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Cardigan railway station
A long abandoned small country terminus
(Photos © urban75, June 2009)
Built by the Whitland and Cardigan Railway (familiarly known as 'Cardi Bach' and also known as the Whitland and Taff Vale Railway) the line was built between 1869 and 1873, with Cardigan station opening on the 31st August, 1886.
The terminus of a rambling, deeply rural branch line from Whitland, the line was taken over by the Great Western Railway the day after opening and served the community until the early 1960s, with passenger services ending on the 10th September, 1962. All freight traffic ceased on the 27th May, 1963.
The site remained open as a non-rail connected coal depot until the 6th September, 1965. Precious little now remains of the actual station itself, although the still-extant old goods shed makes it easy to work out where it stood.
Cardigan is now nearly fifteen miles away from the nearest station at Fishguard Harbour, although it's even further away from the far more practical station at Carmarthen.
Had earlier ambitious plans by the Carmarthen & Cardigan Railway come to fruition, Cardigan would also have been served by a more direct line to Carmarthen via Pencader, but with funds fast vanishing, the proposed line ran out of steam at the small hamlet of  Newcastle Emlyn, some 11 miles short.
That line managed to cling on to life until Sept 1952, but a section has been reopened as the narrow gauge Teifi Valley Railway.
Barely visible in amongst the brambles is the remains of a bridge and embankment that took the line into the small station at Cilgerran.
A section of the old line from Cilgerran to Cardigan has been paved over and is now used as an access route to the Welsh Wildlife Centre.
Once past the Welsh Wildlife Centre (which is situated about half way between Cilgerran and Cardigan), the trackbed opens up into a pleasant walk through open marshlands, with several hides provided for twitchers to check out the bird life.
The approach to Cardigan station which was situated on the opposite bank of the River Teifi to the town centre, just a short walk away.
The single passenger platform was on the left with fairly rudimentary station features in the shape of a single storey station building with a short canopy.
In this 1959 view looking towards the buffer stops, you can see the station to the left and the roof of the goods shed to the right.
The station buildings have long since disappeared, but the goods shed with its distinctive canopy can still be seen at Cardigan station.
Goods wagons would have been unloaded here, with the station to the left.
Passenger platform remnant.
View of the station site from near the river side.
A surviving railway relic in the shape of an old goods wagon still in situ on the station site.
Warehouse buildings by the station site.
What looks like an old railway building close to the site of the passenger platform.
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Cardigan station
Camera: Nikon D300