Maesteg (Ewenny Road) railway station

Maesteg (Ewenny Road) railway station is one of two railway stations that serve the town of Maesteg in Wales. It is located adjacent to the Ewenny Road Industrial Estate to the south of Maesteg on the Maesteg Line from Cardiff via Bridgend. The other station, which is the terminus of the Maesteg Line, is named Maesteg.

History

Passenger services were restored to the Maesteg Line in 1992 by British Rail and Mid Glamorgan County Council. The station opened on 26 October 1992, slightly later than planned along with Wildmill. Both stations were brand new additions and did not replace a station previously in existence prior to the 1970 passenger service withdrawal. The platform was lengthened in 2008 to allow four-car trains to operate busier services. This was funded by the Welsh Assembly Government and the European Union.

Services are operated by Arriva Trains Wales as part of the Valley Lines network for local services.

References

External links

Train station

A train station, railway station, railroad station, or depot (see below) is a railway facility where trains regularly stop to load or unload passengers or freight.

It generally consists of at least one track-side platform and a station building (depot) providing such ancillary services as ticket sales and waiting rooms. If a station is on a single-track line, it often has a passing loop to facilitate traffic movements. The smallest stations are most often referred to as "stops" or, in some parts of the world, as "halts" (flag stops).

Stations may be at ground level, underground, or elevated. Connections may be available to intersecting rail lines or other transport modes such as buses, trams or other rapid transit systems.

Terminology

In the United States, the most common term in contemporary usage is train station. Railway station and railroad station are less frequent; also, American usage makes a distinction between the terms railroad and railway.

In Britain and other Commonwealth countries, traditional usage favours railway station or simply station, even though train station, which is often perceived as an Americanism, is now about as common as railway station in writing; railroad station is not used, railroad being obsolete there. In British usage, the word station is commonly understood to mean a railway station unless otherwise qualified.

Maesteg

Coordinates: 51°37′N 3°39′W / 51.61°N 3.65°W / 51.61; -3.65

Maesteg (English translation: 'Fair field') is a town and community in Bridgend County Borough, Wales. Maesteg lies at the northernmost end of the Llynfi Valley, close to the border with Neath Port Talbot. In 2011, Maesteg had a population of 20,612.

Historically a part of Glamorgan, the growth of the town started with the opening of ironworks in the 1820s and 1830s. Once a coal mining area, the last pit closed in 1985. With the decline of the coal industry and, more recently, the closure of one large factory producing cosmetics and another manufacturing vehicle components, the valley has become a residential/dormitory area for the Port Talbot, Bridgend and Cardiff journey to work areas. 11% (1,867 out of 20,702) of the town's population speak Welsh.

History

Before the development of industry in the 1820s, the Llynfi Valley was a sparsely populated area of scattered farms. The nearest settlement was the village of Llangynwyd located on the hillside about two miles south of the present-day town centre of Maesteg. Close to Llangynwyd is an extensive earthwork known as Y Bwlwarcau ("the bulwarks"), an Iron Age enclosure that is probably a remnant of the earliest settlement in the Llynfi district.

Ewenny

Coordinates: 51°28′56″N 3°34′37″W / 51.48224°N 3.57686°W / 51.48224; -3.57686Ewenny (Welsh: Ewenni) is a village on the River Ewenny in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales.

Over the years the village has grown into the neighbouring village of Corntown to such an extent that there is no longer a clear boundary between the two. The nearest town of significant size is Bridgend, 3.1 km (1.9 mi) away.

History

Ewenny Priory

The village grew around the Priory and Church. The Norman church of St. Michael was built in the 12th century by one of the Norman knights of Glamorgan, William de Londres. His son Maurice founded the adjacent Benedictine priory in 1141 when he granted the church to the abbey of St. Peter at Gloucester, together with the churches of St Brides Major, St. Michael at Colwinston and the manor at Lampha.

The priory is widely regarded as one of the finest fortified religious buildings in Britain. Over the centuries the priory has sustained some damage, but nonetheless it is still inhabited by its current owners, the Turbervill family. The priory is not open to the public but the attached Church is still in use today.