Johnston railway station is an unstaffed railway station in the village of Johnston in

Pembrokeshire Pembrokeshire ( ; cy, Sir Benfro ) is a Local government in Wales#Principal areas, county in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and the rest by sea. The count ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. It opened in 1856 as part of the final section of the

South Wales Railway The South Wales Railway ( cy, Rheilffordd De Cymru) was a main line railway which opened in stages from 1850, connecting the Great Western Railway from Gloucester to South Wales. It was constructed on the broad gauge. An original aspiration was to ...

main line from to . It has gone by various names and is now operated by

Transport for Wales Rail Transport for Wales Rail Limited, branded as Transport for Wales and TfW Rail ( and ), is a Welsh publicly owned train operating company, a subsidiary of Transport for Wales (TfW), a Welsh Government-owned company. It commenced operations of t ...

. Train stops are made at the station by request only. The station was the junction for trains to Neyland and also the branch line to Milford Haven. Johnston is the penultimate stop on the West Wales Line before .

History

The station was opened with the final section of the

main line, from to , on 15 April 1856. Originally named ''Johnston'', it has been renamed several times: to ''Milford Road'' in November 1859; to ''Johnston'' on 7 September 1863; to ''Johnston (Pembroke)'' on 18 June 1928; to ''Johnston (Dyfed)'' on 3 May 1976, before finally resuming its original name. The station served as the junction for trains to Neyland and also the branch line to Milford Haven (the main line since the closure of the Neyland route in 1964). Milford passengers would here make a connection to services eastwards to Haverfordwest and beyond.Parker, Richard ''Neyland: A Great Western Outpost'', KRB Publications, 2002. A station building was situated on the upside, and a waiting shelter on the downside. A pedestrian bridge connected the two platforms. A goods shed survived until the 1930s. At a short distance north of the station, the line was connected to the railway line serving the anthracite trade at

Hook A hook is a tool consisting of a length of material, typically metal, that contains a portion that is curved or indented, such that it can be used to grab onto, connect, or otherwise attach itself onto another object. In a number of uses, one e ...

. The route north of here was double track until the late 1980s, with the station signal box controlling access to the private sidings serving the

oil refineries An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial process plant where petroleum (crude oil) is transformed and refined into useful products such as gasoline (petrol), diesel fuel, asphalt base, fuel oils, heating oil, kerosene, liquefie ...

at Robeston & Waterston as well as the single line portion through to the terminus at . Both it and the neighbouring box at were closed in 1988 when the line was re-signalled & singled south of (the former southbound platform went out of use as a result, all trains thenceforth using the former northbound platform).

Services

InterCity 125 The InterCity 125 (originally Inter-City 125New trai ...

services to/from

London Paddington Paddington, also known as London Paddington, is a London station group, Central London railway terminus and London Underground station complex, located on Praed Street in the Paddington area. The site has been the London terminus of services pro ...

ran through Johnston to Milford Haven until the early 1990s, ending in 1994. The station, and all trains serving it, are operated by

. Trains stop here by request only. The usual service pattern is one train every two hours in each direction, westwards to Milford Haven railway station and eastwards to

Manchester Piccadilly Manchester Piccadilly is the principal railway station in Manchester, England. Opened as Store Street in 1842, it was renamed Manchester London Road in 1847 and became Manchester Piccadilly in 1960. Located to the south-east of Manchester city ...

via , and Cardiff Central.

Facilities

The station is unstaffed, so tickets must be bought on the train or prior to travel. There is small covered shelter available, along with a customer help point, timetable information boards and a digital CIS display to offer train running details. A free car park is located opposite the platform, with capacity for 8 vehicles.

References

External links

{{Transport in Pembrokeshire Railway stations in Pembrokeshire DfT Category F2 stations Former Great Western Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1856 Railway stations served by Transport for Wales Rail Railway request stops in Great Britain