1852: The Introduction of a Welsh Railway Station that Remains in Service Today

October 11, 1852

A station in the village of Ferryside in southwest Wales was opened as part of the South Wales Railway. Ferryside railway station was one of five stations serving the South Wales Railway to begin operations on that date. Those other stations were built in the Welsh towns of Llanelly (now known as Llanelli); Burry Port; Kidwelly; and Carmarthen. The South Wales Railway had been inaugurated in 1850 and continued to exist as an independent entity until it was amalgamated with the Great Western Railway in 1863.

Ferryside railway station remains in service today as one of the facilities managed by the publicly owned train operating company Transport for Wales Limited. This unstaffed station is a request stop, which means that trains traveling on that line will stop there only if there are passengers who want to disembark or individuals waiting at the facility who wish to get on board.

In 2016, Ferryside railway station achieved celebrity status of sorts when it was highlighted in an episode of a British travel documentary TV series featuring comedian Paul Merton. Paul Merton’s Secret Stations focused on various railway stations operating as request stops within the United Kingdom.

Photo Credit: kitmasterbloke (licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en)

For more information on Ferryside railway station, please check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferryside_railway_station