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I was in Bow Street today and noticed the extensive earthworks to prepare the platform base on the east side of the line. Unfortunately I did not have the camera to take a picture.

The 'Boat Train Express' from Swansea to Fishguard Harbour (only stops at Llanelli, Whitland and Clarbeston Road before Fishguard) was formed yesterday of a single 142. I observed it near Clarbeston Road but was too far away to determine which unit. As it happens, it was reasonably on time and...

The 769s for Wales are being converted from 319/0 units which I believe are 3 + 2.

143624 and 143614 on separate Rhymney Valley services this afternoon, both with 'The journey is almost over for old trains' along the side. I agree with the comments above about the insensitivity of these vinyls - not only are they inappropriate but it seems TFW cannot help themselves, shooting...

To run 4 trains an hour to Merthyr really means doubling the line from Abercynon to ensure the timetable is robust. The one passing loop at Merthyr Vale is not enough. Putting in extra loops at say Pentrebach and Quakers Yard would cause problems because the loops are not equally spaced. Putting...

'W' is both a vowel and a consonant in Welsh so Y Waun is correct, Waun pronounced as 'Wine', the red stuff that comes in a bottle. By the way, the announcer in Welsh is Eryl Jones and he is to be commended for his clarity and accuracy.

7/10 here. Should be 'yng Nghaerdydd Heol y Frenhines'. 'yng' instead of 'yn' and no hyphens. Radur not Radyr is the correct Welsh spelling.

Mutations in Welsh are an integral part of the language and can be confusing for learners A mutation is a change of the initial consonant of a word according to the context. In place names it usually occurs after a preposition but what can make things confusing is that different prepositions...

BBC Wales is far more than a producer of local news programmes. In addition to these news programmes it produces a number of hours of entertainment, including sport, for Wales as well as a number of popular programmes for BBC1 including Doctor Who, Casualty and Crimewatch. BBC Wales is also...

With electrification cancelled to Swansea, BTM and Oxford, what surprises me is that no-one has suggested cancelling the whole scheme west of Swindon, or at least Bristol Parkway. To add to the lack of work at STJ could be added the lack of any electrification work at Cardiff Central and...

Except that Rhymney for example is nearly 1000 feet above sea-level and over twice the distance from Cardiff that Bury is from Manchester.

Unfortunately, there are far too many mis-pronounciations generally due to the announcer at ATW not knowing where the stress occurs in the word. In Welsh, the stress generally falls on the last but one syllable. However, many Welsh place names are compound words made up of two or more simpler...

The programme on Cardiff’s poor transport infrastructure was depressing viewing but could have been a lot worse if Jason Mohammed had been more probing. There has been no significant investment in Cardiff’s road infrastructure for decades. We still have a situation where it is impossible in...

The snow pictures look to me as if they were taken on the line from Nelson to Dowlais Cae Harris which of course is still open to Cwmbargoed where the rails are over 1200 feet above sea level. As far as I can recall, and I was living in Merthyr in 1979, the tracks were still in situ at Cae...

It was probably the same person who thought that running trams to Rhymney (900 feet above sea level) was a good idea.

Since Deeside Industrial Park is in Wales and the station will be in Wales it will undoubtedly also be called Parc Diwydiannol Glannau Dyfrdwy. That is how Flintshire Council refers to it in its bilingual literature.

Welsh Labour are very good at producing grandiose 'plans' just before an election which are then filed away and forgotten. How many of these will be built? St Mellons maybe, Bow Street if an additional passing loop is constructed, and perhaps one in the north to pacify the natives, but don't...

The intention is to improve the service on the branch in three stages - increase the frequency to Cardiff, provide a regular service over the Gaer branch to Newport, and thirdly to relay the branch from Aberbeeg to Abertillery. Doubling a large section of the line is therefore essential...

The reason for doubling a large part of the line was to run a half-hour service. Since ATW don't have enough trains to run a half-hour service I guess tools have indeed been dropped.

The SDL is a well-graded, well-engineered double track main line easily capable of a reasonably high-speed service. Putting the track into a good enough state should not be difficult. I was not thinking of Aberystwyth to Carmarthen in one hour by bus, more in terms of driving to a park-and-ride...