Talk:South Wales Main Line

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the South Wales Main Line article.
This is not a forum for general discussion of the article's subject.

Put new text under old text. Click here to start a new topic.
New to Wikipedia? Welcome! Learn to edit; get help.

Article policies

Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL

Trains: in UK Mid‑importance

Trains Portal

This article is within the scope of WikiProject Trains, an attempt to build a comprehensive and detailed guide to rail transport on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, you can visit the project page, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion. See also: WikiProject Trains to do list and the Trains Portal.TrainsWikipedia:WikiProject TrainsTemplate:WikiProject Trainsrail transport articles

Mid

This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.

Associated projects or task forces:
/
	This article is supported by WikiProject UK Railways (assessed as Mid-importance).

It is requested that an a map be included in this article to improve its quality. Please work with the Maps task force to create and add a map to this article. The editor who added the request suggests the following:

add a geographic map

This article lacks sufficient references and/or adequate inline citations.

Cardiff Mid‑importance

	Wales portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Cardiff, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Cardiff-related articles on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.CardiffWikipedia:WikiProject CardiffTemplate:WikiProject CardiffCardiff articles
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.

Bristol Mid‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Bristol, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Bristol-related articles on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.BristolWikipedia:WikiProject BristolTemplate:WikiProject BristolBristol articles
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.
	At least one photograph is included in this article

Wales High‑importance

	Wales portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Wales, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Wales on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.WalesWikipedia:WikiProject WalesTemplate:WikiProject WalesWales articles
High	This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale.

Wiltshire Mid‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Wiltshire, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Wiltshire on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.WiltshireWikipedia:WikiProject WiltshireTemplate:WikiProject WiltshireWiltshire articles
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.

The route diagram template for this article can be found in Template:South Wales Main Line.

Scope of Great Western Main Line

The scope of the Great Western Main Line article is under discussion. It currently covers Paddington to Bristol; Reading to Taunton; and the Cornish Main Line. The South Wales Main Line, and some other less obvious routes that the SRA deem to be part of the GWML, already have their own articles.

The question is: should the South Wales Main Line be merged with the GWML (which would bring it in line with the ECML/WCML articles), or should the West of England routes be separated out for clarity, although this could give rise to a naming conflict with the SWT West of England Main Line - a topic discussed a couple of years ago with no action taken. Geof Sheppard 14:49, 27 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Railway line diagram

It's a bit complicated, can't we simplify it with just the stations on it. No need for tunnels etc. to be shown really [Unsigned comment by 82.0.120.146]

I believe that, as this is an article about a route, then the diagram should show not just the stations but also the other features that make the route distinctive and notable. There is a disussion about this at UK Railways - please join in. Geof Sheppard 07:15, 17 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Welsh Name

I've changed the Welsh name from 'Reilffordd Brif De Cymru' to 'Prif Rheilffordd De Cymru', as it was gramattically incorrect (was equivalent to 'South Wales Line Main' in English). I don't feel that this is a particularly "good" term, though. Does anyone have any input? Ansbaradigeidfran (talk) 21:14, 24 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Removed. google:"Prif Rheilffordd De Cymru" has one and only one result - this article. 81.110.106.169 (talk) 19:16, 31 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

It's the translation. Welshleprechaun (talk) 23:58, 31 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Which nobody else uses. 81.110.106.169 (talk) 11:39, 1 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The Word 'Rheilffordd' would mutate to 'Reilffordd'. Googling this brings up a report by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales and a PDF map by Cardiff Council, so to claim 'nobody' uses it is incorrect. It is also used in news items on radio and on television, but I can't provide links to these sorry. --Rhyswynne (talk) 07:27, 2 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I notice you neglect to mention that the two results you have provided come from a search giving three results.. It seems that neither the BBC, the Assembly nor Arriva use it. AFAIK, Network Rail tends not to use Welsh full stop, but still. Worth noting you'll find the same number of results in these searches if you mutate the P to B, MH or PH. The whole matter is complicated by Rheilffordd De Cymru, of which the first few pages were referring exclusively to the pre-grouping South Wales Railway. 81.110.106.169 (talk) 18:46, 2 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

2015 Wootton Bassett SPAD?

re [1]

What relevance does this one incident have to the entire history of the SWML, such that this, and only this incident, is mentioned - and with a whole section to itself. In contrast, the Severn Tunnel accident (185 injuries) doesn't even get a See also. Andy Dingley (talk) 22:10, 14 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Scope of South Wales Main Line

There seems to be some confusion and disagreement about where the South Wales Main Line starts and ends. This article from Network Rail states the line starts from the Severn Tunnel and ends in Swansea. [2] Does this article really need to be separate to the Great Western main line article. Nowadays it is effectively just a branch of the Great Western? Argoed (talk) 16:09, 25 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]

There are three routes that were of varying significance by age.

The 1850 line from Gloucester.
Post-1886, the line through the tunnel and North of Bristol. This now makes the Gloucester line through Chepstow and Lydney very secondary. It even affects some of the importance for the Golden Valley line.
The Bristol and South Wales Union Railway and its notion of a "railway to America" via Neyland (or Abermawr), which would involve major traffic beyond Swansea. However this part never happened.

So the "modern" SWML is the tunnel to Swansea. But it has had other aspects too. Even today, it's wrong to say the line "terminates" at Swansea. Andy Dingley (talk) 16:34, 25 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]

External links modified

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified one external link on South Wales Main Line. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:

Added archive http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20170123080842/http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/pi/rail-electrification.pdf to http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/pi/rail-electrification.pdf

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{source check}} (last update: 5 June 2024).

If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.

Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 01:50, 5 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Gauge history

I don't have the information to do so, but I think it would be useful if someone could add into the History section something about the fact that (as I understand it) this line was originally broad gauge. This fact is mentioned elsewhere (eg Taff Vale Railway#Taff_Vale_Extension_Railway and Rhymney Railway#London_and_North_Western_Railway), and it appears to have been one of the factors in the development of competing lines providing direct standard gauge links from some of the South Wales valleys to Cardiff, London and elsewhere. It therefore seems to be significant enough to warrant inclusion here - perhaps at least a mention of the original gauge and when it was converted to standard? JA 1961 (talk) 14:08, 10 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

True, and the gauge conversion of the South Wales main line was a bigger project than the gauge conversion of the West of England main line, but got less publicity because it occurred twenty years earlier, during a period when the GWR were gradually converting the gauge area by area, line by line. The specific lines involved and dates are found in MacDermot, Volume II (Chapter II and Appendix I) - but generally speaking, the lines west of Gloucester were converted in early May 1872, the lines between Swindon, Gloucester and Cheltenham later the same month. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 23:12, 10 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

South Wales Mainline English starting point.

I would suggest that we change the start of the South Wales Mainline on the English side to Bristol Parkway/Bristol Temple Meads from Wootton Bassett as the Network Rail's Sectional appendix for Wales & Western shows the start of the South Wales Mainline in Bristol Area with the switch from the Up & Down Badminton Line at Stoke Gilford over to the Up & Down Track. Which is shown on pages 458 & 459 of 1071 pages. Western and Wales Sectional Appendix March 2024 (sacuksprodnrdigital0001.blob.core.windows.net) The Welsh Government has the start and end of the South Wales Mainline at Bristol Temple Meads and Bristol Parkway which agrees with the Network Rail start and end. South Wales main line: rail network map | GOV.WALES Also Transport for Wales Rail puts the end point of the South Wales Mainline at Bristol Temple Meads and Bristol Parkway. South Wales Mainline | Transport for Wales (tfw.wales) Also the current line between Wootton Basset already has it own page under the Badminton Line name which is the correct name for that line. I Like The british Rail Class 483 (talk) 13:16, 11 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]