Fishguard & Goodwick railway station
This station reopened on 14 May 2012, 48 years after it closed in a British Railways economy drive.
Fishguard’s first railway was part-owned by an Irish company, the Great Southern & Western Railway. The GSWR collaborated in 1898 with the Great Western Railway to establish a new route across the Irish Sea. This involved completing Rosslare and Fishguard harbours and building railways into each port. When Goodwick station opened on 1 July 1899, it was the terminus for passenger trains. It was renamed Fishguard & Goodwick in 1904.
The railway extension to the new Fishguard Harbour station opened in 1906. The old drawing shows how the Fishguard “boat train” from London looked in the early years of its operation.
Fishguard & Goodwick station shut in 1964. The railway would have closed but for the Irish Sea traffic. By the 21st century, there was just one train per day to Fishguard Harbour and another after midnight, both timed to connect with Rosslare sailings. It was impractical for local residents to go anywhere by train and return the same day.
In 2009 school pupils from Moylegrove organised a petition calling for more trains for Fishguard. More than 1,100 people signed, and the petition was handed to the National Assembly for Wales. In March 2011 the Welsh Government announced a three-year trial of additional trains on weekdays and Saturdays, starting in September 2011.
Pembrokeshire County Council had already acquired the old station for a future transport interchange. With Network Rail and other partners, the station’s reopening was fast-tracked. The old station building was beyond repair and was replaced by a new one in a similar style. The photo shows an Arriva train at the newly reopened station in 2012.
A statue of a cat, by local sculptor Darren Yeadon, was unveiled in 2017. The cat, which lived in Goodwick signal box, was praised by the GWR for keeping the station free of rats. After her death in 1930 the station staff created a memorial plaque, a replica of which is now displayed here.
The station provides immediate access to the North Pembrokeshire section of the Wales Coast Path. Here also is the start of National Cycle Network Route 4 to London.
About the place-name 'Goodwick':
The name refers to the place at the mouth of the river Gwdig (Afon Wdig) which flows to Fishguard Harbour, writes Prof Dai Thorne. Gwdig was adopted as the village name. The alternative Welsh name Wdig derives from Afon Wdig. Gwddig occurs as an earlier name on the river. There is no satisfactory interpretation of the name at present.
Postcode: SA64 0DG View Location Map
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