Penmaenmawr railway station

Penmaenmawr railway station serves the small town of Penmaenmawr, Wales, and is located on the Crewe to Holyhead North Wales Coast Line, 49 1⁄4 miles (79.3 km) west of Chester. The station is a request stop.

Penmaenmawr
Penmaenmawr station in January 2012
Location
PlacePenmaenmawr
Local authorityConwy
Coordinates53.270°N 3.924°W / 53.270; -3.924
Grid referenceSH718765
Operations
Station codePMW
Managed byTransport for Wales
Number of platforms2
DfT categoryF1
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections
from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2014/15 13,936
2015/16 14,152
2016/17 12,212
2017/18 11,690
2018/19 12,556
History
Key datesOpened 1849 (1849)
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Penmaenmawr from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.

History
Aftermath of the Penmaenmawr train crash, 1950)

The local granite quarries are a major source stone aggregate railway traffic especially for road building and railway maintenance purposes. Transfer sidings for this traffic are located next to the station and are controlled from the station signal box. This had to be relocated following a fatal accident at the station in August 1950. Six people were killed when a goods train undertaking shunting operations at the station in the early hours was inadvertently diverted onto the main line, where it collided with the fast-moving eastbound Irish Mail express from Holyhead.[1][2] The poor view afforded of the sidings from the old box was cited as one of the contributory factors to the accident.

An earlier accident occurred near Penmaenmawr on 12 January 1899 when an express freight train was derailed because a storm had washed away the trackbed. Both locomotive crew were killed.[3]

Facilities
View west towards Llanfairfechan and Holyhead (June 2011)

The station is unstaffed, though it has kept its original Grade-II listed buildings on the westbound platform - these are now used as private residential accommodation.[4] No ticket machine is provided, so all tickets must be purchased prior to travel or on the train. A waiting shelter is located on the eastbound platform, whilst canopies provide a covered waiting area on the opposite side. Train running information is offered via telephone, digital CIS displays and timetable posters. No level access is available to either platform, as the approach ramps on both sides are steeply graded and the footbridge linking the platforms has steps.[5]

Services

There are generally two-hourly through train services on weekdays and Saturdays to Holyhead and to Chester via Colwyn Bay, Rhyl, Prestatyn and Flint. Additional trains call during the morning peak and in the late afternoon/early evening. After arrival at Chester, most trains go forward to either Birmingham International or Cardiff Central via Wrexham General, Shrewsbury and Hereford. There are also a few early morning and late evening services to Crewe.[6]

Sunday services from the station are infrequent (particularly in winter), with sizeable gaps between trains. These mainly run to/from Crewe, though there are also trains to Manchester Piccadilly, Cardiff Central and Wolverhampton in the summer months.

Preceding station   National Rail   Following station
Transport for Wales
North Wales Coast Line

Notes
  1. Penmaenmawr Train Crash 1950 Gathering the Jewels; Retrieved 2009-03-20
  2. Penmaenmawr Signal Box www.signalbox.org; Retrieved 2009-03-20
  3. Trevena, Arthur (1981). Trains in Trouble: Vol. 2. Redruth: Atlantic Books. pp. 15–16. ISBN 0-906899-03-6.
  4. "The ultimate commuter home! Passengers given chance to buy railway station where trains stop 20 times a day" Edwards, Anna Mail Online news article 9 January 2013, Retrieved 30 May 2017
  5. Penmaenmawr station facilities National Rail Enquiries
  6. GB eNRT May 2019 Edition, Table 81 (Network Rail)

Further reading
  • Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (2012). Rhyl to Bangor. West Sussex: Middleton Press. figs. 81-89. ISBN 9781908174154. OCLC 859594415.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
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