Newport, Gwent

During the 1980s and 1990s, right in to the early 2000s, I spent a lot of my time at this station, and along the South Main Line from here to Cardiff. It was just so busy! A constant procession of freight, mostly coal, iron ore and steel, but other traffic too, all interspersed in and around an intrusive passenger service. The four-track main line from Bishton eastwards was certainly used to capacity. However, once the Llanwern Steel Works stopped producing its own steel the coal and iron ore trains to there and back ceased, reducing activity considerably, although steel continued to be rolled. In later years the South Wales coalfield has been decimated, so although coal is still open-casted, the level of traffic is a fraction of what it once was.

Then came the Ryder Golf Tournament! This was the catalyst that saw the station at Newport developed, with its new space-age footbridge replacing the original GWR one, and the need for an additional platform, ostensibly for the Ebbw Vale branch trains, meant that the stabling point at Godfrey Road had to go, again reducing the amount of locomotive movements in and out of the station. As it happens, at the time of writing (2018) Ebbw Vale trains run towards Cardiff, not Newport, but I guess the new platform is still an important requirement.

There was always a good crowd of enthusiasts at the station, some who seemed always to be there, making me wonder if they ever went home!