canopies, toilets and facilities also an office for the British Transport Police
British Transport Police
The British Transport Police is a special police force that polices those railways and light-rail systems in Great Britain for which it has entered into an agreement to provide such services...

, The bare platform 2 is the other side of the reversing loop and used only as overflow and for storage of trains overnight. Almost uniquely for a British mainline station (though examples exist on quiet branches) access to platform 2 is by a flat crossing across the tracks at the end of the reversing loop. The other platform and sidings are no longer used and await removal. With the replacement of locomotive hauled services by DMU
Diesel multiple unit
A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple unit train consisting of multiple carriages powered by one or more on-board diesel engines. They may also be referred to as a railcar or railmotor, depending on country.-Design:...

 units and High Speed Train
High Speed Train
There are three types of trains in Britain that have been traditionally viewed as high speed trains:* Advanced Passenger Train - Tilting trains which never entered into regular revenue-earning service....

s the reversing loop is only very rarely used by special services such as the Royal Train
Royal Train
A royal train is a set of carriages dedicated for the use of the monarch or other members of that particular royal family. Most monarchies with a railway system employ a set of royal carriages.-Australia:...

.

The requirement for trains to turn around limits train length and prevents services from making a short stop at Carmarthen. Plans now exist to replace the station (which is on what is now valuable land in the new development) with a new station directly on the main line on the site of the original South Wales Railway station.

South Wales Railway

The present station is the third to serve the town and dates from 1902, although the South Wales Railway
South Wales Railway
The South Wales Railway was a broad gauge railway that linked the Gloucester and Dean Forest Railway with Neyland in Wales.-History:The need for the railway was created by the need to ship coal from the South Wales Valleys to London, and secondly to complete Brunel's vision of linking London with...

's main line from Swansea
Swansea railway station
Swansea railway station is a railway station that serves Swansea, Wales. The station is one of four in the City and County of Swansea and is the fourth busiest in Wales after Cardiff Central, Cardiff Queen Street and Newport.-History:...

 to Neyland
Neyland
Neyland is a town in Pembrokeshire, Wales, lying on the River Cleddau and the upstream end of the Milford Haven estuary. The nearby Cleddau Bridge crosses the river, linking Neyland to Pembroke Dock.-History:...

 reached it some fifty years earlier. This original station was built with westward expansion in mind (being located at the base of the triangular junction half a mile south of the present station) and was poorly sited for the town itself.

Carmarthen and Cardigan Railway

A second station (Carmarthen Town) was opened by the Carmarthen and Cardigan Railway
Carmarthen and Cardigan Railway
The Carmarthen and Cardigan Railway was a broad gauge railway from Carmarthen, Carmarthenshire, to Newcastle Emlyn, Wales. Part of the route is now used by the Teifi Valley Railway and the Gwili Railway.Despite the name, the line never reached Cardigan...

 in 1860 on its route northwards towards Conwil and Pencader
Pencader
Pencader may refer to:*Pencader, Carmarthenshire, Wales*Pencader Hundred, an unincorporated subdivision of New Castle County, Delaware, in the United States...

 which was much better sited for the town (on the opposite side of the river) and this remained in use until its replacement by the current station shortly after the turn of the century. The Town station did however remain in use for goods traffic thereafter beyond the closure of the final portion of the line Carmarthen and Cardigan Railway
Carmarthen and Cardigan Railway
The Carmarthen and Cardigan Railway was a broad gauge railway from Carmarthen, Carmarthenshire, to Newcastle Emlyn, Wales. Part of the route is now used by the Teifi Valley Railway and the Gwili Railway.Despite the name, the line never reached Cardigan...

 in September 1973, until the goods yard closed in the early 1980s and the single track girder bridge over the River Tywi was removed during 1983.

The Carmarthen and Cardigan Railway, in spite of its name, never actually reached Cardigan
Cardigan, Ceredigion
Cardigan is a town in the county of Ceredigion in Mid Wales. It lies on the estuary of the River Teifi at the point where Ceredigion meets Pembrokeshire. It was the county town of the pre-1974 county of Cardiganshire. It is the second largest town in Ceredigion. The town's population was 4,203...

, as it was constructed only as far as Newcastle Emlyn
Newcastle Emlyn
Newcastle Emlyn is a town straddling the counties of Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire in west Wales and lying on the River Teifi.Adpar is the part of the town that lies on the Ceredigion side of the River Teifi...

 (which was reached only in 1895). Cardigan was eventually served instead by the winding Whitland and Cardigan Branch Line from Whitland
Whitland railway station
Whitland railway station serves the town of Whitland in Carmarthenshire, Wales. It is located on the main route of the West Wales Line from Swansea. To the west of the station, the lines diverge, with one branch serving Pembroke and the other Milford Haven or Fishguard...

, the primary junction in Pembrokeshire. The C&CR did however link up with the ill-fated Manchester and Milford Railway at Pencader, putting the town on a through route to Aberystwyth
Aberystwyth railway station
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.-...

 by 1867.

Other railways

Another outlet to the north came courtesy of the Llanelly Railway's branch from Llandeilo
Llandeilo railway station
Llandeilo railway station serves the small town of Llandeilo, West Wales. The station is 50 km north east of Swansea on the Heart of Wales Line....

, which reached Abergwili Junction in 1864 and whose trains reached the Town station by means of running powers following its takeover by the LNWR in 1873. The final link in the chain of lines to the north was added in 1911, when a branch line from Lampeter
Lampeter
Lampeter is a town in Ceredigion, South West Wales, lying at the confluence of the River Teifi and the Afon Dulas.-Demographics:At the 2001 National Census, the population was 2894. Lampeter is therefore the smallest university town in both Wales and the United Kingdom...

 to Aberaeron
Aberaeron
Aberaeron |Aeron]] being a Welsh god of war) is a seaside resort town in Ceredigion, Wales. Situated between Aberystwyth and Cardigan, it is home to the headquarters of Ceredigion County Council. The population was 1520 in 2001.-History and design:...

 was opened by the Lampeter, Aberayron and New Quay Light Railway
Lampeter, Aberayron and New Quay Light Railway
The Lampeter, Aberayron and New Quay Light Railway was a branch of the Carmarthen Aberystwyth Line in west Wales. It ran between the seaside town of Aberaeron and Lampeter...

. This was worked by the Great Western Railway
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...

 from the outset, as the company had by this time absorbed the other lines mentioned (apart from the Llandeilo branch, which remained in LNWR hands until the 1923 Grouping).

Closures

Today, none of the lines to the north survive, the first round of closures having begun as early as May 1951 when the Aberaeron line lost its passenger trains. The Newcastle Emlyn line followed suit in September 1952, whilst the Llandeilo branch went in September 1963 and the 'main line' to Aberystwyth in February 1965, although milk trains continued to operate as far as Pont Llanio (near Tregaron) on the Aberystwyth main line until 1970 and to Newcastle Emlyn and to Felinfach on the Aberaeron branch until September 1973. This left only the original South Wales Railway main line to serve the station and left it as a terminus at the end of short spur from the main line at which all trains have to reverse before continuing their journeys. This was not so much of a problem with DMUs
Diesel multiple unit
A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple unit train consisting of multiple carriages powered by one or more on-board diesel engines. They may also be referred to as a railcar or railmotor, depending on country.-Design:...

 but led to the need for a run-round of locomotive-hauled trains which were regularly used until the mid 1980s.

Historically, the line to Aberystwyth and Llandeilo continued beyond the station across the river past the site of the goods yard (now a builders yard) and then has been buried under the Carmarthen eastern by-pass dual carriageway as far as the former Abergwili Junction. The Aberystwyth line then turned north out to Bronwydd
Bronwydd
Bronwydd is a village in the county of Carmarthenshire, Wales, situated about three miles north of Carmarthen in the valley of the River Gwili.In Census 2001, Bronwydd community had a population of 572...

 Arms. From Abergwili Junction northwards, the railway trackbed resumes and is owned by the Gwili Railway
Gwili Railway
The Gwili Steam Railway operates a standard gauge preserved railway from Abergwili Junction in South Wales along a short section of the former Carmarthen to Aberystwyth railway that closed for passenger traffic in 1965, the track being lifted in 1975.The Gwili Railway was formed in 1974 and, by...

 which runs preserved trains up the Aberystwyth line as far as Danycoed near to Cynwyl Elfed
Cynwyl Elfed
Cynwyl Elfed is a village and community located in the county of Carmarthenshire, Wales. As a community it contains the villages of Cynwyl Elfed, Blaenycoed and Cwmduad. It is situated three miles from Abernant and had a population of 953 in 2001...

.

External links

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