Bristol Parkway station is located at the intersection of the lines from London (Paddington) to…read moreSouth Wales and the main line from Bristol to Birmingham, providing a major interchange between the two. It was one of the first 'Parkway' stations to be built, in 1972, to attract car users to trains by providing ample car parking at locations with good road links, close to urban areas. This site was chosen both because of the interchange it offered, and because of its proximity to the M4 and M32, just north of Bristol. When opened, shelter was fairly meagre, with 'bus stop' shelters on the platforms and a small waiting room and ticket office by the entrance to the car park. Because of its exposed and windy position, additional long platform shelters were erected, but it still had a reputation for being a cold place to wait for a train. Over the years, substantial suburbs have developed around Stoke Gifford, and in 2001, a new and much larger station building, with a dramatic curved roofline, was built in recognition of its growing importance. In 2007 an additional platform was constructed on the London-bound (north) side, to provide additional capacity. The station is now used by over 1.75 million passengers a year, with in excess of half a million passengers changing trains here. The station now has heated waiting shelters on the platforms, and the main building has a small shop, cafe and ticket office. Other facilities include a taxi rank, payphones, cash points and bus stops for local bus services (including to Frenchay hospital and Bristol city centre). The station has level access (via lifts to the platforms). The station is served by all long distance trains on the London-South Wales main line and the cross-Country main line from the South-West to Birmingham and the North. It is also served by local services from Gloucester, Westbury and Weston-super-Mare.

This is a great, modern, functional station on the North side of Bristol. It's close to the M4/M5…read moreintersection, so it's a far better place to collect someone from than Bristol Temple Meads (in the centre of the city) if you're located to the north of the city. However, there are a few things to be aware of: 1. Parking is £5 a day. The payment meters are awkward to operate, and if you don't pay you will get clamped & fined. 2. The car park gets full by 9:30am most days, and if you park outside an official space, you will get clamped (even if you've paid for a ticket). 3. Traffic in the area is hellish at peak hours. Journeys from the motorway to the station can take in excess of 45 mins between 7:30 - 9:00 and 16:00 - 18:00 for the 2 mile journey. The station is fairly new with good facilities: clean toilets, a small newsagent, a coffee shop and a sandwich shop. There are also lifts to all platforms for the disabled.

Not as elderly as the Oldport…read more This is a large and fancy station in Newport with a beautiful space-age bridge and corridors connecting to the older buildings. It's very strange but also very nice. It looks like a pair of headphones or something - it's quite odd. But somehow beautiful. It's the third busiest station in Wales because it's in the Cardiff area, and it's been operating since 1850. You can actually go directly from here to Manchester, or all the way up to Holyhead, and Nottingham, and Birmingham, and various other major cities - and Portsmouth and Brighton and so on. The new Concourse was opened in 2010 and is space-age and beautiful. Some people have criticized it as being one of the ugliest buildings ever, but hey, it really adds something unmistakable in Newport.

Opened in 1850, Newport is (in 2019-20) the second busiest station in Wales after Cardiff Central…read more The station is situated close to the remains of Newport Castle near the River Usk. The station has gone through several rebuildings in its history, and until 2009 the main terminal building was the large brick office block with classical detailing, built in 1923 by the then Great Western Railway, on the south side of the station, close to the castle. In 2007 a new platform 4 was added on the north side of the station, and in 2009 a new entrance and concourse and a second bridge was built in preparation for the 2010 Ryder Cup, being held nearby. This provided new car parking facilities, a new concourse and taxi/drop off point on the south side, and a new passenger entrance on the north side. The old concourse and entrance in the 1923 building was then closed. The design of the new concourse and bridge has attracted some criticism, on grounds of aesthetics (it was nominated for the 2011 "Carbuncle Cup" for the ugliest building of the year), because it is further from the town centre than the old building, and because it has suffered from intermittent problems with rainwater leaking onto the concourse and stairs. It is also much smaller than the original building and can get congested. On the plus side, the developments have made all platforms accessible by lifts. Current regular services (pre-Covid) are based on 2 trains per hour to/from London, and hourly services to each of Portsmouth via Bristol, Taunton via Bristol, Nottingham via Birmingham, Manchester Piccadilly via Bristol Parkway, Manchester via Hereford and Crewe, and Cheltenham via Gloucester. All trains going west head stop at Cardiff, with hourly onward services to Swansea, Carmarthen and Maesteg. Some of the Carmarthen services are extended to Milford Haven. Occasional direct services also run to Brighton and Tenby. The station has a small cafe, newsagent/bookshop, toilets (accessible and with baby changing facilities) and a booking office. There is no cash machine. There are covered bicycle spaces, a taxi rank, and two nearby car parks. A handful of Newport Bus services also stop at the station.

As the name implies, this serves the well-known Somerset holiday resort of Weston-super-Mare…read more The station itself is on a loop off the main Bristol-Taunton-Exeter main line, thanks to the backward nature of its residents in the 1840s, who resisted proposals for the route of the original main line to run closer to the town. Instead, on 14 June 1841, Weston was connected to the main line by a branch, just over a mile long, and worked initially by horse-drawn carriages. Horse traction remained until 1851, by which time the town had begun to regret being on the end of a branch. This was rectified in 1884 with the construction of the present loop and a handsome station built in the local stone, with large glass canopies over two through platforms and a bay platform. A separate station for summer excursion trains was built just to the north, but closed in 1964. The loop line was singled in 1972, which has since become something of a bottleneck. The station now has a regular service of trains from Weston to Bristol Parkway and from Taunton to Cardiff, providing a half-hourly service to Bristol and an hourly service south to Taunton. This is supplemented by a handful of trains to and from London, and a small number of Cross-Country trains from Plymouth or Paignton to Newcastle. Cross-Country would like to operate more services to Weston, but the timetable is constrained by the single track. The station buffet has been turned into a pub, named 'Off the Rails', known for its changing selection of real ales and cider, and it also does food. There are entrances both to the station approach and the platform, so it's easy to pop in for a pint while you are waiting! The station has level access throughout, a taxi rank, cycle storage and a large car park. Regular buses call here for other parts of the town and surrounding villages: details on http://www.travelinesw.com .

The staff are always helpful, which is painfully necessary when you have a pushchair, need to cross…read morethe bridge to the second platform and there are stairs and no lift. The station is clean and has a decent sized waiting room. Both platforms are covered so no waiting in the rain.

Public toilets were 30p per entry - upon entering the toilets it was evident that there was very…read moreinfrequent, if any, routine cleaning. Vomit in one stall, used underwear in the other. I understand that 30p is not very much to charge and it helps with the costs of the facility, but you'd surely expect something a little better from a paid restroom.

Fairly easy for our Uber to drop us in front for an early morning bus ride. It's clean with a…read moresimple layout for us to find our terminal. Our driver was nice and helped us Los the bags. The busses are very cozy. Easy to sleep on and have outlets. It was about $25 each to get from Bristol to London Gatwick. Although it took four hours we didn't have to worry about driving ourselves or making it in time for our flights. Very nice station, felt safe (indoors) and you could practically get a bus anywhere in the UK!

Good for accessing different parts of Bristol with ease…read more The station itself doesn't have a ticket machine, but you can buy your ticket once on the train. The service is reliable, but I would recomend getting a timetable as you don't want to be waiting around only to find out the last train has come and gone. Bristol City has a good network of trains, and inorder to reach some of the more extreme parts from where you are located it's probabley more advisable (and quicker) to get a train, for example Lawrence Hill to Parson's street, you may have to change but it'll probably be quicker than any bus you can get.

This train station is particularly useful if you find yourself traveling between Temple Meads and…read morethe Church Road area via public transport, as there is no direct bus service linking the two. The trains aren't all that regular though, so make sure you look up the times before you start your journey. The station is basically just a couple of platforms - there's no ticket machine - which means that you can occasionally get away with a free journey (not that I condone such practices, of course). There's also a good connection with Montpelier rail station, with a journey taking between 5 and 10 minutes and only costing £1.50. Win.

2nd day being on this train station. The awesome person (male from South Asia) at the ticket booth…read morehad been very helpful with a smile.

All aboard for the BEST way to see the UK! The British railway system is a dream -- quick, comfy,…read moreand surprisingly affordable. Unlike in the U.S., trains connect almost every city and town, making travel effortless. We used it for our whole UK adventure and loved every mile. Whether you're off to work, sightseeing, or chasing castles, this is the way to go!

If you want ham and chips, then of course come to Chippenham…read more Chippenham is a slightly larger railway station than your typical small-town English railway station and it does a good job servicing the community and basically just keeping things moving in this part of the country. It's not too far from Bristol and Gloucester and Cheltenham and places like that and I like visiting here and it's a lovely Old Town. It's one stop from Bath, the most amazing Roman city. It's located right between Swindon and Bath on the line from Paddington to Bristol.

Pretty standard at stations go. Never use the facilities as normally just collect tickets and board…read morethe train. The small coffee shop appears allways to have people in it which is allways a good market that it has something going for it. Station is clean and tidy and a nice little waiting area in between platforms.

First Great Western trains run throughout the West of England to primarily London. Historically,…read moreFirst Great Western hasn't been very good on the customer satisfaction list, but in the recent years they have dramatically improved their services to near perfection. In my experience, they have never been late or cancelled and have almost always arrived a few minutes ahead of schedule (which is always handy so you can grab an unexpected cup of coffee!). The trains themselves are of a very high standard. Each seat is full length (unlike First Capital Connect) and the floor has carpet on it which is a pleasant luxury. There is no chewing gum stuck to the seats, or graffiti etched onto the tables. Everything is almost spotlessly clean. In fact sometimes I wonder if I am in First Class, it is that nice! There is quite a large buffet on most of the trains (most definitely the ones headed to London Paddington) which although isn't cheap, certainly is no more expensive than the stands at the train stations. Most, if not all of the staff are friendly and very helpful. One down side I would say is that I find it hard to open the doors as you have to reach outside the window and open them from the exterior of the train which (if you are on the short side like me) is pretty difficult. There is also a large gap from the train to most platforms which again is difficult especially if you have a lot of luggage. However, I have found on many occasions that the train staff rush to help you if you are struggling which I think is great. There are toilets on board and are almost always clean, however no toilet on a train is perfect really! On board travel magazines are provided free of charge and also an emergency exit information booklet is on every seat (it almost feels like an aeroplane!). A word of warning though - if your ticket is booked in advance you MUST get on that exact train which is stated on your ticket. If you miss it, or hop on an earlier train you are fined a lot of money. Also, I have heard that if you sit in a seat already reserved then a £20 fine is given to you. Price wise, First Great Western trains are very reasonable if booked in advance online through their website. A single from Bristol Temple Meads to Gatwick Airport off peak with a Young Persons Railcard is £7.60 which is very cheap for the distance travelled. In conclusion, I would definitely recommend First Great Western, primarily for the fast, cheap and reliable service.

First Great Western is a close second to Virgin in my ranking of trains that trawl up and down our…read morecountries Railways lines. And number three is a long long way behind. It is one of the few services that you can guarantee will be fast and professional every time you take it. That does not mean to say that i like the trains in this country in general, just that i think relatively First Great Western is one of the best!