Aber railway station

For the disused station of the same name on the North Wales Coast Line, see Aber railway station (Gwynedd).

Aber
The station in June 2023
General information
Location	Trecenydd, Caerphilly, Wales
Coordinates	51.5749°N 3.2299°W / 51.5749; -3.2299
Grid reference	ST148869
Managed by	Transport for Wales
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	ABE
Classification	DfT category F2
History
Opened	April 1908 (as Beddau Halt)
Key dates
17 September 1926	Renamed Aber Junction Halt
6 May 1968	Renamed Aber Halt
5 May 1969	Renamed Aber
Passengers
2020/21	15,712
2021/22	73,642
2022/23	0.104 million
2023/24	0.137 million
2024/25	0.145 million
Location
Notes Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Aber railway station serves the Bondfield Park and Trecenydd areas of the town of Caerphilly, in south Wales. It is a stop on the Rhymney Line, 8+1⁄4 miles (13.3 km) north of Cardiff Central on the Valley Lines network.

History

Opened in April 1908 by the Rhymney Railway as Beddau Halt, it became part of the Great Western Railway during the Grouping of 1923; it was renamed Aber Junction Halt on 17 September 1926. The line then passed on nationalisation in 1948. It was renamed Aber Halt on 6 May 1968, then Aber on 5 May 1969. When sectorisation was introduced, the station was served by Regional Railways until the privatisation of British Rail.

A different station also called Beddau Halt existed on the Llantrisant and Taff Vale Junction Railway.

The Junction suffix refers to the fact that until the early 1980s, there were two junctions near here:

• one to the south, between the current line via Caerphilly (which opened in 1871) and the original route down the Big Hill via Penrhos Junction to Walnut Tree Junction near Taffs Well on the Taff Vale Railway route from Cardiff to Merthyr Tydfil
• the other to the north for the branch line to Senghenydd.

The former opened in 1858 and provided the Rhymney company with its original access to Cardiff General and the docks. It was freight-only for most of its life, but was used heavily in post-grouping and BR days by coal trains originating from the various collieries on the Rhymney line heading to the marshalling yard at Radyr. This avoided the need for such trains to use the busy section through Cardiff Queen Street, even though the 3+1⁄2 miles (6 km) line was steeply graded, hence the nickname; the 1 in 48 ruling gradient was however favourable for loaded trains. The latter opened in 1894 and was used for both freight to Windsor Colliery, near the terminus, and passenger services.

The Senghenydd branch passenger service ended in June 1964. as a result of the Beeching Axe, but it remained in use for colliery traffic until 1977, whilst the Taffs Well route closed in June 1982; both have since been dismantled.

Passenger volume

	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24
Entries and exits	15,712	73,642	103,976	136,896

Services

Transport for Wales operates the following general off-peak service, in trains per hour (tph):

• 3 tph to Barry Island
• 1 tph to Bridgend
• 2 tph to Bargoed
• 2 tph to Rhymney.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Caerphilly		Transport for Wales Rhymney Line		Energlyn & Churchill Park or Llanbradach
	Historical railways
Caerphilly Station and line open		Great Western Railway Rhymney Line		Pwll-y-Pant Station closed; Line open
	Disused railways
Penyrheol Halt Line and station closed		Great Western Railway Senghenydd Branch		Terminus

Further reading

• Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-85260-508-1.

External links

• The station on a navigable O.S. map