A bird’s eye view of this spot shows a busy station and the new passenger bridge looking like a curly moustache.
150 years ago the same view looked down on a criss-cross maze of stations and tracks. Express trains went direct to London. Some local lines were very short, like the eight mile Eastern Valley Line to Pontypool. Others ended in wooden huts.
The skyline was clouded by the steam and smoke of new industries. Opponents claimed the smoke and noise of steam trains would discolour sheep wool and prevent frightened cows from fattening.