the train to Rosslare sharply contrasting with the train from Fishguard, which was a rattly old unit designed more for suburban than long distance / prestige use
I see the blasted class 150s are still making appearances on the boat train... I would describe them as 'Inner Suburban' units, though I think the service is booked for a 'Regional Express' class 158 unit nowdays, so you were probably unlucky. In summer, they sometimes make the train a bit longer by attaching a Pacer or 153.
The local bus came in just before the train and was waiting to leave as the train left - truely linking road, rail and water transport. Bus passengers, though, were conspicuois by their absence. But, again, offseason and midweek.
That bus link isn't as good as it appears I'm afraid. It is only a shuttle to Fishguard town hall, longer-distance journies within the station's catchment area (eg. to Newport on the service towards Cardigan) require an extra change at Fishguard town hall. Additionally, the bus only makes two or three trips a day, all in connection with the daytime ferry sailing (so there may have been passengers on the other trips which you didn't see). That means the new 'local' rail services have no bus connections (there are some advertised at Goodwick station, but I don't count them as they are either too tight or leave you in the cold for too long, Fishguard Harbour is better since it has an indoor waiting area and toilets, Goodwick has neither). As I've posted elsewhere, I'd like to see the TrawsCymru service from Aberystwyth/Cardigan run to Fishguard Harbour instead of Haverfordwest, which ought to improve bus/rail connections at Fishguard and link through to Newport/Cardigan without having to change at Fishguard town hall too.
I noticed that all the passgengers were to / from the ferry - but of course that's no comment on the local traffic as the train in question is "the boat train" in the middle of the day - the lull between the peaks on the TransWilts, and no doubt the same thing may apply in midWales.
The car parking is very expensive at Fishguard Harbour, and it is a long walk. Apart from bus and ferry connections, Fishguard & Goodwick (
FGW▸ ) is the more-useful station, so given the woeful lack of buses to the harbour I don't expect much local traffic to use that instead of FGW. Also, whereas Melksham now has a train every 2hrs there's a 5hr gap before the next Fishguard after the boat train.
It^s sad to see the run round loop at Fishguard in the final stages of being removed - seems to be a long siding now from Clarbeston Road - but then the only requirement /use is/was really for special trains, I suppose. I was interested to see a rusted loop and branch somewhere up from Fishguard - freight to a quarry, perhaps?
The branch off the Fishguard line goes into the old RNAD at Trecwn, I don't think it is in use at present.
Also surprising how close the two Fishguard stations are. 40 passengers on the train from Fishguard was encouraging; no way can the local service success be measured by that ^boat train^ though with its odd stopping pattern / routing / timing that^s clearly designed for the cross sea traffic.
The busiest of the new services I'm told is the evening long-distance arrival, which happens to start back from Gloucester. That too I think is supposed to be a 158 but also has a nasty habit of turning up a 150 (the the unit off that works the boat train the next day I think). The stopping pattern might be designed for 'international' traffic, but I actually think it is really quite good for 'local' traffic too since the surveys undertaken by the North Pembrokeshire Transport Fourm back when it was just 2 trains per day showed Cardiff to be the most desired destination, and of course you have to go through Cardiff to get to English destinations also. The only 2 things I would change is stopping at Port Talbot Parkway instead of Bridgend and adding a call at Carmarthen in the westbound direction (now that ommisson is an odd stopping pattern).
