Rhymney certainly had a Sunday afternoon service in the 1970s plus 1 morning train from Cardiff often with the DMU towing a GUV van.
In the late 70s as I recall (through having used them) Rhymney, Treherbert, Merthyr, Penarth and Barry Island all had Sunday services, though limited by present standards, but Coryton and what was then Bute Road (now the Bay) had none. In fact, by long standing tradition going back to the original GWR, weekend services on the Bute Road line ended at Saturday lunchtime, presumably reflecting working hours in the docks.
It's not part of the Metro.
Queen Street used to be closed on winter Sundays. It wasn't worth opening the station on a day when all of the shops and places of employment were shut. I'm not sure when this changed but it was certainly the case in the early 1980s. Almost all of the Sunday traffic in those days was passengers connecting with Intercity services at Central. When Caerphilly Tunnel closed on some winter Sundays for maintenance they used to send the replacement buses to Newport to provide a better connection.
Isn't it supposed to change to half-hourly? Half-hourly is the minimum frequency you'll see on an S-Bahn.
I wasn't aware it could take half-hourly; that's good news if so.
If I can find the map showing the plans I'll post it. I think that Tondu was to be the site of the new passing loop.
It's over half an hour from Tondu to Maesteg and back so any loop would be need to be nearer the end of the branch or line speeds significantly increased to run a half hourly service I believe.
The loop being north of the station at Tondu already cuts the section just enough to make it work (along with the 5mph section being south of the loop), the line is due to be re-signalled at some point (already postponed at least once) and this will bring the loop into passenger use.
Whilst I agree that it is disappointing, the premise of the June timetable change was explicitly that "it can be run with no new stock", because at the time the timetable planners were starting to think about it (autumn last year, possibly even earlier), there was still a significant risk of new stock not being delivered or available for operation. Even now, three months out from the planned change, the 756s have yet to enter revenue service and the 398s are further behind.
So no trains between Pontypridd and Treherbert Sun-Thu late evening, the last train from Cardiff to go direct will be 19:05. A bit disappointing that there will still be bustitutions after such a long closure, and there's no end date mentioned for this either.TfW news item
TfW welcomes passengers back on the Treherbert line
The Treherbert line will reopen for passengers on Monday 26 February following nine months of transformational works to upgrade part of the South Wales Metro.news.tfw.wales
Yep and many say the loop at Llangynwydd is the one that needs to be reinstated
How long will it take to get the 756s into service? Presumably the involved crews already sign 231s which will simplify the conversion.
We don’t know. They were only authorised for use on the Core Valley Lines at the end of January, so I wouldn’t expect them soon. Also, a while back on the 231/756 thread I asked whether there was a significant amount of extra training associated with driving an overhead-powered electric train (which the 756 definitely counts as), and the consensus from experienced forum members was that yes, there was some additional training required and TfW drivers did not previously receive it.
A load of 756’s have been sitting in sidings in Barry since last summer - with the occasional test run. They could now be making use of the electrified lines in the central valleys if TfW had got on and up-trained the staff already used to the 231’s.
Going to hazard a guess at the first train from Treherbert on Sundays being at about 3pm.
Have just had a look on the TFW app, and it's showing direct trains between treherbert and central on Monday, so seems like that is correct
If you'd said 3am you would have been closer. I've got the exact time at home, it was something like 04:23. I think the frequency was something like three-hourly. Needless to say it was only really used by staff and there was uproar from the unions when BR cut Sunday morning services on the basis that no passengers used them. So the unions refused to work Sunday afternoons - services which were loss-making so BR didn't mind saving the wages. Eventually the unions brought out the Intercity staff too and senior management relented. I suspect that Sunday morning services remained extremely quiet until the relaxation of Sunday trading laws.
I was there last week, and nothing much apart from vegetation clearance.
busandtrainuser.com
The B3. That brings back memories, lol. I used to catch it when visiting my mother in the garden suburb. The first time I caught it, I recall the driver saying with astonishment, "a payer!" (as opposed to those on bus passes). It has never been heavily used and I suspect the new timetable won't help. As the piece says, such changes need good advertising.The new transport interchange at Barry Dock station is not exactly off to a roaring start.
Bus-less Transport Interchange gets a bus
Thursday 1st February 2024 The infamous £3 million Barry Docks Transport Interchange, which opened last year without any buses, can now proudly boast it has at least one bus route enabling passenge…
The 88 service withdrawn last year because of funding cuts is being resurected from 1st April and will serve the interchange as will Cardiff bus services B1/B2 from the same date
