Penygroes railway station

Penygroes railway station was located in Penygroes, Gwynedd, Wales.^[8]

Penygroes
Circa. 1875
General information
Location	Gwynedd Wales
Coordinates	53.0524°N 4.2886°W / 53.0524; -4.2886
Grid reference	SH 466 530
Platforms	2 plus bay[1]
Other information
Status	Disused
History
Original company	Nantlle Railway Caernarvonshire Railway
Pre-grouping	London and North Western Railway
Post-grouping	London, Midland and Scottish Railway
Key dates
11 August 1856	Opened by the Nantlle Railway
12 June 1865	Closed[2]
2 September 1867	Reopened by the Carnarvonshire Railway as "Pen-y-Groes"[3][4]
1904	Renamed "Penygroes"
7 December 1964	Closed[5][6][7]

v t e Carnarvonshire Railway
Legend
Bangor and Carnarvon Railway to Bangor Caernarvon Carnarvon and Llanberis Railway Caernarfon (WHR) Quay sidings Caernarvon (Morfa) Carnarvon (Pant) Pont Rug Halt Pontrhythallt Bontnewydd (WHR) Cwm-y-Glo Llanberis Tunnel Glynrhonwy Quarries Padarn Halt Llanberis Dinas Junction Welsh Highland Railway Llanwnda Groeslon Penygroes Nantlle Branch Junction Nantlle summit Pant Glas Brynkir Ynys Llangybi Chwilog Aberystwith & Welsh Coast Rly to Pwllheli Afon Wen Aberystwith & Welsh Coast Rly to Porthmadog

The narrow gauge, horse-drawn Nantlle Railway had a station near the site from 1856. From the outset timetables appeared regularly in the "Carnarvon & Denbigh Herald"^[9] and in Bradshaw from October 1856.^[10] In 1865 the narrow gauge line was closed, to be replaced and updated to standard gauge with contemporary facilities. It reopened in its eventual form in 1867 and closed in December 1964. The station served as the junction station^[11] for the short branch to Nantlle which was overlain in 1872 on part of the former Nantlle Railway route, but its main purpose was for traffic on the former Carnarvonshire Railway line from Caernarvon to Afon Wen and beyond.^[12]

When the line and station were first opened in 1867 a locomotive was hired from the Cambrian Railways. A Cambrian driver, who had never been over the line before, was retained to drive the first directors' inspection special from Afon Wen to Carnarvon (Pant). On the return journey the loco ran short of coal and ran out of steam at Penygroes. There was some peat in a nearby field, which the crew dug and the directors carried to the engine enabling steam to be raised.^[13]

The passenger service along the Nantlle Branch was withdrawn in 1932, though excursions continued until 1939. The station and line closed on 7 December 1964 as recommended in the Beeching Report. The station building and footbridge remained in place, but increasingly derelict, until at least 1970.^[14]

Preceding station	Historical railways			Following station
Groeslon Line and Station closed		Carnarvonshire Railway		Pant Glas Line and Station closed
Terminus		Carnarvonshire Railway Nantlle Branch		Nantlle Line and Station closed

References

1. Mitchell & Smith 2010, Photos 45-52 & Map XIV.
2. The station, via Disused Stations
3. Baughan 1991, p. 70.
4. Shannon & Hillmer 1999, pp. 20–21.
5. Butt 1995, p. 184.
6. Turner 2003, pp. 7 & 9.
7. Quick 2009, p. 310.
8. Christiansen 1976, p. 108.
9. Specimen timetable, North Wales Chronicle and Advertiser 14 May 1859
10. Example timetable in Bradshaw
11. Kneale 1980, Plates 130 & 131.
12. Rear 2012, pp. 41–46.
13. Dunn 1958, pp. 595–6.
14. Atterbury 2009, p. 232.

Sources

• Atterbury, Paul (2009). Tickets Please. David and Charles. ISBN 978-0-7153-2876-7.
• Baughan, Peter E. (1991). A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain: North and Mid Wales. Regional railway history series (2nd ed.). Nairn: David St John Thomas Publisher. ISBN 0-946537-59-3. OL 11571058M. Vol 11.
• Butt, R. V. J. (October 1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199. OL 11956311M.
• Christiansen, Rex (1976). Forgotten Railways: North and Mid Wales. Newton Abbot, Devon: David and Charles. ISBN 0-7153-7059-6.
• Dunn, J.M. (September 1958). Cooke, B.W.C. (ed.). "The Afonwen Line-1". The Railway Magazine. 104 (689). London: Tothill Press Limited.
• Jowett, Alan (March 1989). Jowett's Railway Atlas of Great Britain and Ireland: From Pre-Grouping to the Present Day (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-086-0. OCLC 22311137.
• Kneale, E.N. (1980). North Wales Steam, 1927-68. Poole, Dorset: Oxford Publishing Co. ISBN 0-86093-074-2.
• Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (2010). Bangor to Portmadoc: Including Three Llanberis Lines. Country Railway Routes. Midhurst: Middleton Press. ISBN 978-1-906008-72-7.
• Quick, Michael (2009) [2001]. Railway passenger stations in Great Britain: a chronology (4th ed.). Oxford: Railway & Canal Historical Society. ISBN 978-0-901461-57-5. OCLC 612226077.
• Rear, W.G. (2012). Caernarvon & the Lines from Afonwen & Llanberis: 28: Scenes from the Past Railways of North Wales. Nottingham: Book Law Publications. ISBN 9-781907-094781.
• Shannon, Paul; Hillmer, John (1999). North Wales (British Railways Past & Present) Part 2. Kettering: Past & Present Publishing Ltd. ISBN 1-85895-163-1. No 36.
• Turner, Alun (2003). Gwynedd's Lost Railways. Catrine, Ayrshire: Stenlake Publishing. ISBN 9781840332599.

Further material

• Clemens, Jim (2003) [1959-67]. North Wales Steam Lines No. 6 (DVD). Uffington, Shropshire: B&R Video Productions. BRVP No 79.
• Smith, Martin, ed. (May 2011). "The Nantlle Tramway". Railway Bylines. Vol. 16, no. 6. Clophill, Bedfordshire: Irwell Press. pp. 306–313. ISSN 1360-2098.

External links

• The station site on a navigable OS Map, via National Library of Scotland
• The station and line, via Rail Map Online
• The line CNV with mileages, via Railway Codes
• Images of the station, via Yahoo
• The station, via Nantlle Valley History
• The station and line, via LNWR Society
• By DMU from Pwllheli to Amlwch, via Huntley Archives