Afon Wen was a railway station in
Afon Wen
Afon Wen is a small hamlet on the Llŷn peninsula in the Welsh principal area of Gwynedd.
Location
It is located at the mouth of the Afon Wen river, half a mile from the village of Chwilog and midway between Pwllheli and Cricieth.
History ...
,
Gwynedd, Wales.
The station formed a junction between the
Aberystwith and Welsh Coast Railway
The Aberystwith and Welsh Coast Railway was a standard gauge railway company, running a line along the west coast of Wales.
The railway was planned to run between Anglicised place name spellings were used during most of the history of the line ...
and the
Carnarvonshire Railway
The Carnarvonshire Railway was a railway connecting Caernarvon railway station (terminus of the Bangor and Caernarvon Railway line from Bangor) with Afon Wen.
History
The Carnarvonshire Railway was absorbed into the LNWR in 1869. At the gro ...
and opened to traffic in September 1867.
History
Trains on the Aberystwyth and Welsh Coast Railway line were operated by the
Cambrian Railways, then absorbed into the
Great Western Railway. Trains from the
Carnarvonshire Railway
The Carnarvonshire Railway was a railway connecting Caernarvon railway station (terminus of the Bangor and Caernarvon Railway line from Bangor) with Afon Wen.
History
The Carnarvonshire Railway was absorbed into the LNWR in 1869. At the gro ...
were operated by the
London and North Western Railway and so passed to the
London, Midland and Scottish Railway.
The station was host to a
GWR camp coach from 1934 to 1939.
The station passed on to the
Western Region of British Railways
The Western Region was a region of British Railways from 1948. The region ceased to be an operating unit in its own right on completion of the "Organising for Quality" initiative on 6 April 1992. The Region consisted principally of ex-Great We ...
on
nationalisation in 1948 (later passing to the London Midland Region in 1963). It was then closed by the
British Railways Board
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
on 7 December 1964 (concurrently with the line from Caernavon, both as a result of the
Beeching Axe).
[Disused Stations - Afon Wen]
Fifoot, L and Wright, P ''Disused Stations Site Record''; Retrieved 2 August 2017
In addition to local services Afon Wen was served by trains from both London Paddington and London Euston. Those from Paddington would reach it on Cambrian rails through Machynlleth and Porthmadog, proceeding onward to terminate at Pwllheli. From Euston the train would travel via Crewe, Bangor and Caernafon: at Afon Wen the front portion of the train would proceed forward to terminate at Porthmadog and the rear carriages would be detached for Pwllheli.
Afon Wen is often quoted as a defining feature of the Great Western Railway in Wales, namely its inheritance of junctions in unlikely and inconvenient locations. Other examples are
Moat Lane Junction,
Talyllyn Junction
Talyllyn Junction was a railway junction located east of Brecon, Powys, opened in 1869. The junction was triangular, with north, east and west chords, station platforms being sited at the western junction and also, until 1878, at the eastern j ...
,
Dovey Junction and Barmouth Junction (renamed
Morfa Mawddach in 1960).
The signal box and passing loop initially remained in use after the station closed, but after the lifting of the Caernafon line, these were decommissioned in 1967 and removed three years later (leaving only the old westbound platform line in use as the running line to Pwllheli). Demolition of the surviving buildings and westbound platform followed by the late 1970s.
The site today
Trains on the
Cambrian Line pass the site of the former station.
The only evidence of the junction that can now be seen from Cambrian Coast trains is the earthworks of the line heading north and the island platform, although the branch side has been filled in.
In popular culture
* Afon Wen station is known to many through the song ''Ar y Trên i Afon Wen'' (On the train to Afon Wen) by the popular Welsh pop group,
Sobin a'r Smaeliaid, fronted by
Bryn Fôn
Bryn Fôn (born 27 August 1954) is a Welsh actor and singer-songwriter. He also became the first ever artist to play live on BBC Radio Cymru in 1977.
Biography
Bryn Fôn was born in Llanllyfni, Caernarfonshire. He attended Ysgol Gynradd Lla ...
.
Sain Records
/ref>
References
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Further material
*
External links
The station site on a navigable OS Map, via ''National Library of Scotland''
The station and line, via ''Rail Map Online''
The line CNV with mileages, via ''Railway Codes''
The line DJP with mileages, via ''Railway Codes''
Images of the station, via ''Yahoo''
The station and line, via ''LNWR Society''
By DMU from Pwllheli to Amlwch, via ''Huntley Archives''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Afon Wen Railway Station
Disused railway stations in Gwynedd
Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1867
Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1964
Former Cambrian Railway stations
Llanystumdwy