67) The Refresh - former Cymmer Railway Station

This building is both another connection with railways, and also another example of a good building being repurposed. Like the former Cynonville Station (Number 45 of my 100 Faces of Port Talbot - Former Cynonville Station) Cymmer Station was closed, and the tracks ripped up. Several miles along the same cycle track that passes through Cynonville, the Station found a new lease of life as the “Refresh”, short for the Refreshment Rooms. It’s a great place, and I’m particularly fond of it since twenty years ago, my father in law and I used to run from the car park in Pontrhydyfen all the way to Cymmer, and the Refresh was always a welcome sign that we’d be turning round and heading back, and the incline is very gently downhill on the way back. 

With this photo I had to ‘cheat’ a bit to make the sketch from the vantage point I wanted. From the main road to Port Talbot, you get a view down to the Refresh, but it’s so far away that I couldn’t see it well enough to make the sketch. So I took a photo using the zoom lens of my camera, and the sketch is based on the photo that I took.