The train services to Penarth from the T.V.R. Station i.e. Cardiff Queen Street station as published within 'A handy illustrated pocket guide to Cardiff, Penarth and Environs'. This third edition was revised and enlarged being printed and published for the proprietors of the Penarth Esplanade Hotel, Mr. J. L. Kerpen in 1897. I found it to be a wonderful piece of Penarth's fine heritage held in the Penarth Dock Collection. [001] [403]

The Taff Vale Railway station at Cardiff Queen Street in the 1890's. [001] - Mr. D. S. M. Barrie in his book 'The Taff Vale Railway' [006] describes it thus:- 'From 1887, when it replaced the original and decidedly tumble-down station nearer the docks (likened by E. L. Ahrons to a 'moderately glorified fowl-house'), Queen Street was the principal Taff Vale Station in Cardiff, being also the location of the General Offices. Queen Street in the Taff Vale days had three platforms with an aggregate length of 1,700 ft., the total covered area being 4,400 sq. yds. On an average weekday the station dealt with some 16,000 passengers, there being about 200 arriving trains and a similar number of departures.'

However, a letter to the Editor of the South Wales Daily News in the same year (1897) as the above timetable was published, suggests it wasn't an ideal passenger terminus:-

Taff Vale Railway Station - To The Editor - 'Sir, -- A railway building for the reception of passengers should be constructed in a way that meets all reasonable requirements of travelers, but the T.V.R. Station, Queen-street, Cardiff, seems to have been erected without much regard for the convenience or the comfort of the public. Before the booking-office is reached the luggage room has to be passed, and the pavement there is often impassible, covered with boxes, hampers, trolleys, &c., with carts and waggons alongside. Again, on the down platform there is not a single room for shelter. In wintertime, when trains are often late, many a passenger to the Docks takes cold and contracts serious illness. The roof over this platform is not even watertight, and when there is a heavy snow storm one might as well be in an open space. At such times every foot of the platform may be covered with snow a couple of inches deep. In addition to these causes of complaint, it would almost seem that the officials do not even trouble about the safety of anyone. Trolleys and other things are often left about the platform, and the subway is turned into a sort of bin for all sorts of rubbish, creating obstacles to the hundreds of passengers who rush down the steps into the subway. This condition of things must surely be against the interests of the shareholders. -- I am, &c., S.N.' South Wales Daily News [325] [361] 19th October 1897.

The exterior of the TVR Queen Street Station probably also taken in the 1890's. This photograph was posted on the Old Cardiff Photos section of the Cardiff City Forum, so many thanks for a great website. [770] [20200305]