General information | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Location | Pantyffynnon, Carmarthenshire Wales | ||||
Coordinates | 51°46′44″N3°59′49″W / 51.779°N 3.997°W | ||||
Grid reference | SN622107 | ||||
Managed by | Transport for Wales | ||||
Platforms | 2 | ||||
Other information | |||||
Station code | PTF | ||||
Classification | DfT category F2 | ||||
Key dates | |||||
1841 | Opened | ||||
Passengers | |||||
2019/20 | 3,442 | ||||
2020/21 | 82 | ||||
2021/22 | 1,428 | ||||
2022/23 | 2,404 | ||||
2023/24 | 3,488 | ||||
Listed Building –Grade II | |||||
Feature | Pantyffynnon Railway Station | ||||
Designated | 12 March 1996 | ||||
Reference no. | 14812 [1] | ||||
|
Pantyffynnon railway station is a railway station serving the village of Pantyffynnon,in Carmarthenshire,Wales. It is situated on the Heart of Wales Line at its junction with the branch lines to Brynamman and Abernant.
The station was originally fairly large and built adjacent to the Dynevor tinplate works and included station buildings,signal box,freight yard and from 1931 a small railway locomotive shed. The signal box (formerly one of three at the station and dating from 1892) [2] is the only surviving example on the HoW route and since 1986,it has supervised the entire line north of here to Craven Arms using a system of working known as No Signalman Token Remote (NSTR). [3] It is also a 'fringe box' for the power box at Port Talbot,which controls the line south from here towards Llanelli and supervises access to the freight branch to Gwaun-cae-Gurwen (which is worked under 'One Train Working' regulations).
The Llanelly Railway first reached the village as long ago as 1839,continuing eastwards to Garnant following within a year and the main line being extended to Duffryn (the current Ammanford) in May 1841. The station on the current site was first built at this time,although it has undergone several significant alterations since then. Brynamman would be reached (under GWR auspices) in 1886,some 45 years after the opening of the mineral line from Garnant to Gwaun-cae-Gurwen,whilst the network of routes reached from Pantyffynnon would be completed in 1922 with the opening of the short branch to the colliery at Abernant. This was planned to be a through route to connect the coalfield with the Swansea District Line but was never completed. [4] Neither it nor the GcG branch was ever used by passenger services,even though a number of stations were built on both lines.
The old Brynamman branch closed to passengers in August 1958 [5] (complete closure following five years later) and the old branch platform has been disused since then (the GcG branch line remains in use for freight traffic - see below). The former northbound platform is also derelict - this was abandoned in March 1966 after the closure of the former North signal box (traffic henceforth using the former southbound line &platform in both directions). [6]
The station's Grade II listed historic waiting room was restored by Network Rail with support from Carmarthenshire's Built Heritage Team and a significant grant funding from the Railway Heritage Trust. A plaque was unveiled at the station on 19 January 2018. Network Rail was awarded the Railway Heritage Trust Conservation Award for the ‘best restored structure’at the National Rail Heritage Awards. [7]
The station is unstaffed and has no ticket machine (as is the case for almost all stations on the line),so all tickets must be purchased on the train or in advance of travel. The main building is Grade II-listed and dates from 1857,but had been disused since the 1960s - it was restored and refurbished by Network Rail (with assistance from the Railway Heritage Trust and the local community) in 2013-14. It is provided with the standard amenities - help point,CIS screen,payphone and timetable poster board. [8] Step-free access is available from the level crossing at the north end - this still has manually-operated metal gates rather than the automatic barriers used elsewhere on the line.
All trains serving the station are operated by Transport for Wales,who also manage it. There are five trains a day to Shrewsbury northbound from Monday to Saturday (plus two more to Llandovery) and seven southbound to Llanelli and Swansea (the first train in each direction does not run on Saturdays);two services each way call on Sundays. [9]
Preceding station | National Rail | Following station | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Pontarddulais | Transport for Wales Heart of Wales Line | Ammanford | ||
Historical railways | ||||
Pontarddulais Line and station open | Great Western Railway | Parcyrhun Halt Line open, station closed | ||
Disused railways | ||||
Pontarddulais Line and station open | Great Western Railway | Ammanford Line and station closed |
The old Amman Valley branch line through Ammanford and Gwaun-cae-Gurwen which joined here to the other side of the current platform was closed in its entirety along with the yard after the closure of Abernant Colliery in 1988. The railway shed (closed 1964) and turntable are also gone, with nothing to reveal their former existence. The junction was reinstated for freight services only in 2006 as EWS requested that part of the line be reinstated to serve the opencast site at Tairgwaith Colliery.
The Amman Valley Railway Society has also been attempting to reinstate the Amman Valley line as a heritage railway, although EWS plans prevent this in the short term. EWS started running coal trains to Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen in 2009. [10]
Glanamman is a mining village in the valley of the River Amman in Carmarthenshire, Wales. Glanamman has long been a stronghold of the Welsh language; village life is largely conducted in Welsh. Like the neighbouring village of Garnant it experienced a coal-mining boom in the 19th and early 20th centuries, but the last big colliery closed in 1947 and coal has been extracted fitfully since then.
The Heart of Wales line is a railway line running from Craven Arms in Shropshire to Llanelli in southwest Wales. It serves a number of rural centres, including the nineteenth-century spa towns Llandrindod Wells, Llangammarch Wells and Llanwrtyd Wells. At Builth Road, two miles (3.3 km) from the town of Builth Wells, the line crosses the former route of the earlier Mid Wales Railway, which closed in 1962.
The Swansea Vale Railway (SVR) was a railway line connecting the port of Swansea in South Wales to industries and coalfields along the River Tawe on the northern margin of Swansea, by taking over a tramroad in 1846. It was extended to Brynamman in 1868. Passengers were carried from 1860, and a loop line through Morriston was built.
Brynamman is a village on the south side of the Black Mountain, part of the Brecon Beacons National Park. The village is split into Upper Brynamman and Lower Brynamman by the River Amman, which is also the boundary between the counties of Carmarthenshire and Neath Port Talbot. Ruins of stone dwellings, an early type of lime kiln and rectangular medieval buildings found on the mountain show that people have lived in this area for a long time. The population of Brynamman was 2,608 as of 2011; the urban area including Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen was 5,692.
Ammanford railway station in Ammanford, Carmarthenshire, Wales, is 12 miles (19 km) north of Swansea on the Heart of Wales Line. The station opened in 1841 as a temporary terminus of the Llanelly Railway's line to Llandeilo, making it one of the country's earlier railway stations.
Llandovery railway station serves the market town of Llandovery, Carmarthenshire, Wales. The station is on the Heart of Wales Line 42 miles (68 km) north east of Swansea and is located at Tywi Avenue.
Cwmamman is a community in Carmarthenshire, about 12 miles north of Swansea in southwest Wales. Literally meaning "Amman valley", it takes its name from the River Amman which runs through the area.
The Wrexham and Minera Railway or Wrexham and Minera Branch was a railway line in North Wales between the city of Wrexham, the village of Brymbo where it served the Brymbo Steelworks, and the lead mines and limeworks at Minera. A further branch ran from Brymbo to Coed Talon, where it connected with lines to Mold. The system was constructed in several stages between 1844 and 1872, while the various lines making up the system closed in 1952, 1972 and 1982.
Garnant is a mining village in the valley of the River Amman in Carmarthenshire, Wales, north of Swansea. Like the neighbouring village of Glanamman it experienced a coal-mining boom in the 19th and early 20th centuries, but the last big colliery closed in 1936 and coal has been extracted fitfully since then. The village has the only Commissioners' church built in southwest Wales, traditionally a Methodist region.
The Amman Valley Railway Society is situated near the former Gwaun Cae Gurwen branch line, that runs alongside the River Amman, some 10 miles (16 km) north of Swansea in west Wales. Its primary focus is to construct Swansea 9 Lines, an eco-friendly tram system to the heart of Swansea and the surrounding areas. The project was originally based on a heritage railway proposal on a lines that formerly served the various collieries of the area north of Swansea and Llanelli.
The Llanelly Railway and Dock Company was an early Welsh railway system. It opened its first short line and a wet dock at Llanelly in 1834, and soon went on to build a longer line from Llanelly to serve pits in the Amman Valley, and then on to Llandilo, reached in 1857. The Llanelly company leased and worked the Vale of Towy Railway on to Llandovery, from 1858.
The Llanelli and Mynydd Mawr Railway is a heritage railway whose stated aims are to re-instate as much as possible of the former Llanelly and Mynydd Mawr Railway which closed in 1989.
The River Amman is a river of south Wales, which joins the River Loughor at Pantyffynnon. The source of the Amman is on the Black Mountain.
The Llanelly and Mynydd Mawr Railway was authorised in 1875. It made use of part of the long defunct Carmarthenshire Railway or Tramroad of 1801. The older line began running trains in 1803, and was a plateway of about 4 ft gauge, with horse traction, for the purpose of bringing minerals from the Mynydd Mawr to the sea for onward shipment at Llanelly Docks.
Clwb Rygbi Cwmgors is a rugby union club that represents the villages of Cwmgors, Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen and Tairgwaith, South West Wales. The area is in the principal area of Neath Port Talbot but close to the boundaries with Carmarthenshire and Powys. They play in the Admiral National League, Division 4 West Central for the 2024/25 season. The team is known as The Cherries or occasionally the Cherry Bee’s in reference to their cherry and white home kit colours.
The Maerdy Branch was a railway branch line in South Wales. Financed and operated by the Taff Vale Railway, on amalgamation it became part of the Great Western Railway in 1923. Designed and mainly operated as a coal mining freight railway, its creation and demise was wholly defined by the South Wales Coalfield.
Abernant Colliery was a coal mine in the River Amman valley at Pwllfawatkin, 4 miles (6.4 km) north of Pontardawe and 13 miles (21 km) north of Swansea, West Wales.
Pontyates railway station was opened in 1909 It continued to serve the inhabitants of the Pontyates / Pont-iets area and hinterland between 1909 and 1953; it was one of several stations opened on the Burry Port and Gwendraeth Valley Railway in Carmarthenshire, Wales.
Garnant railway station served the village of Garnant, Carmarthenshire, Wales, from 1840 to 1958 on the Brynamman Branch.
Media related to Pantyffynnon railway station at Wikimedia Commons