Great Western Coffee Shop

Had a lovely day out yesterday, and stopped off here for a pint and a stroll. I think of this as a Great Western station, but it wasn't originally and it isn't now!

(https://zemblanity.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/wwrs_20191022.jpg)

There are spikey railings some way beyond the ones in the foreground, suggesting some disused track....perhaps. I'm beginning to wonder if it is an actual or disused station. The buildings in the background immediately reminded me of Bridgwater brick houses but I cannot think of anywhere that would fit the bill there.... although it was, I think, on the edge of S&D land.


Is it cheating to ask if there is any existing running line here, mainline or heritage?

Not cheating; essential I'd say!

The station is open, and is part of the national network with a good service. The photo was taken from a train stopped at the station.

Darn it, I'll take the bullet!

Taunton!  :)

Edit: The minefield of autocorrect.

Snot Somerset.

It is now a branch line; it became part of the GWR in the Grouping, but is outside the modern GWR franchise.

Excuse my lack of historical knowledge about GWR territory but I'm drawn to thinking about a current UK Principality.

In which case you are finding yourself drawn in the right direction... noswaith dda!

'Bore da' at 9.48pm??

Surely you mean 'noswaith dda'?

EDIT: Superfast edit there Mr Squirrel.  ;D

A Cardiff suburban station? I do love my little jaunts to the Cardiff suburban railway network.  So much to see and it keeps on giving.

Homing in nicely...

Penarth Branch?  Not Penarth itself, more like Dingle Road.

So like Dingle Road that it is... Dingle Road!

There is apparently a law that states that everyone one must, at some time in their life, have an ice cream on the pier at Penarth. Wednesday was as it turns out just the day for it - clear and sunny, with good views up the estuary towards the Severn Bridges, and across to Brean Down, Steep Holm and Flat Holm. We walked around Penarth Head (keeping a watchful eye on the cliffs, which are well dodgy) and then up Paget Road, from where you get a half-decent view of Cardiff Bay:

(https://zemblanity.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/cardiff_bay.jpg)

After a quickish pint in The Pilot, a wander through the pleasant backstreets of Penarth led us to Dingle Road - a surprisingly busy station (I did well to get a photo of an empty platform!), with a quarter-hourly service into Cardiff and beyond:

(https://zemblanity.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/dingle_road.jpg)

Penarth is in many ways comparable to Clevedon - a genteel seaside town of around 20,000 souls, with an elegant pier and just down the estuary from a big city. Lucky Penarth, for still having its branch line!

 

Being a Liverpudlian, "Dingle" always makes me think of Dingle Station rather than Dingle Road
http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/d/dingle/

Didn't the Penarth line originally go on to Barry – and then join the GWR line to Brigend, or did it cross it and go elsewhere?

There's a lot to like about Penarth; the interesting high street and arcade, the park leading down to the pier and "beach", the walk from the beach round the headland to the Cardiff Bay barrier and of course, Penarth Docks themselves.
As RS said, there is a frequent rail link from Cardiff although Penarth Docks rubs shoulders with Cardiff with only the Ely River to separate them. I could probably live in Penarth.

Bmblbzzz mentioned that the line once went further than the current Penarth terminus and the line certainly does continue as a footpath for some distance. The OS map shows the trackbed swings round to Sully and then in the general direction of the line to Barry but after that it becomes unclear.

Incidentally, there is a nice walk to be had along the coast path once you get out of Barry/Cadoxton back to Penarth, taking in Sully and the tidal Sully island (check the tide times) with a nice pub stop at Swanbridge. The only drawback is that there is a bit of a trudge from Cadoxton station to the coastpath taking in the delights of a main road and industrial works but it's quickly enough done.

On this occasion the easiest way to see where it went is in Google Earth historical imagery - the 1945 aerial photos of this area are unusually clear. The line did go through Sully, and swing left to join the existing line from Dinas Powys into Barry. That in turn joined the other line into Barry, which came past Wenvoe and ultimately from Pontyclun.

Beyond Penarth, the line did continue via Albert Place Halt, Lavenock, Swanbridge Halt and Sully to rejoin the Cardiff to Barry (via Cogan and Dinas Powis) at Cadoxton.  It survived until May 1968 - 10 trains per day, though two of them were short workings to Sully and five left out at least one of the halts.   Nothing between 09:16 and 12:05 from Penarth, then nothing between 13:05 and  16:05.  Last train 18:45.    So few trains on a journey that took between 11 and 17 minutes probably didn't do very much to encourage its use ...

I didn't know there was such a thing as Google Earth historical imagery. Have to check that out, thanks!

A few weeks ago I picked up a book at the library, Edging the Estuary, by Peter Finch, in which the author walks along the coast of the (very broadly defined) Severn Estuary, including this section, and writes about history and people and geography and poetry and stuff.

Pleasingly, this is a law I have been compliant with, late March 2016 IIRC.

Looks like it rejoined the Vale of Glamorgan line just before Cadoxton... http://www.systemed.net/carto/New_Adlestrop_Railway_Atlas.pdf

_{Edit: Oops, didn't spot that this had already been answered.}