Pwllheli railway station

Pwllheli National Rail

158825 arrives at Pwllheli
Location
Place Pwllheli
Local authority Gwynedd
Coordinates 52°53′17″N 4°25′01″W / 52.888°N 4.417°W / 52.888; -4.417Coordinates: 52°53′17″N 4°25′01″W / 52.888°N 4.417°W / 52.888; -4.417
Grid reference SH375350
Operations
Station code PWL
Managed by Arriva Trains Wales
Number of platforms 1
DfT category E
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections
from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2010/11 Decrease 68,198
2011/12 Decrease 62,590
2012/13 Decrease 44,520
2013/14 Decrease 30,652
2014/15 Increase 54,332
History
Original company Aberystwyth and Welsh Coast Railway
Pre-grouping Cambrian Railways
Post-grouping Great Western Railway
10 October 1867 Opened
17 July 1909 Moved to current site
1977 Signal boxes and 3 of 4 platforms closed
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Pwllheli from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Pwllheli railway station is a railway station serving the small coastal town of Pwllheli on the Llŷn Peninsula in Gwynedd, Wales. It is the terminus of the Cambrian Coast Railway.

History

In 1861 the Aberystwyth and Welsh Coast Railway was given authorisation to build a line along Cardigan Bay between Aberystwyth and Porthdinllaen on the Llŷn Peninsula. However, the final five miles across the Llŷn Peninsula were never built. By 1865 the company had merged to become part of Cambrian Railways. When the first Pwllheli station opened on Thursday 10 October 1867[1] the decision to not complete the final five miles to Nefyn had already been taken. The station, which was about a half a mile from the town, became the line's terminus.

On 17 July 1909[2] a second station was opened near the town centre following land reclamation that permitted the extension of the line. It had two tracks separated by an island platform with a small loading dock to the north.[3] The layout remained unchanged until rationalisation began in September 1977.

A goods yard was developed on the site of the first station. Its turntable is now in the possession of the West Somerset Railway. The Great Western Railway (GWR) doubled the track between Pwllheli station and the goods yard in order to increase capacity. But after the goods yard was closed and both the signal boxes and the signals were removed in 1977, the double-lined section is now used as a long run-round loop for visiting charter trains. By 1987 a supermarket had been developed on the former goods yard land.

Prior to the closure of the Afon Wen to Caernarfon Line in 1964, there were two named daily express services during the summer between Pwllheli and London:

In 1977 one side of the island platform was abandoned and the track was lifted. The station canopy, which was constructed by the GWR, survived intact until the early 1980s. Today only the concourse remains covered. Pwllheli has one platform, a siding and a loop.[4]

Services

Services are operated by Arriva Trains Wales and depart from Pwllheli for Machynlleth, Shrewsbury or Birmingham International. Occasional charter services also terminate at the station. Trains run roughly every two hours on weekdays (Mon-Sat), with three departures on summer Sundays and just a single service in winter.[5]

In November 2013, services from the station were suspended due to structural problems with the 1867 Grade II-listed wooden viaduct at Pont Briwet near Llandecwyn. Network Rail had intended to build the new bridge alongside the current one whilst keeping the latter open, but work to drive steel piles into the riverbed to support the new viaduct caused the old one to shift and made it unsafe. As a result, the train service north of Harlech had to be temporarily withdrawn whilst construction work continued and did not resume until the new bridge was ready.[6] Meanwhile, a replacement bus service ran over the 22 mile (35 km) section to Harlech. The line eventually reopened on 1 September 2014 when construction work on the rail portion of the new bridge was completed.[7]

References

  1. ↑ "Opening of the Railway between Barmouth and Pwllheli". The Aberywswith Observer. Wales. 12 October 1867. Retrieved 24 October 2016 – via Welsh Newspapers Online.
  2. ↑ "Mr. Herbert Lewis at Pwllheli". Prestatyn Weekly. Wales. 24 July 1909. Retrieved 24 October 2016 – via Welsh Newspapers Online.
  3. ↑ "Pwllheli railway station, 1911". Retrieved 19 January 2016.
  4. ↑ Shannon & Hillmer 1999, pp. 24-26.
  5. ↑ Table 76 National Rail timetable, May 2016
  6. ↑ "Bridge fiasco could close Porthmadog line until 2015" Milner, Chris, Railway Magazine; Retrieved 2014-01-17
  7. ↑ "New Pont Briwet rail bridge over Dwyryd estuary opens" BBC News article; Retrieved 2014-09-08

Sources

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pwllheli railway station.
Preceding station   National Rail   Following station
Arriva Trains WalesTerminus
Historical railways
Abererch
Line and station open		   Aberystwyth and Welsh Coast Railway
Cambrian Railways
   Terminus
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