Llanelli to Llandybie - Heart of Wales Line Day 1

With a limited service of just five trains a day in each direction it’s always been a challenge as to how fast you can ‘tick off’ the 32 stations on the Heart of Wales line between Llanelli and Church Stretton.
So here’s day one of me attempting it over four days - and twenty two of the stations are request stops too, just to make it more fun! Will it all go according to plan, or will anything be cancelled or delayed?
Explaining the Heart of Wales Challenge : kzbin.info/www/bejne/opKbgJuVj92UfZY
Glanryhd Bridge Collapse : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glanrhyd_Bridge_collapse
Download the Heart of Wales Line map here : geofftech.co.uk/downloads.html
Stations Visited : Llanelli, Bynea, Llangennech, Pantyffynnon, Ammanford, Llandybie, Ffairfach, Llandeilo

[@FC-Mobile-Highlights]

Regular uploads? ✅ New series?✅ Geoff Marshall?✅ New Country?✅ can’t wait

[@trainman305team]

Yes Aye

[@BhagwantRai654]

Wales is another part of Britain

[@beansmeanz]

@@BhagwantRai654it’s a different country than England. britain isn’t the country lol it’s the “larger area”

[@jamesvincent-dz5dy]

Yes. Welcome to our country.

[@Nooticus]

AGREED!!!

[@Vanmanyo]

As a Welsh person this is the series I need ❤

[@Alpine444]

Same

[@And_Zo]

Yup, same 👍👍

[@maxccfc1927]

Just what the doctor ordered 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

[@simonochana3189]

❤ his pronunciations 😉

[@mezykin]

The unbridled joy and excitement coming from Geoff in every video is just so infectious. 💎

[@GoranNewsum]

Always love it when Ian Marchant pops up!

[@thatSteveSmith]

In an apocalypse, not only will there still be Costa cups, Jen On The Move will find a Costa Coffee that's still open.

[@jacktait2532]

6:19 The person's reaction when he noticed that Geoff was talking to a camera hahaha. Great video Geoff, can't wait for the rest of the series!

[@conradharcourt8263]

Sorry, but clearly the gentleman is not looking around at Geoff, he does not pay the camera any attention. Geoff is to the left of the gentleman who, some time after he passes Geoff, looks round over his right shoulder, having been looking to his right as he passed Geoff and obviously preparing to cross the road to walk along the footpath that starts alongside the railway on the other side of the road. Wales is not so rural that people are not used to hearing folk 'talking to themselves' when using mobile phones etc! Reply

[@josephwright433]

@@conradharcourt8263That’s certainly an analysis of the situation…

[@markjlewis]

Back in the day of working coal mines in South Wales, Pantyffynnon was a very busy depot serving several mines and washeries in the area. The depot had class 37s and 08 shunters based there. My dad was the depot manager there for several years and worked in the station building. My wife's parents live close to the GCG branch. Haven't travelled the Central Wales since I was a child. It used to be a regular thing especially thanks to British Rail travel passes that Dad got as a perk of working for it.

[@TheNapalmFTW]

DD is a TH sound. The Ll you're going to have to have a Welsh person teach you in person lol. Love ya Geoff

[@fyshfysh]

I thought the hair was for a bet, but it's about 5 videos now😂. but really excited for this series, fantastically nerdy and also wales is just sooo beautiful

[@PokhrajRoy.]

I’m here for Geoff trying to learn the classic British Railway Station announcement in every possible language 👏🏽

[@Joseph2302]

I want to know it in Klingon ;)

[@boldford]

@@Joseph2302 He got rid of them with Dixcel.

[@stellwyn]

They do it in Welsh on the Chester-bound Avanti trains now!

[@boldford]

@@stellwyn I thought they would have been killed off after Virgin screwed up Wrexham - Shropshire by introducing them.

[@stellwyn]

@@boldford nope, the Chester route goes out to Wrexham/Holyhead sometimes. They really did screw up the Welsh routes during and post-COVID though. It still seems totally random whether certain services are going to run, and whether they will run all the way through to Wales

[@Sim0nTrains]

Very entertaining, great start to this mini four part series but I do agree that old semaphores signals, signal boxes and wonderful Railway Stations are always epic to see.... Also didn't knew that the train that never dies (Pacer) was there as well at Llanelli! Thanks Geoff and cannot wait to see the rest

[@anniesoernym]

"All kinds of fabulous!" is surely going to become the running theme of this wonderful little series! Loving it already, Geoff, thanks!

[@LocoMotive142]

Pantyffynnon for years and years (maybe six) didn't have station signage (disappeared in a previous refurbishment of the station building), just the BR Totem indicating the location, so I'm delighted to see its finally off "the naughty list" of stations without sufficient signage.

[@sambrookes4497]

It's a single track between Pantyffynnon and Pontarddulais so you would've been able to make the connection if you got on the southbound train!

[@onbekende07]

Problably didn't know that, would have made the rest of the day even more akward i'd guess.

[@Ogrecrusher]

I was thinking it's probably the same train that comes back again.

[@Nooticus]

LOVING this series! Honestly ive been more excited for this series than any other series of yours since All The Stations in 2017! Brilliant first episode and im certain itll get even better!

[@peterfarley3217]

I'm so pleased you're doing this. It's been on my mind since you posed the "best way to..." question some years back. Thanks Geoff - it's ticked off my brain list

[@phwayne]

Geoff’s all the station videos convinced my wife and I to do a tour by rail through Wales and England, last summer after Covid restrictions lifted. We are from the USA. We found the trains ran well, comfortable and the scenery outstanding. A big highlight were the ticket agents. They were SO HELPFUL in planning our routes, and saving us money. Train museum in York is the worlds best. We will return!

[@petergabell6274]

What a wonderful experience, sure the pronunciation will get better lol. Llandybie - "Lan d beer" it's easy. Or Llandeilo - "Lan Dai low" simples. Have fun well done Geoff.

[@Daniel_McTigue]

I did the Heart of Wales line last week. I had to get a rail replacement bus from Swansea to Llanwrtyd as trains were running from there. I was the only passenger on that train until we got to Llandrindod so I had my own private train for 30 minutes.

[@huwshepheard3075]

Hi Geoff, I’m from Ammanford, now living in London. My grandfather was stationmaster at Pantyffynnon from 1936 to 1954. I maintain my GWR connection by playing in the GWR Paddington Band! I know the line well. Pantyffynnon is pronounced Pant-uh-ffuh-non. Your pronunciation of Ffairfach wasn’t too bad, though.

[@paulsengupta971]

@@geofftech2 One tip on Welsh pronunciation if you're F-ing and Geoff-ing, is that a single F is pronounced V, and a double F if pronounced F. Fach (pronounced Varch) is Welsh for small.

[@DavidJones-kn9zb]

HI Aussie fan here. Absolutely enjoyed Part 1 of this series. Would really like to see this format used to cover other lines, for example, the Far North Line in Scotland. You are certainly a creative genius when it comes to train programs. Looking forward to Parts 2, 3 and 4. The only negative was the cost of the Rail Rover ticket which is very expensive by Australian standards.

[@u7yf3tz5vm]

It would have been cheaper to buy an Explore South Wales pass. £73 for 4 days compared to £124 for 4 days on the HOWL ranger.

[@laurieharper1526]

Beautiful part of the world. I go to Llandeilo and Llandovery each year to fish the Towy. Always find time for a ride on the train.

[@simonmcowan6874]

You could look at the re-instatement of the Aberystwyth to Carmarthen line, apart from a new tunnel and millions of pounds, the route and enthusiasm is palpable.

[@SaffronWitch]

You're not coming through Wrexham on this train, but at the Ruabon stop the old building is seemingly being converted into a house. It's very strange seeing a house directly backed onto a train stop.

[@user-sr9yi3od8j]

Thanks Geoff for another great series. Looks very picturesque

[@darrellleverkuhn2204]

Great start. Good to see Ian too. I’d love to be traveling along.

[@Denjasaurus]

Having a tough time and really needed some Geoff content to cheer me up

[@PokhrajRoy.]

Omg I was so happy to hear that the series has begun. Already excited!

[@Class777]

This feels like a true TV series!

[@Transportationspotting]

This is going to be great Geoff, I can already tell!

[@cheesedoff-with4410]

I enjoy the ghosted shots where a moving subject fades out and in to view.

[@robertkinnell8357]

My mother grew up in Llandeilo on visits to my grandparents I spent many days transporting at the station. In those days it had a number of beautiful Victorian buildings which were all knocked down in a modernisation drive in the mid 1980's!!! Great memories waling up the line on summer's days,, I even remember a Class 37 hauling coaches on one service.

[@HenrysAdventures]

I've always enjoyed a trio on the Heart of Wales Line. Looking forward to the rest of this.

[@ps.montreal5551]

What an interesting video !! So well done. Thanks for sharing!

[@ClydebridgeStation]

The Glanrhyd Bridge collapse, the bridge was still intact, but the force of the water had weakened the structure, and sadly when the first train that morning went on, in the dark, the bridge collapsed. 18 months later, the Ness Bridge collapsed in Inverness after raging flood waters, but thankfully no trains were on the bridge, and a new bridge was built in 14 months.

[@vincitveritas3872]

Remember Glanrhyd Bridge collapse on TV. Very sad. A 14 year old boy, Simon Penny tried to save an elderly couple and the driver. The investigation suggested he was trying to get the driver out the cab when he drowned. There's a memorial plaque to him at the college he attended

[@adamschannel2]

Love these train videos. Thanks for making them 😊

[@Raygun-xb2st]

Great to see the freight line get a mention! Unfortunately even the track is still there the supplier for the quarry is gone now

[@richardneale246]

Nice one Geoff, as always !!!

[@Northerner_Transport_Hub]

Could this be counted as part of the visiting every station series?

[@geofftech2]

Yes!

[@TheOracle65]

I was in Ammanford today at a meeting 😊. I was so tempted take the line north when it finished. Looking forward to this series 😊

[@heidirabenau511]

Omg, I'm so excited for this video!

[@redowlle]

loving those rural stations...this is an instant classic!

[@bt2gr8k72]

You're an incredible and gem of a person, geoff. Love and respect. Your fan , and of course a rail fan too, from a very very far off place (southern india).

[@maxtrainsgamesandsports]

Not watched, but already excited!

[@grangetowncardiff6935]

Lovely video. Thanks! And thank you for trying the Welsh. Diolch.

[@kieranstravels]

The Heart Of Wales is one of the most beautiful lines in the UK, Especially once you head towards Powys. This will be a wonderful little series, I'm sure!

[@chriskrebill1842]

Lol a great ending! Excited to see the next one! What a cool line!

[@jerrytwolanes4659]

Great video! We need to see much more of Ian!

[@johnjinks4972]

Brilliant first day, looking forward to the rest.

[@LeoStarrenburg]

I do like this line and the places it's going through, thanks Geoff 👍

[@geofftech2]

Gets better / more remote as the week goes on !!!

[@daff.wallace2267]

Love it !! You are so enthusiastic about your trips. Watch it from Australia, might just have to come to the Uk just to ride the trains at random.

[@TheBrollachan]

I miss working this line! Was always a joy, and I really do need to do the Southern section.

[@seprishere]

I wonder if an Explore South Wales pass would have been a better option? £73 for four days of travel in an eight day period. This would have covered your bus fare too.

[@Vile_Entity_3545]

Oh dear he isn’t doing his homework.

[@ryanmetzger2836]

I always love videos like this.

[@oldfart6318]

Brilliant Geoff.

[@donsharpe5786]

The hart of Wales line was scheduled to be closed in the 1960s. Harold Wilson's government was about to sign its closure when a voice of George Thomas came through saying "You can't do that Prime Minister. It passes through five marginal constituencies." As a result it didn't suffer the closure of many other railway lines at the time.

[@tmttvf]

I Used the Heart of Wales yesterday to Shrewsbury, the second time I've done it. The first was in winter so my early start wasn't very picturesque due to late sunrise. Both times my return train was cancelled, so had to go via the mainline through Cardiff, It happens so much, which is a shame. its a lovely journey, Great video!

[@johnvaughan8011]

Normally use this service to get to Llandrindod from time to time, however I want to travel further down the line to Llandeilo to explore it, and the town, then return overnight stay Llandrindod. This is September; be keeping fingers & toes crossed with cancellation worries.

[@julesdingle]

always lovely to see Ian Marchant

[@stephendaddysadventures7045]

Excellent video! We've recently been on the North Wales Coast Line. We got to have lunch on the beach at Colwyn Bay during the fab weather last week 😊

[@boldford]

Did you walk the full length of the pier?

[@stephendaddysadventures7045]

@@boldford if you mean the really tiny one then yep we did! ❤️

[@boldford]

@@stephendaddysadventures7045 Something like 75% of the original fell into the sea. Whether or not they will extend it is open to debate.

[@stephendaddysadventures7045]

@@boldford wow! It looked like there should've been a lot more to the pier

[@Jimyjames73]

What a Lovely line with great views!!! 😉🚂🚂🚂

[@radon1221]

i used to take this service every day for college from Knighton to Shrewsbury and back. It was decently reliable pre covid. At one time they ran a class 175 (in the old blue-cyan colour scheme) on the line as the usual class 150 or 153 was in for refurbishments.

[@iamjohnmc]

My wife and I just visited Knighton in May. What a lovely little town.

[@ianmcclavin]

A 175 on the Heart of Wales line? I never knew that, that would have been good! 😊

[@radon1221]

@@iamjohnmc I haven't lived there for three years but yes it is quite nice,, stuck in the past perhaps but a nice charm to it nonetheless

[@markstramtrainbuscapades1729]

Seeing Ian's just reminded me to begin my annual re-read of "Parallel Lines!"

[@geofftech2]

It's a great read!!

[@apuldram]

Good time to re-read Ian's book, twenty years on!

[@markstramtrainbuscapades1729]

@@apuldram yeah, amazing to think it's been that long!

[@alanlake5220]

7.01 Queen Victoria post box, nice find .

[@GeorgeChoy]

Geoff, you lucky sod, Wales is beautiful, especially that bit.

[@MaJoRMJR]

Two weeks ago I was in Wales (on an Alfa coach holiday), and went on the train from Criccieth to Aberdovey, stopped off at Harlech (Castle) on the way back to Criccieth. Also went to Porthmadog on the train, where there are two heritage narrow gauge trains (visited the stations and their shops, didn't have time to go on the trains). Also went on the Snowdon mountain (sadly only to 2/3 of the way up). The best thing about Criccieth, though, is the path down the side of the railway line, you cross over the line multiple times if you go east, really nice hill walks in that direction (or a long beach walk), beautiful.

[@harrierjames7727]

Big up Ian! He had a choo choo chat, too!

[@squidgytop.2050]

I love the videos you make you have inspired me

[@zeffairan7192]

so, I live in a village called Hendy which is right next to Pontarddulais, and I went to university in Chester, so the Heart of Wales was my way home, so watching you do this is facinating to me, but I'm also laughing and cringing slightly at your pronounciations, this is great fun

[@vectronik]

Bigup for Aaron!

[@tinab3364]

Love this. Great to see Ian M, looking forward to meeting him soon via mutual friend

[@eddonbordeaux3192]

I love this, I would love to visit Wales as a part of a greater UK tour some day

[@jackiedavis5599]

The bridge collapse in the great storm was Glanrhyd a few miles north of Llandeilo.

[@richardwaite6]

Hi Geoff already liking this new series! and looking forward to the next episode, have you finished end of the tube line for now?

[@johnlladron735]

Thanks for the great video. You are truly fortunate to be travelling on such a wonderful line, and you may rest easy that it has to be the most highly engineered line in the country, it's closed so often for 'essential' maintenance - as opposed to 'completely unnecessary' maintenance... Pity that the maintenance never includes cutting back the foliage that thwacks the side of the train at regular intervals. There is a wonderful HOWL group that promotes travel on this line, but I'm not convinced how much love NR Wales or TfW really feel for it. They just seem to think that buses work better. Excuses for closing stations are lame: Check out how long they closed Hopton station among others during the pandemic as they claimed the platform was not long enough to allow passengers to alight and keep distanced from the guard. That would suggest the platform is shorter than one coach when it's actually four coaches long, and the line doesn't run more than two cars. Go figure that one.

[@skyedavies4986]

Hi Geoff your in my home town and very very good pronunciation of llanelli love your videos need to visit like loughor and gower 😊

[@MrGreatplum]

Fantastic, Geoff. Loving the theme music on this one! :) so pleased to see that the station building at Ammanford has been restored - i remember from my visits on the line about 20 years ago that the building was in a terrible state then!

[@baseballfan99]

I passed down the line on a charter train a few years ago. We were stuck for an hour due to running late and having to wait for the stopper to pass going north.

[@paulharvey9149]

:Llangennech may indeed have a step down, Geoff, but you need to alight at Dunkeld & Birnam for the ultimate experience in what really doesn't constitute level access. There are wooden staircases on one of the platforms, but they never seem to be even close to where the train stops and they're not exactly portable, being the whole width of a train door and four steps deep! Somewhere I have photographs of those stations in the mid 1980s, during a memorable visit to friends in Ammanford. Amazing it has such a simple platform when it's by far the biggest town north of Llanelli, isn't it? I also joined a train at Pantyfynnon back then - what a joy to see it restored! I think the branch was mothballed for quite a few of the intervening ears and then revived again maybe 20 - odd years ago. Now, you need to be able to make the CH- sound as in the composer, Bach, or a Scottish Loch - and combine it with an L sound, to say some of these station names properly; and also get the emphasis in the right place, which is usually the second syllable... So, if I write 'emphasis' as Em-FAA-seece you'll get my drift (or perhaps not). So, LlANDA-bee is Llandybie, right? How about, "Pleas get-rid OF those blood-EE blond high-LIGHTs as they ROO-in your Ap-PEERance...?" Ff is the same as our F sound in English, but the -air part is a harder -IRE sound, and the single f sounds like our v; hence Fire-VAAch for Ffairfach and as -DD in the middle of a word tends to be like our -th sound, you know it is Pon-TARTHA-lice for Pontarddulais, which means 'Bridge of Dulais' in English - as they're usually descriptive... You should get the hang of it before you get to Llanwrda, Llanwrtyd or Llangunllo, with any luck! Oh, and it's A-MANN-ford by the way - and Swansea is ABER-tow-ee, not Aber-TAW!

[@btuckervideos4705]

A couple of years ago, I visited Pantyffynnon on a NB train with the intention to walk to Ammanford to catch the SB train a couple of hours later. A heritage train was running along the line that day, and a lot of people came to Pantyffynnon to watch it come past. However, it broke down somewhere north of Pantyffynnon, thus didn't come through (and thus the SB train I planned to get at Ammanford was cancelled), so I ended up walking to Ammanford bus station and got the bus back to Swansea

[@Karlinski73]

And so it begins.... ❤

[@PokhrajRoy.]

Wales seems lovely. I’d love to visit it.

[@luisstransport]

Great video Geoff

[@cperry1593]

Welshman ere, its amazing to see this!!!!

[@noiselesspatient]

We live beneath Cynghordy viaduct. We shall wave! Happy travelling!

[@geofftech2]

Came through two weeks ago. Hope you waved !!! 👋

[@SKI_2.0]

YES it's here!!!!

[@christopherbutler7588]

Great video thanks 😊

[@joachimbiddulph1001]

You doing well with the welsh. This line is a challenge.

[@jonathanscripps917]

Lord Marchant of Newhaven. Class guest for a class railway line. ✅

[@elljones6159]

Pantyffannon Does has a cracking set of Semephores, and when you reach Craven Arms at the Northern end It too has some, though they are vanishing fast! and of course from there all the way to Shrewsbury is semephores and Block working!

[@Hevlikn]

oh boy, my new favourite thing since grassy tram tracks is grassy heavy rail tracks!

[@kabongpope]

Ah, these are so much fun!

[@allabouttrains5867]

Brilliant geoff keep up the good work and the weeds are normall for wales

[@Kimberley42]

Fantastic! I'm now planning my own adventure along that line.

[@christophermills1412]

The branch to Gwaun Cae Gurwen hasn’t been used for a number of years, 2018/19 I believe. It served an opencast mine that is no longer in operation.

[@madsteve5082]

That made me laugh the first shop you call is literally at the top of the road I live on

[@michellebell5092]

A new Geoff Marshall video series/project. Ei weld yn dweud ei fox, Wedi ‘i sortio

[@AndyWoodger]

I think this is a line I want to travel on.

[@nice_tri_dan4400]

It was lovely to meet you at Shrewsbury (Or is it Shrewsbury?) the other weekend. I went full fan boy.

[@LoloTrends]

That is great but we need one for GWR in Cornwall please. Thank you Geoff.