Clarbeston Road railway station

Clarbeston Road

Ffordd Treglarbes
National Rail
Clarbeston Road railway station in August 2015
General information
LocationClarbeston Road, Pembrokeshire
Wales
Coordinates51°51′07″N 4°53′02″W / 51.852°N 4.884°W / 51.852; -4.884
Grid referenceSN015209
Owned byNetwork Rail
Managed byTransport for Wales
Platforms2
Other information
Station codeCLR
ClassificationDfT category F2
History
Original companySouth Wales Railway
Pre-groupingGreat Western Railway
Post-groupingGreat Western Railway
Key dates
2 January 1854Station opened as Clarbeston
30 August 1906Renamed Clarbeston Road
Passengers
2019/20Decrease 6,746
2020/21Decrease 990
2021/22Increase 4,660
2022/23Increase 6,366
2023/24Increase 7,556
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail & Road

Clarbeston Road railway station serves villages such as Clarbeston Road, Clarbeston, Wiston, Walton East and Crundale in Pembrokeshire, Wales. The station, originally named Clarbeston, was opened by the South Wales Railway on 2 January 1854.[1]

History

A direct route to Fishguard Harbour – the Clarbeston Road and Letterston Railway (CR&LR) – was opened by the Great Western Railway on 30 August 1906,[2] and the station at Clarbeston was renamed Clarbeston Road.[1] As part of the CR&LR works, a number of improvements were made to the west of the station for the anticipated increase in goods traffic, but the passenger facilities were not altered because it was intended that Clunderwen would continue to serve as the junction station.[3]

The signal box west of the station now supervises not only the junction between the two routes but also both branches to their respective termini, all of the other boxes on both lines having been closed as part of a 1988 re-signalling scheme that saw control centralised here and colour light signals replace the surviving semaphores.[4]

Facilities

The view from the north side of the track

Clarbeston Road is an unstaffed station, with shelters, timetable posters and digital information screens on each platform; there is also a customer help point on platform 2 and a public telephone near platform 1. The platforms are linked via ramps from the adjacent road bridge (so are accessible for disabled passengers, though the eastbound ramp is quite steep and care must be taken when using it).[5] Trains stop here by request only.

Services

The usual service pattern is one train every two hours in each direction, westwards to Milford Haven and eastwards to Manchester Piccadilly via Swansea and Cardiff Central. The branch line to/from Fishguard Harbour diverges here with six direct services each way – three morning, two evening, one night – calling at the station each day Monday to Saturday. There is no direct service on Sundays.[6] While the station serves as a request stop to/from Milford Haven, trains to/from Fishguard Harbour stop here normally.

InterCity 125 services ran through Clarbeston Road to Milford Haven until the early 1990s, ceasing in 1994.[7]

Preceding station National Rail National Rail Following station
Clunderwen   Transport for Wales
West Wales line
Milford Haven branch 		  Haverfordwest
  Transport for Wales
West Wales line
Fishguard branch 		  Fishguard & Goodwick
  Historical railways  
Clunderwen
Line & station open 		  Great Western Railway
Clarbeston Road and Letterston Railway 		  Wolf's Castle Halt
Line open, station closed

References

  1. ^ a b Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Ltd. p. 62. ISBN 1-85260-508-1. R508.
  2. ^ Nock, O.S. (September 1967). History of the Great Western Railway, vol. III: 1923-1947. Shepperton: Ian Allan Publishing. p. 434. 1584/387/DXX/967.
  3. ^ Parker, Richard; Morris, John (2008) [1981]. The Railways of Pembrokeshire. Corhampton: Noodle Books. pp. 139–140. ISBN 978-1-906419-07-3.
  4. ^ South Wales at the Turn of the Century – Clarbeston Road Archived 2 June 2013 at the Wayback Machine www.signalbox.org; retrieved 2013-11-22
  5. ^ Clarbeston Road station facilities National Rail Enquiries
  6. ^ Table 128 National Rail timetable, December 2016
  7. ^ Intercity Magazine Network Map 1993. Retrieved 5 December 2012

Media related to Clarbeston Road railway station at Wikimedia Commons