Jon Searles' photos with the keyword: Glamorgan

I took this on New Year's Eve, after getting to Cardiff in the nick of time to meet my friends. I took several other cameraphone shots along the way, although nothing to speak of. I originally had hoped to get the number of this unit, but again I was using a cameraphone, so the exposure from the headlights was too much. This had been my first trip on Great Western after it reverted to its pre-1948 name, after having operated as "First Great Western" (in reference to First Bus) since privatization, and the creation of the train operating companies (TOC's) in 1996.

This is the entrance to the station, which is, as far as I know, up on that bridge to the right. The sculpture on the wall looks really 1970's, even Communist, although in this location that would be virtually impossible. In truth, a lot of similar artwork existed in America at the time. However, I know next to nothing about its actual origins.

This visit to Grangetown was completely unplanned. I was running an errand with one of my friends, and just spotted this BR-era "barbed wire" station sign. To avoid confusion, perhaps, most of these signs have survived, not only in situ, but also on maps, and the logo also still appears on tickets and in timetables. Grangetown is located south of Cardiff, and is often counted as part of the city, although the maps I've seen are confusing so I don't know if it technically is Cardiff.

This was my train, still worked by an Intercity 125 after all these years. These trainsets date to 1976, but in some respects they're still the most advanced diesel passenger trains in the world. At the moment, I'm also unaware of anything faster than them, although some DMU's and ICE-TD variants can match them.

I took this on my way to Cardiff Central Station. The old Great Western Mainline is on that viaduct you can see on the right, and you can see a steam-era water tower on the left. I've taken shots from this angle several times before. This wasn't actually a sunset, but a sunrise, as I had to get a train very early in the morning in order to get the Eurostar in London.

These BR Class 142 "Pacer" railbuses were originally introduced by BR in the 1980's in an attempt at cutting costs on branchlines. Being as cut-rate as they are (like most railbuses), they have sometimes been rated by railway magazines as the most hated rail vehicles in Britain, although I'm not clear on where they got their survey data. I'm just thankful to have rail transport, although I would agree that they ride rough, they're slow (75 m.p.h.), they're loud, they're a little bit cramped, the seats are crude, and they aren't always kept clean (although this isn't a result of the design). I rode this one, now Arriva #142072, to Cardiff from Barry.

EWS still operate a large proportion of the freight trains in Britain, and their primary locomotive, as planned, has become the Class 66, built by GMLG in London, Ontario during the late 1990's and early 2000's. I remember when these were being delivered, and they still look new today. GMLG, or General Motors Locomotive Group, has since been sold off by GM and is now known as EMD, an older name denoting Electro-Motive Division, which GM used from 1942 to 1990 to denote locomotives built at the old Electro-Motive plant in LaGrange, Illinois, although the new EMD is based in London, Ontario.

While looking at the other extra Barry photo, I found three more, but from my cameraphone. This one is on the bridge to Barry Island on the Barry Island branch. The train is a BR Class 150 DMU, still in use after roughly 35 years (I don't know the exact build date). These were old even when I was living in Britain, and are still in service even today. They can only operate at about 75 m.p.h., but this isn't a problem on many of the branchlines in Britain, and they have an advantage over most of the newer classes because they have more luggage space, or at least usable luggage space. They're particularly handy if you're travelling with a bike.

I wasn't originally going to post this, but I decided it was retro and weird enough so that someone might want to see it. This is close to the amusement part on Barry Island, along the road leading onto the island, although I don't know how directly connected it is to it.