Great Western Railway and Transport For Wales Trains at Bridgend on August 12th 2023

Описание: 2nd visit to Bridgend (Pen-y-bont) on the South Wales Main Line and being the junction for of the Maesteg Line to Maesteg and the Vale of Glamorgan Line via Rhoose.

Featuring services from Great Western Railway which were reduced on the day due to Aslef Overtime Ban, Transport For Wales and a bit of Freight.

Bridgend or known as Pen-y-bont or Pen-y-bont ar Gawr in Welsh means "The end of the bridge" which the town's name comes from a medieval bridge in 1425 that crosses River Ogmore.

As for Bridgend station itself it was first opened in June 1850 designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel with the original pedestrian footbridge dating from 1877 now Grade II Listed.

There are 4 platforms with 2 through and 2 bay platforms with Platform 3 rarely used these days.

Platforms 1 and 2 for the South Wales Main Line whilst Platform 1a is used by terminating services via Rhoose on the Vale of Glamorgan Line

The Vale Line was controversially axed in the 1960s by Dr Beeching however reopened in 2005 at the same time that Platform 1a was opened.

Platform 3 is nowadays rarely exclusively used for Maesteg services which diverge after Bridgend towards Wildmill

A footbridge with Lifts enabling Step Free Access dates from 2012 whilst was the main station building was rebuilt in 2018.

Presently Great Western Railway serves hourly from London Paddington to Swansea or some trains a day being extended to Carmarthen and during the Summer Months on Saturdays 1 train a day goes to Pembroke Dock

Since May 2019 all GWR Intercity services are provided by Class 800 and 802 IETs.

At the time of filming Transport For Wales was in the process of replacing their rolling stock with all the Class 150s, 153s, 158s, 170s and 175s being replaced by newer Class 197s, Class 231s and 756s as well as the City Tram Trains Class 398s.

The Class 231s and 398s will be the main fleet for Cardiff Valley Lines

Class 197s and 756s which were slowly being rolled out are being maintained at Cardiff Canton Depot and Chester whilst the Cardiff Valley Lines new rolling stock will be maintained at both Cardiff Canton and Taffs Well Depots.

The Class 150s and 153s future are uncertain, whilst the Class 170 Turbostars which were transferred from Greater Anglia in December 2019 will move to East Midlands Railway however the Class 175s future is undetermined in particular due to it's troubled history of reliability problems.

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Music used:
JJD - Adventure
Music provided by NCS

Video link:
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Filmed on Saturday August 12th 2023 on iPhone 14 Pro and edited on iMovie

#bridgend #greatwesternrailway #transportforwales #class150 #class153 #class158 #class170 #class800 #class802 #southwales