Penygroes
General information
LocationGwynedd
Wales
Coordinates53°03′09″N 4°17′19″W / 53.0524°N 4.2886°W / 53.0524; -4.2886
Grid referenceSH 466 530
Platforms2 plus bay[1]
Other information
StatusDisused
History
Original companyNantlle Railway
Caernarvonshire Railway
Pre-groupingLondon and North Western Railway
Post-groupingLondon, Midland and Scottish Railway
Key dates
11 August 1856Opened by the Nantlle Railway
12 June 1865Closed[2]
2 September 1867Reopened by the Carnarvonshire Railway as "Pen-y-Groes"[3][4]
1904Renamed "Penygroes"
7 December 1964Closed[5][6][7]

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

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The passenger service along the Nantlle Branch was withdrawn in 1932, though excursions continued until 1939.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. London: Tothill Press Limited. 104 (689).
  • 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.
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