awards including a National Railway Heritage Award in 2003. Other parts of the building have become an Indian restaurant, office space and accommodation for a local furniture recycling scheme. Vale of Rheidol Railway The platform that was originally used by trains via Lampeter to Carmarthen is now used by the narrow gauge steam-operated Vale of Rheidol Railway. This railway's track runs parallel to and immediately to the south of the main line as far as Llanbadarn Fawr. Opened in 1902, it originally had its own terminus at "Aberystwyth Smithfield" (named after Smithfield Road, now Park Avenue). This closed in 1925 and was replaced by a station a short distance from the main railway station; that station site is now a supermarket car park. In 1968 its track was rerouted into the former standard gauge bay Platforms 1 and 2 of the main station. As their trains unload at ground level, a new ramp and ground-level island platform were built in the space between the two original platforms. There is a runaround loop and access to the former mainline railway shed. This was used as the storage and works area for the Vale of Rheidol Railway. From 2014, the Vale of Rheidol railway, with the help of an EU-funded grant, converted the old platform 1 of the Carmarthen branch to a reduced height. This now allows customers to board coaches from the level of the running board, as opposed to from ground level. The access is invaluable to passengers who have mobility issues. This does not allow wheelchairs to be wheeled onto coaches, but the company is working on a solution by adapting some existing rolling stock to this purpose. In 2011, a purpose-built railway works was built on the site of the old GWR coaling stage. This now allows the railway to carry out heavy maintenance and restorations on its stock. It also allows contract work to be undertaken. The works has an apprentice school. Today As of December 2020, the station has a single mainline platform for trains to and beyond, with a loop that is used to reverse locomotive-hauled specials, including steam services and maintenance trains. There were proposals, by the Vale of Rheidol railway, to establish a railway museum at the station, using structures removed from London Bridge station during modernisation. These proposals went ahead and construction began in 2018 and were set to be complete in