Pantyffynnon railway station
Pantyffynnon  |
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| Location | |
| Place | Pantyffynnon |
| Local authority | Carmarthenshire |
| Coordinates | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. |
| Grid reference | SN622107 |
| Operations | |
| Station code | PTF |
| Managed by | Arriva Trains Wales |
| Number of platforms | 1 |
| DfT category | F2 |
| Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries |
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| Annual rail passenger usage* | |
| 2004/05 | 3,677 |
| 2005/06 |  3,731 |
| 2006/07 |  2,339 |
| 2007/08 | 3,535 |
| 2008/09 | 3,696 |
| 2009/10 | 3,872 |
| 2010/11 | 4,270 |
| 2011/12 | 3,888 |
| 2012/13 | 4,388 |
| 2013/14 | 4,788 |
| 2014/15 | 4,362 |
| History | |
| 1841 | Opened |
| National Rail – UK railway stations | |
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| * Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Pantyffynnon from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year. | |
 UK Railways portal |
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Pantyffynnon railway station is a railway station serving the village of Pantyffynnon, in Carmarthenshire, West Wales. It is situated on the Heart of Wales Line at its junction with the branch lines to Brynamman and Abernant.
Contents
History
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 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).[1] It is also a 'fringe box' for the power box at Port Talbot, which controls the line south from here towards Llanelli.
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.[2] 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[3] (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 (the passing loop having been lifted in the late 1960s) and the footbridge linking it with the remaining operational platform demolished.
Services
All trains serving the station are operated by Arriva Trains Wales, who also manage it. There are four trains a day to Shrewsbury northbound from Monday to Saturday (plus a fifth to Llandovery) and five southbound to Llanelli & Swansea (the first train in each direction doesn't run on Saturdays); two services each way call on Sundays.[4]
| Preceding station |  National Rail |
Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pontarddulais | Arriva Trains Wales Heart of Wales Line |
Ammanford | ||
Amman Valley branch
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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. 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 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, using EWS Class 66 locomotives and MEA open box wagons.[5]
Signalling
Pantyffynnon signal box, located just south of the station, controls the entire length of the Heart of Wales line to Craven Arms, and also allows a single train to access the Amman Valley Branch at any time.
References
- ↑ NSTR operation www.railsigns.uk; Retrieved 2009-02-27
- ↑ Body, p.141
- ↑ History of Brynamman www.cwmammanhistory.co.uk; Retrieved 2009-02-27
- ↑ GB eNRT 2015-16 Edition, Table 129
- ↑ Railway Herald, Issue 163, 26-01-2009
Bibliography
- Body, G. (1983), PSL Field Guides - Railways of the Western Region, Patrick Stephens Ltd, Wellingborough, ISBN 0-85059-546-0
