There are others that are now just a memory - such as the very similar (and licensed) cafes at the very similar stations of Kilmarnock and Pontypridd.  A long way apart but I have lived near both!  Both buidlings are still there on the platform - Ponty's closed about 1990 and not too sure about the other one - I am sure it was open in 2003. 

It would be brilliant to see the one at Ponty re-opened, though with a Wetherspoons and the tidy Greyhound Inn over the road I don't think it ever will.  The "new" bar / pool hall at the street entrance didn't last long. To ATW^▸ (Arriva Trains Wales (former Train Operating Company))'s credit they have re-opened the old wating room/ticket office and put old pictures in there for you to look at - even if the room does stink of decay!

In Merthyr we still have the world-famous Station Cafe, which has never been a railway cafe but until the station moved it effectively was Merthyr station's cafe but is always worth a visit.  The first coffee machine in Wales was in that very cafe!

What are the worst stations for toilet waste on the track in our areas?  Merthyr isn't too pretty!

New service starts tomorrow -we finally catch up with the Rhonddda and Cynon Valleys.

Fantastic Chris!  For all the money ATW^▸ (Arriva Trains Wales (former Train Operating Company)) spends on the new updgraded Merthyr line - not one seat is at MVL or QYD!

Agreed welshman.  Dai iawn to STAG^▸ (Severn Tunnel Action Group)!

My wife and I went from my now very-local station Quakers Yard the other Saturday - could not have picked a nicer day.  Got the very first train (0655) to Cardiff then all the way to Shrewsbury through the Heart of Wales on the 0819.
After over 3 hours from setting off we got to Llandovery - just 45 miles away from Edwardsville and over Cynghordy viaduct and through the Sugar Loaf mountain.  Trememdous journey to Shrewsbury and back much later via Hereford after a BBQ at our best man's house. Home by 2310 on the last train. Shame we didn't have longer stops like they do on a Sunday neither was it an orange "saloon" but a valley 150 trundler (without the welcome aboard announcements) which was the cleanest 150 I have ever seen.
This ^25 ticket is suposed to be on the "loop" but the ATW^▸ (Arriva Trains Wales (former Train Operating Company)) guard issued me our tickets by the time we got past (the new) Abercynon and seemed to think that it was for all ATW trains that day so no need for another ticket.  The guard on the way home from Cardiff didn't care for another fare either. Seems the valley guards don't sell or see many of these tickets.   With our railcards it was only ^33 between us -an absolute bargain and highly recommended to anyone but take a picnic!
If anyone is thinking about doing this trip you will not be disappointed!

Went past the site of it today and for the first time in years had a look out of the window.  Could not see a thing - perhaps much overgrowth! 

Gunnislake - lovely part of the world.  That bridge at Calstock is not for the feint-hearted!

John:  no it did not. This particular publication is still to give out the good-news story that Merthyr Vale's new platform is open.  I doubt it will at all.  As one who reads most posts I concur with your bracketed comment mate, time will tell I suppose!
 

FGW^▸ (First Great Western)'s main man is from Merthyr Tydfil.  So he must be a nice guy. 

My home town local rag, the Merthyr Express (as if) last week ran a story on page 4 (must have been newsworthy then) about ...Andrew Haines. 

Pictured on what appears to be the Ginsters pasty saloons the headline of "We're on the right track" and being one of the "most complained men in Britain" he was stated to be responsible for running the train services between S Wales and London - whether they depart on time or not.  Is that all? I thought so I read on and gleaned these nuggets:

A key part of his role is ensuring that their service offering is improved.

FGW is the fastest growing railway in Europe.

Fares have risen 145% since 1995.

His "thick skin" has been easy to develop and he is one of FGW's youngest managers.  Graduting from London Uni, he worked as a staion manager (didn't say where) before moving to the House of Commons and lobbied for railway schemes such as Heathrow Express.

Work will start at Reading in 2009 and will be the focal point on FGW, with the biggest investment programme on the railways since 1950.

^30m was raised from the taxpayer in additional reveue in the last year - in which
FGW will recieve ^50m in subsidies from DoT, so for every ^1 they pay back ^1.60.

What FGW raise through their effeciencies is reinvested in the network and he points out that FGW has a "dynamic" fares system with "hundreds" of off-peak cheap fares available for travel.

Fares have HAD to be raised to deliver investment to deliver additional capacity - which he is unashamed of.  He has been part of FGW and its previous incarnations since 1998.

New engines have been installed in HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)).

A new recruit has been made in a performance director to drive forward FGW's performance culture. 

From my viewpoint, having used what is now FGW area for years on end I would specifically like many things to happen also.  We all do, no doubt - which is why we air our opinions and offer solutions - which is the true strength of this forum.

A gripe of mine is the fact that it takes forever to get home on the south coast from Evesham/Worcester on a Saturday early evening. If the Brighton-Malvern train went at my preferred times (ie arrive before 1200 and return after 1730) and Worcester did attract a cheap day return I would get it -  so I drive. My choice is get home whilst 606 is still on (just) or after Match of the Day is going off, though I REALLY feel sorry for those on the TransWilts whose grumbles puts mine into insignificance.  And rightly so. 

A balanced interview I felt, sort of "local boy done good" but hard-nosed also in parts as it seems that Haines is alive to criticism of FGW and their ills, such as puncuality and people not being informed when things go wrong.  He also wants to shake off the "worst train company" tag that FGW has and put the first word back into its corporate name.

Read into that what you will as they say in the valleys!

"Welcome aboard. Please listen to the following announcements for your safety. Please familiarise yourself with the safety information provided on the posters displayed in the passengers saloons. Emergency door opening procedures are indicated close to the doors. Please ensure overhead luggage is safely stowed and when you leave the train, please mind the gap between the train and the platform. Thankyou"

We've had this musical voice on the valleys for at least 5 years now - seems to come on every 2nd or 3rd stop. Once heard it a full 8 times on the way back from the cricket up the valley to M Vale one summer's night in 2004- it even used to go off when the train stopped at Abercynon signal box!  Believe this is a legacy of Wessex - who introduced it before we had it on the valleys.   I used to hate hearing it at 2310 at Fratton on Sunday nights though! 

I mean "overhead works" - what is that about?  Men working above you like the band who made up a song about coming from Australia?

And..."saloon" - where is the bar?  I ask you!

If this was a proper valleys announcement it would be in the plainest of Wenglish!

Grahame - I also saw that in the Telegraph and I also wondered this.   

Working on the basis that my Frist bus dis-service fare from Eastney/Hayling Ferry down to the Hard in Portsmouth is about ^1.75 for a 4-mile single trip (the walk is much better on a nice day and the return is double the fare) and no doubt his buses down in Cornwall are First - my guess would be in 4 figures.  He also got stranded in Tiverton and Lincoln - nice!

A man went from Holyhead on Anglesey to Cardiff a couple of years ago to demonstrate that you could go the whole length of Wales - the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) said it would have costed him about ^200.

That optical illusion of 2 platforms in use seems like a clean day at the then-eyesore that is Merthyr Vale station.  It is not quite the worst in the valleys for litter/grafitti but it is up there with the likes of Porth in my opinion - sadly.

What the picture does not show well is the rubbish towards the camera on the scree-like slops on the then-disued platform.  It took the workers ages to clear it all - it looked like fly-tipping but it is not - all by hand I am afraid.  With the old trees etc being taken away litter will stand out a mile - I hope we are not going to go back to the bad old days.  Mountain Ash is an example of a modernised 2-platform station that has/had quite a lot of litter - or at least the last time I travelled up those valleys they did.

The new platform does look much cleaner but unless a bin is put there (the last one on the other platform got used as a brazier) it will always sadly attract litter. I don't blame the adopters (an ATW^▸ (Arriva Trains Wales (former Train Operating Company)) initiative) for not clearing stuff like smashed Lambrini bottles, fag ends and other things you would not put your hands near - on both platforms. 

As for graffiti - the words on the bridge have been there for at least 25 years!  I hope the workers remove that also before the official re-opening (if there is one).

The ban is fantastic and of course FGW^▸ (First Great Western) should not encourage law breaking- but they softer than ATW^▸ (Arriva Trains Wales (former Train Operating Company)) or SWT^▸ (South West Trains). A guy was smoking pot or something on my train not long ago in the toilet from Sailisbury to Fratton and the guard did nothing, let alone get a fare!!!  In the Wessex days the guard on my regular 2000 CDF^» (Cardiff - next trains)-PMH on a Sunday would inform passengers of a wait at Salisbury -  the trolley dolly would be out there smoking then walk round again before Romsey peddling his sarnies stinking of fags!!! 
Last year on holiday I saw a guard at Whitland refuse to take someone to Saundersfoot for smoking on the platform.  The next train was not for another 2 hours.  As they say in the valleys "have a nice day".

The almost-completed new platform 2 at M Vale opened last Monday.  The existing platform is closed for modernisation - not sure if there will be a new shelter opposite the one on the new platform.  It would make sense as I said in an earlier post.

The local Merthyr Express paper gave this piece of good news - for the first service from that platform for 37 years... nothing.