Penyffordd railway station

Penyffordd railway station serves the village of Penyffordd in Flintshire, Wales. The station is 7¼ miles (12 km) north of Wrexham Central on the Borderlands Line.

Penyffordd
Welsh: Pen-y-ffordd
Location
PlacePenyffordd
Local authorityFlintshire
Coordinates53.143°N 3.055°W / 53.143; -3.055
Grid referenceSJ295611
Operations
Station codePNF
Managed byTransport for Wales
Number of platforms2
DfT categoryF2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections
from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2014/15 24,586
2015/16 24,976
2016/17 22,386
2017/18 20,686
2018/19 22,296
History
1877[1]Opened as Hope Junction[2]
1877Renamed as Penyffordd for Hope[2]
1 March 1913Renamed as Penyffordd for Leeswood[2]
1974Renamed as Penyffordd
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Penyffordd from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.

The station was renamed from Penyffordd for Leeswood to Penyffordd on 6 May 1974.[3]

History

The station was opened in 1877[1] by the Wrexham, Mold and Connah's Quay Railway, on their 1866 line from Wrexham to Buckley. The line north of the station branched to the west running onto the LNWR line from Chester to Denbigh via Mold, which passed beneath the Borderlands route a short distance to the north.[4][5] The route closed to passengers in 1962, but the connection to it from the station was used for freight traffic towards Mold until 1983 to serve the Synthite factory in Mold.[6] The curve of the branch from the Borderlands line west was used as sidings which still remain, however are disused. The east to west line from Chester to Mold was lifted in 1985. The station's 24-lever signal box, which opened in 1885,[7] controlled these and a second siding link into the nearby Castle Cement factory - this latter connection is still occasionally used by trainloads of imported coal to supply the factory kilns. The current signal box was opened on 17 December 1972.[7][8]

On the eastern side of the station was an adjoining goods yard which closed on 4 May 1964, and reopened on 4 October 1971 for distributing coal.[7] The station became an unstaffed halt in 1969.

Facilities

The station has no ticket facilities, so these must be bought in advance of travel or on the train. The original buildings have been replaced with standard waiting shelters. Train running information is offered via CIS screens, telephone (on platform 2) and timetable poster boards. There is step-free access to both platforms, but the station is not listed as DDA-compliant due to the barrow crossing linking the platforms and latched gate at the main entrance.[9]

Services

The station is served by an hourly service southbound to Wrexham General and northbound to Bidston for connections to Liverpool via the Wirral Lines. This drops to a two-hourly frequency in the evenings. From December 2017 A normal weekday frequency now runs on most Bank holidays.[10]

On Sundays there is a train roughly every 90 minutes in each direction.

Preceding station National Rail Following station
Hope   Transport for Wales
Borderlands Line		   Buckley
  Historical railways  
Hope   Great Central Railway
Wrexham, Mold and Connah's Quay Railway		   Hope Exchange
  • Along platform 1
  • One of the waiting shelters
  • The signal box
  • The line towards Wrexham
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gollark: HelloBoi has really become good at English in the last few months.
gollark: Beware that as well, then.
gollark: This is why I always carry a portable high-resolution apiometer.
gollark: Exactly.

References
  1. Connections Between the WM&CQR and LNWR at Hope www.disused-stations.org.uk; Retrieved 2013-08-05
  2. Mitchell & Smith 2013, fig. 31
  3. Slater, J.N., ed. (July 1974). "Notes and News: Stations renamed by LMR". Railway Magazine. London: IPC Transport Press Ltd. 120 (879): 363. ISSN 0033-8923.
  4. The Borderlands Line - Route Guide www.penmorfa.com; Retrieved 2013-08-05
  5. Mitchell & Smith 2013, map XIII
  6. Disused Stations - Mold www.disused-stations.org; Retrieved 2013-08-05
  7. Mitchell & Smith 2013, fig. 29
  8. Mitchell & Smith 2013, fig. 30
  9. Penyfford station facilities National Rail Enquiries
  10. Table 101 National Rail timetable, Dec 2017

Sources
  • Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (2013). Wrexham to New Brighton. West Sussex: Middleton Press. ISBN 9781908174475. OCLC 859543196.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

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