The end of the bridge is here, hence the name…read more South Wales is big on trains, and has a large population most of whom use trains, and that is why this is the fifth busiest station in Wales. The others are all in the Cardiff area - including Newport - except for Swansea which is not that far to the West. Anyway it's definitely a busy station and it's pretty modern because of that, and looks like it was just built recently, although there are still some older elements to it. It's a nice station and it's fit for purpose.

This is the station serving the South Wales town of Bridgend, the first major stop westwards after…read moreCardiff, the junction for the branch line to Maesteg and the terminus of trains from the Vale of Glamorgan line which run via Cardiff Airport's station. The station dates to 1850, when it was opened along with the rest of the South Wales Railway from Chepstow to Swansea. The line was built by Brunel, and was operated from the start as part of the Great Western Railway. The original station building - an attractive stone building in a domestic Italianate Style - still survives, on the Down Line (to Swansea), although in the 1980s a new entrance and ticket hall in glass were erected at one end. The buildings on platform 2 (towards Cardiff and London) also date from the early 1980s. The original buildings of 1850 are Listed at Grade II. As well as the hourly 125 mph (200 kph) London-Swansea service, the station is served by the hourly Maesteg-Cardiff trains, and is the terminus for the hourly trains from Cardiff via the Vale of Glamorgan Line, which terminate in the newly built platform 1A. It is also served by the regular services to and from West Wales and the North West of England. The ticket and information offices are on platform 1 at the entrance, but the toilets and large (privately-run) buffet are on platform 2. The station has step-free access throughout, although passengers requiring assistance are advised to telephone in advance for wheelchair ramps, etc. The station has limited cycle-storage facilities, a taxi rank and a large 100-space car park (charges apply). The station serves a wide area and is the fifth busiest in Wales, with over 1.1 million passengers a year.

I thought that Aber Station (the next one up the line from Cardiff Central) was slow, but…read moreCaerphilly is almost as bad. Monday to Saturday, the train to/from Cardiff runs every 15 minutes or so. On Sundays, the train runs every two hours. Be prepared. There is a staffed ticket booth during some hours but the rest of the time there is just the automated ticket vending machine. There are no ticket barricades and there is step free access. There is a confectionery/soda vending machine. The bus station/depot is attached and there is a taxi stand just opposite.

Perfectly located station, just on the edge of the central part of town. Small station with exits…read moreon both sides (so you don't have to labour over an annoying footbridge).

If you're in the Klan then you're a racist backwards inbred little ***** and you're also a twit as…read morea Brit would say... so you're a Klan-Twit. Which is exactly how you pronounce this town, honestly. I hope you don't have a "Major" problem with that joke. I'm not sure where the minor station is, but this is a little station with a cute white bridge going over the platforms. It's 18 miles from Cardiff in the direction of Swansea. It was one of the five oldest stations along this line, and dates back to a distant time. It's cute and kind of in the middle of nowhere, but good for the people in this town.

I love that quaint villages even boast their own railway station, making it easy to access for…read morethose without a car. Managed by Arriva Trains Wales, the Llantwit Major railway station is located on the Vale of Glamorgan line and is definitely more modest compared to hubs like Cardiff Central, with only two platforms and no ticket office (which means no penalty if this where your journey originated). The station in its present form was opened in 2005 following restoration on the section of line between Barry and Bridgend, and offers connections to stations in Bridgend, Cardiff and Merthyr Tydfil. My only criticism is the lack of disabled access - the bridge connecting the platforms would no doubt be difficult for those in a wheelchair or juggling a pram and a small child. It's worth checking the website, as east and westbound services only run once an hour, Monday to Saturday, with services only running once every two hours on Sunday.

If you're around the Lisvane or Thornhill area and in dire need of some kind of train operating…read moreservice, then you are in such luck! This is a two-track station, where the platform closest to the main car-park offers train services up towards Rhymney, and the platform closest to the bewilderingly large set of stairs offers services into the centre of Cardiff town and beyond to Penarth. This train station is very much no-frills. Although it does now have an electronic ticker to let you know the arrival time of the next train and where it's heading (just in case my instructions of which side is which weren't clear enough). Trains into the centre of Cardiff leave at 14 minutes past, 29 minutes past, 44 minutes past, and 59 minutes past the hour most of the time and you'll be in the centre within 15 minutes. There's no ticket barrier here, so you can hop on the train without paying, though it is probably best to catch eye-contact with the conductor at some point during the trip into town because there are barriers in both Cardiff Central and Cardiff Queen Street which you won't be able to get through without a ticket. The train conductor has a fancy box that produces the tickets that accepts cards nowadays so he's unlikely to accept any form of excuse for not being able to purchase one.

Barry Island Railway Station served the traditional seaside resort of Barry Island. It's well…read morelocated for the amusement park and the beach at Whitmore Bay. The station was opened in 1896 at the end of a 3/4 mile branch from the Barry Railway, from Barry Town. In 1899 it was extended through a tunnel to serve Barry Pier station, for ship excursion traffic. Since the closure of Barry Pier, the station has been a terminus. In its heyday up to 150,000 passengers might arrive on Bank Holiday specials, and the station had 4 long platforms to cope with the traffic. Declining traffic has seen the station rationalised to half of just one platform. The building is now a museum, and platform 4 is used by the Barry heritage railway. The facilities are now fairly basic: the remaining platform has a small shelter (though the original awning also covers part of the platform) and a ticket machine. There is level access to the platform from the street. The station has 3 trains an hour from Cardiff during weekdays, usually travelling to/from Aberdare or Merthyr Tydfil. In evenings and Sundays the frequency drops to half hourly.

Barry Railway Station is a key station between Cardiff and Bridgend. Trains run every 15 minutes…read moreinto Cardiff from where conections can be made to everywhere else. Every half hour trains go from Cardff through Barry to Bridgend which includes Rhoose (with a connection to the airport). Every other train from Cardiff (i.e. also every half hour) goes through Barry to Barry Island terminus. The trains are usually on time and are reasonably clean. They can get very crowded during rush hour as a lot of people who live in Barry, commute to work in Cardiff. There is a cafe on the platform which sells hot snacks and drinks. Very welcome on a cold winter's day! It also sells newspapers. The ticket office is only open in the morning, at other times tickets can be bought on the train.

Like Barbi's outfits, which are "Barry there", this is a great station in South Wales, but I have…read moreissues with it. This is the largest of three stations in the Vale of Glamorgan that serves the large city of Barry, not to be confused with Barrie Ontario. Barry is actually a town even though a lot of people think of it as a city. There is a separate branch of rail that goes from Cardiff down to Barry Island, and it's one of the stations along that, so it's not really on any of the main lines. Not too many trains then. It's a typical windswept station with a decent-sized station house and a nice bridge over the track. The whole town set on the lovely hills is right next door, but the station is fairly unremarkable in general and the Barry Island station is nicer.

Living in Cwmbran, I regularly have to use the Cwmbran Bus Station for trips all around South Wales…read morethat require a bit more specification beyond train stations and overall, I'm pretty happy about the services I get from Cwmbran. Ever since Cwmbran became such a shopping centre hotspot with loads of patronage, there's now loads of public transportation that go to and from the location. NOTES: ~ Since it's just right at Cwmbran shopping centre, it really makes it convenient. ~ The bus station itself isn't too big. Just a manageable size and easy to navigate with multiple "stands" that cater to different buses. ~ Multiple services stop here, ranging from Stagecoach, Newport Bus, and more. I'm pretty happy with Cwmbran Bus Station. Great location with a huge variety of services you can almost get to anywhere in South Wales via this major stop. Also great for a day's out!

I like to do comedy routines on the platform here, I'm known as Cathays Clown…read more This station is only one mile north of Cardiff Central and it's a cute little Suburban Station in the middle of the North part of the city. For a long time you had to kind of fend for yourself here, but now at rush hour they actually have people helping out and employees and what not. It's literally right in the middle of a development of housing, and surrounded by businesses and whatnot which is pretty cool. In fact when you pull up here you will notice that a little shopping center is right next to it - although you have to kind of cross a bridge and walk back down to it. But it's good for your cheap shopping if you need it. They've also made some colourful admissions to some of the buildings here. I meant additions, but maybe they've admitted stuff to the buildings too?

Cathays Railway Station basically has no facilities except a ticket office (manned part time) and a…read moreself-service ticket machine, but the good thing about it is that it's in a safe, residential area where you won't feel threatened hanging around waiting for a train. It only gets busy on the platforms during peak travel times when people are using this line to get to and from the Valleys in one direction, and to and from the city centre in the other direction. It's very convenient for anyone working or studying at the University, which surrounds the station, or for those living in Cathays, as it offers a good alternative to a taxi if you want to get into town quickly without the walk - particularly if you have heavy bags to carry.

Upon arrival to Newport station, I was not blown away. The…read morestation looked very old, and needed a serious makeover. When I wanted to enquire about what bus to take, their office was on a bus, this was due to the fact that their office was getting a makeover. National express coaches and normal bus service's stop here. In the bus station you have the gate numbers, which are separated by colourful handlebars where the passengers wait for their bus. You have the computerised timetable which shows the bus number and what time the bus is coming. That was properly the most modern thing about the bus station. You also had permanently closed shops in the station as well. The city centre is right next to the station. Well if and when I come back I hope that the station has a cosmetic makeover.

Newport Bus Station is by far nothing special. To be honest, it's actually not that bad given the…read moreabysmal dead-city state Newport is in (as Omoraka noted, plenty of closed shops dont' make for much of an appealing atmosphere). ~ Atmosphere: Came here midday and it was pretty packed with people coming in and out. The place was filthy, but then again Newport usually is. Thankfully, it's in a great location right close to the city centre. ~ Ease of Use: This bus station is really simple to navigate, with multiple gates and clear electronic signs showing the timetables of upcoming buses. It would be difficult to be confused here. Additionally, from my experience people line up in the great British queue pretty well so there's never a mob of people crowding around a certain gate! There's not much to fault about this bus station. It does it's job in an efficient manner and has easy to read signs to help you find your way!

A very useful local station giving access to Carmarthen in one direction and Swansea in another and…read morethe smaller local stations inbetween. Services are fairly frequent on weekdays but Sundays less so. There are two platforms The station is unmanned therefore tickets must be purchased on the train. There is no waiting room, car park or other facilities. It's possible to park in nearby Station Road which leads to the town.

I bought some children's rain boots, in other words, some Kid Wellys…read more This is a tiny little coastal station that doesn't really have any buildings or anything here. It's very windswept and rural, and there are some houses on one side of it, but nothing really on the other. It's nice that it has a station here, but you can only get a train here once every 2 hours. It's actually a request stop, so you can't actually even stop here without requesting it. And don't wait at the platform... the train will just fly by you. Weirdness.