Tyddyngwyn railway station

Tyddyngwyn railway station was immediately north of the later Manod station in what was then Merionethshire, now Gwynedd, Wales.

Tyddyngwyn
Location
Place	Manod, Blaenau Ffestiniog
Area	Gwynedd
Coordinates	52.9821°N 3.9317°W / 52.9821; -3.9317
Grid reference	SH 704 445
Operations
Original company	Festiniog and Blaenau Railway
Platforms	0[1]
History
29[2] or 30[3][4] May 1868	Opened
5 September 1883	Last passenger train called[5]
10 September 1883	Standard gauge opened at nearby Manod[6]
January 1960	Passenger trains ended through the station site
27 January 1961	Line closed and mothballed
Disused railway stations in the United Kingdom
Closed railway stations in Britain A B C D–F G H–J K–L M–O P–R S T–V W–Z

Festiniog & Blaenau Railway
to Porthmadog Harbour Dolgarregddu Junction Duffws (FR) Duffws (F&BR) inclines to quarries Glynllifon Street wooden viaduct Tan-y-Manod to Graig Ddu and Manod quarries Tyddyngwyn Festiniog
Key
Ffestiniog Railway Festiniog & Blaenau Rly quarry lines

Bala & Festiniog Railway
Conwy Valley line to Llandudno Ffestiniog Railway to Porthmadog Harbour Blaenau Festiniog Junction Blaenau Ffestiniog North Blaenau Ffestiniog Ffestiniog Railway to Duffws (FR) Duffws (F&BR) Glynllifon Street (F&BR) Former wooden viaduct Tan-y-Manod (F&BR) Graig Ddu Quarry Pengwern Quarry Tyddyngwyn (F&BR) Manod Teigl Halt Festiniog Maentwrog Road Line to south dismantled Trawsfynydd power station loading point Trawsfynydd Lake Halt Trawsfynydd Camp Trawsfynydd Llafar Halt Bryn-Celynog Halt Cwm Prysor Viaduct Cwm Prysor Halt Arenig Capel Celyn Halt Section flooded by Llyn Celyn Tyddyn Bridge Halt (under dam wall) Frongoch Bala (New) Bala Junction Ruabon–Barmouth line to Llandderfel Bala (Penybont) (original Bala Lake Halt) Bala Lake Railway to Llanuwchllyn Ruabon–Barmouth line to Barmouth

Tyddyngwyn was an intermediate station on the 1 ft 11 ³⁄₄ in (603 mm)[2] narrow gauge Festiniog and Blaenau Railway (F&BR); it opened with the line on 29 May 1868, though two standard sources give 30 May 1868. The F&BR ran the three and a half route miles northwards from its southern terminus at Llan Ffestiniog to a junction with the Ffestiniog Railway (FR) at Dolgarregddu Junction near what is nowadays Bleaenau Ffestiniog station.[7]

The station was a passenger station, whose main but not sole traffic was quarrymen travelling to and from work

In common with all other F&BR stations there were no platforms, carriages were very low to the ground, so passengers boarded from and alighted to the trackside. The station had a single-storey building on the eastern side of the track. No details of the station's facilities have been published, though the standard work conjectures there may have been a siding.[8] In common with Festiniog and Tan-y-Manod stations, the only published photographs were taken from a distance, they lend the buildings the appearance of corrugated iron. The sole close-up photo is of the line's northern terminus - Duffws (F&BR).[9] This shows the building to bear a striking resemblance to 21st century PVC weatherboarding. If the line's other stations were made of the same material that would explain their corrugated mien.

Services

The February 1878 narrow gauge timetable shows that all trains called at all stations on the line, with

• Northbound ("Up")
  • four public trains running Monday to Saturday
  • an unadvertised morning workmen's train running Monday to Saturday
  • two public evening trains on Saturdays only
    • The journey time from Tyddyngwyn to Duffws (F&BR) was 10 minutes.
• Southbound ("Down")
  • four public trains running Monday to Saturday
  • a morning workmen's train running Monday to Saturday
  • two public evening trains on Saturdays only
  • a teatime workmen's train on Saturdays only
    • The journey time from Duffws (F&BR) to Tyddyngwyn was 6 minutes.
• There was no Sunday service.[10]

Duffws was the F&BR's Blaenau station and would become the site of the town's later GWR station, but it was not the Festiniog Railway's Duffws (FR) station. Through passengers from Tyddyngwyn to Porthmadog Harbour would alight at the F&BR's Duffws station and walk across Church Street in Blaenau to the Festiniog Railway's completely separate Duffws station. Most trains were timetabled to make this process workable, if tight. Whether connecting trains were held in the case of late running is not recorded.[10]

In the line's early days trains many trains ran "mixed", but this was stopped in 1877.[11] Unlike most railways in the area passengers were the line's mainstay. In 1879 - a typical year - passenger receipts were £1406 compared with £416 for goods.[10] No figures have been published specifically for Tyddyngwyn.

The standard gauge approaches

On 1 September 1882 the standard gauge Bala and Festiniog Railway reached Llan Ffestiniog from the south, enabling a passenger from (say) Bala to Tyddyngwyn to transfer from a standard gauge train to a narrow gauge train at Llan by walking a few yards, much as modern-day passengers transfer between Conwy Valley Line and Ffestiniog Railway trains at Blaenau Ffestiniog.

From April the following year the narrow gauge line was converted to standard gauge. Narrow gauge trains continued to operate during the conversion, using a third rail. Narrow gauge trains ceased running on 5 September 1883 with standard gauge services beginning on 10 September 1883. Tyddyngwyn was closed permanently when the narrow gauge ended, being replaced by Manod a few yards to the south when standard gauge services began.

Tyddyngwyn's station building appears to have resembled that at Tan-y-Manod, but no details of its facilities have been published. It was demolished after closure, leaving no trace.

The line reopened

The line through the site of Tyddyngwyn station closed in 1961 but it was mothballed pending building the long-discussed cross-town link to enable trains to run along the Conwy Valley Line, through Blaenau and on to Trawsfynydd nuclear power station which was then being built. The line through the site reopened on 24 April 1964, but none of Tyddyngwyn's or Manod's facilities were brought back to life. The line closed again in 1998 as the nuclear plant was being decommissioned. Once more the route was mothballed in case a future use is found.

The station site in the 21st century

By 2011 the whole site had been completely demolished. In Spring 2016 the mothballed single track line still ran past the site to the former nuclear flask loading point. Tyddyngwyn Terrace, Manod lies northeast of the station site. The bridge visible beyond the station in the photograph reproduced by Boyd was still in place in 2015 at the western end of Arwain l; it would have afforded a grandstand view of the station.

The future

Between 2000 and 2011 there were at least two attempts to put the mothballed line through the site to use. In 2011 there were proposals to use the rails as a recreational velorail track. Neither this nor the earlier idea came to anything. The possibility remains that the surviving line could see future preservation or reuse by the nuclear industry.[12]

To considerable local surprise fresh moves to reopen the line from Blaenau as far south as Trawsfynydd began in September 2016, with the formation of The Trawsfynydd & Blaenau Ffestiniog Community Railway Company. On 21 September at least one regional newspaper reported that "Volunteers are set to start work this weekend on clearing vegetation from the trackbed between Blaenau Ffestiniog and Trawsfynydd." The company was quoted as saying "We have been given a licence by Network Rail to clear and survey the line."[13]

Preceding station		Disused railways		Following station
Tan-y-Manod Line and station closed		Festiniog and Blaenau Railway Narrow gauge		Festiniog Line and station closed

References

1. Boyd 1988, Page 49 plus Plate between pages 54 & 55.
2. Boyd 1988, p. 47.
3. Butt 1995, p. 236.
4. Quick 2009, Page 386 and Map 78.
5. Boyd 1988, p. 68.
6. Griffiths & Smith 1999, p. 195.
7. Boyd 1988, p. 66.
8. Boyd 1988, p. 71.
9. Prideaux 1982, p. 27.
10. Boyd 1988, p. 87.
11. Boyd 1988, p. 86.
12. Pagnamenta 2016, p. 38.
13. Crump 2016, p. 15.

Sources

• Boyd, James I.C. (1988) [1972]. Narrow Gauge Railways in South Caernarvonshire – Volume 1. Headington: The Oakwood Press. ISBN 978-0-85361-365-7. OCLC 20417464.
• Butt, R. V. J. (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.
• Crump, Eryl (21 September 2016). "Back on Track. Dream of reopening railway moves step closer". Daily Post. Wales.
• Griffiths, Roger; Smith, Paul (1999). The Directory of British Engine Sheds and Principal Locomotive Servicing Points: 1 Southern England, the Midlands, East Anglia and Wales. OPC Railprint. ISBN 978-0-86093-542-1. OCLC 59458015.
• Pagnamenta, Robin (23 May 2016). "Rivals line up to build small nuclear plants in Snowdonia". The Times. London.
• Prideaux, J.D.C.A. (1982). The Welsh narrow gauge railway: A pictorial history (2nd ed.). Newton Abbot, Devon: David & Charles. ISBN 0-7153-8354-X.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Quick, Michael (2009) [2001]. Railway passenger stations in Great Britain: a chronology (4th ed.). Oxford: Railway and Canal Historical Society. ISBN 978-0-901461-57-5. OCLC 612226077.

Further material

• Boyd, James I.C. (October 1959). Mansell, K.G. (ed.). "Bala & Festiniog Section - W.R.". Railway World. London: Railway World Limited. 20 (233).CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Christiansen, Rex (1976). Forgotten Railways: North and Mid Wales. Newton Abbot, Devon: David and Charles. ISBN 0-7153-7059-6.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Coleford, I. C. (October 2010). Smith, Martin (ed.). "By GWR to Blaenau Ffestiniog (Part One)". Railway Bylines. Radstock: Irwell Press Limited. 15 (11).CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Coleford, I. C. (November 2010). Smith, Martin (ed.). "By GWR to Blaenau Ffestiniog (Part Two)". Railway Bylines. Radstock: Irwell Press Limited. 15 (12).CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Ferris, Tom (2004) [1961]. British Railways Volume 4 - Bewdley To Blaenau (DVD). demanddvd. DEMDVD084.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Green, C.C. (1996) [1983]. North Wales Branch Line Album. Shepperton: Ian Allan Publishing. ISBN 0-7110-1252-0.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (2010). Bala to Llandudno: Featuring Blaenau Ffestiniog. Midhurst, West Sussex: Middleton Press (MD). ISBN 978-1-906008-87-1.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Morton Lloyd, M.E. (April 1961). Cooke, B.W.C. (ed.). "Farewell to Bala-Blaenau Branch". The Railway Magazine. London: Tothill Press Limited. 107 (720).CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Richards, Alun John (2001). The Slate Railways of Wales. Llanrwst: Gwasg Carreg Gwalch. ISBN 0-86381-689-4.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Southern, D. W. (1995). Bala Junction to Blaenau Ffestiniog (Scenes from the Past, Railways of North Wales, No. 25). Stockport: Foxline Publishing. ISBN 1-8701-19-34-7.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Turner, Alun (2003). Gwynedd's Lost Railways. Catrine, Ayrshire: Stenlake Publishing. ISBN 9781840332599.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

External links

• "Manod, Tyddyngwyn & Madoc Quarry". Britain from Above.
• "Manod & Tyddyngwyn". Britain from Above.
• The station site on a navigable OS Map National Library of Scotland
• The site on a navigable 1953 OS map npe Maps
• The station and line Rail Map Online
• The line LJT2 with mileages Railway Codes
• Reminiscences by a local railwayman Forgotten Relics
• Festiniog and Blaenau Railway Festipedia
• Driver's view through the station to Blaenau YouTube
• Several photos of the line Penmorfa
• Several photos of the line Penmorfa
• The line in 2009 The Railway Muddler
• A special along the line 2D53
• Details of Summer 1989 excursions through the station Six Bells Junction
• Details and photos of 22 Jan 1961 railtour Six Bells Junction
• Photos of 22 Jan 1961 railtour Robert Darlaston
• The 22 Jan 1961 last train special YouTube
• An inspection saloon ride on the line, Part 1 YouTube
• An inspection saloon ride on the line, Part 2 YouTube
• Signal box diagram Signalling Record Society