British Rail

On 1st January 1948 the British railway network was nationalised and the Great Western Railway that operated in Pembrokeshire ceased to exist.

At first there seemed to be little change in the county with locomotive and carriges kept in their G. W. R. colours but with different company logos. The same classes of G. W. R. locomotives also still operated in the county until steam locomotives were finally withdrawn and little was ever seen of the new British Rail standard classes. Business continued to increase within the county into the 1950s and this decade saw the peak of the tourist traffic on the railways.

Despite this apparent success signs of impending cut backs began to appear. In 1949 the branch line along the course of the old North Pembrokeshire and Fishguard Railway between Clynderwyn and Letterston was closed. In 1955 the first stations in Pembrokeshire became unstaffed and this trend continued into the 1960s. Train services in the county were steadily reduced and the very important Milford fish traffic went into terminal decline with the decline of the trawling industry. By the late 1950s British Rail was in financial difficulties as passengers and goods moved away from the railways and onto the roads. Diesel Multiple Units first appeared in Pembrokeshire in 1959 to operate alongside the steam engines and provide a more economical service for passengers in a vain attempt to compete with road traffic.

By 1959 there was a clear decline in the rail traffic in Pembrokeshire and the 1960s were a decade of disaster for railways here as the network was decimated by cutbacks. The first to go was the branch line to Cardigan from Whitland, the old Whitland and Cardigan Railway. Passenger services ceased on this line in 1962 and the line was finally closed in 1963. 1963 also saw freight services withdrawn from many stations in Pembrokeshire despite resistance from the rail unions. The first diesel locomotives appeared in the county that year and in September steam engines were withdrawn and their sheds closed. Through trains to Paddington were also ended that year.

In 1964 Neyland was closed and the line there used just as a siding. During the rest of the 1960s many of the level crossings lost their gates and keepers, most stations became unstaffed, signal boxes closed and points and sidings were lifted as rail traffic fell away.

In 1968 the old Pembroke and Tenby line from Whitland to Pembroke was narrowly saved form closure but a large subsidy was needed to maintain it.

There was a minor boost to rail traffic during the 1960s with the opening of several oil refineries on the shores of Milford Haven. Those on the north side, Esso at Herbranston and Gulf at Waterston had their own short rail links laid from the old Milford Railway line from Johnston to Milford Haven but the traffic they provided was nothing compared to what had already been lost, especially as most of the oil trade came and went by sea.

The decline finally bottomed out during the 1970s and by the 1980s there was little left to cut and no surviving freight traffic except for the occasional oil train.

Today the county's railways survive operating a reduced service on the remaining lines. The main line through the centre of the county and up to Fishguard is still operating as is the line through to Milford via Haverfordwest and the old Pembroke and Tenby line from Whitland to Pembroke Dock. The stations are either closed or unstaffed and the services are mostly provided by little one or two coach self propelled units. Weeds grow between the lines accompanied by empty beer cans and other rubbish at stations that were once spotless. Railway sidings have all but disapered and the few that remain are rusted, weedgrown and disused. In their place is waste ground or the buildings of private companies. The future remains very uncertain with constant rumors of closing all the railways west of Swansea and soon there may be no trains at all in the county. The future appears bleak.