Machynlleth railway station is a
railway station
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
on the
Cambrian Line
The Cambrian Line ( cy, Llinell y Cambrian), also known as the Cambrian Main Line ( cy, Prif Linell y Cambrian) and Cambrian Coast Line ( cy, Llinell Arfordir y Cambrian), is a railway line that runs from Shrewsbury, England, westwards to Aber ...
in mid-
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
, serving the town of
Machynlleth
Machynlleth () is a market town, community and electoral ward in Powys, Wales and within the historic boundaries of Montgomeryshire. It is in the Dyfi Valley at the intersection of the A487 and the A489 roads. At the 2001 Census it had a popul ...
. It was built by the
Newtown and Machynlleth Railway
The Newtown and Machynlleth Railway was a railway company in Wales. It built a line from a junction with the Llanidloes and Newtown Railway near Caersws to the market town of Machynlleth; the line opened in 1862. Newtown had become the hub of ...
(N&MR), and subsequently passed into the ownership of the
Cambrian Railways
The Cambrian Railways owned of track over a large area of mid Wales. The system was an amalgamation of a number of railways that were incorporated in 1864, 1865 and 1904. The Cambrian connected with two larger railways with connections to the ...
, the
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...
,
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 ...
and
London Midland Region of British Railways
The London Midland Region (LMR) was one of the six regions created on the formation of the nationalised British Railways (BR), and initially consisted of ex-London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) lines in England, Wales and Northern Irela ...
. It is notable that there is a distance of between this station and
Caersws
Caersws ( cy, Caersŵs; ) is a village and community on the River Severn, in the Welsh county of Powys (Montgomeryshire) west of Newtown, and halfway between Aberystwyth and Shrewsbury. It has a station on the Cambrian Line from Aberystwyth ...
, the longest distance between two intermediate stations in Wales.
History
![Machynlleth Station with eastbound local train geograph-2545274-by-Ben-Brooksbank](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/Machynlleth_Station_with_eastbound_local_train_geograph-2545274-by-Ben-Brooksbank.jpg)
The first railway station in Machynlleth was the
narrow gauge
A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and .
Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...
Corris Railway
The Corris Railway ( cy, Rheilffordd Corris) is a narrow gauge preserved railway based in Corris on the border between Merionethshire (now Gwynedd) and Montgomeryshire (now Powys) in Mid-Wales.
The line opened in 1859 as a horse tramway, runni ...
, which opened its station building on the north side of the main-line
goods yard
A goods station (also known as a goods yard or goods depot) or freight station is, in the widest sense, a railway station where, either exclusively or predominantly, goods (or freight), such as merchandise, parcels, and manufactured items, are lo ...
in 1859. This was later made accessible from the mainline station by a flight of steps from the standard gauge platform.
The lower yard of the station contained a number of sidings that served
transshipment wharves connected to the Corris Railway. A number of the quarries around
Corris
Corris is a village in the county of Gwynedd, Wales, about north of the town of Machynlleth. The village lies on the west bank of the Afon Dulas (which here forms the boundary with Powys), around that river's confluence with the Afon Deri. Its ...
and
Aberllefenni
Aberllefenni is a village in the south of Gwynedd, Wales. It lies in the historic county of Merionethshire/ Sir Feirionnydd, in the valley of the Afon Dulas, and in the Community of Corris.
Government
The village has a community council. The ...
leased wharves here, notably
Abercwmeiddaw from 1877 onwards.
The existing mainline station dates from 1863 with the opening of the Newtown and Machynlleth Railway. The following year 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 ...
opened the line as far as via , and in 1867 the line was extended from
Barmouth
Barmouth ( cy, Abermaw (formal); ''Y Bermo'' (colloquial)) is a seaside town and community (Wales), community in the county of Gwynedd, northwestern Wales, lying on the estuary of the Afon Mawddach and Cardigan Bay. Located in the Historic coun ...
to via (then Portmadoc). In 1868 the station and lines were absorbed into the
Cambrian Railways
The Cambrian Railways owned of track over a large area of mid Wales. The system was an amalgamation of a number of railways that were incorporated in 1864, 1865 and 1904. The Cambrian connected with two larger railways with connections to the ...
. The Cambrian Railways were absorbed by the
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...
on 1 January 1922 as a result of the
Railways Act 1921
The Railways Act 1921 (c. 55), also known as the Grouping Act, was an Act of Parliament enacted by the British government and intended to stem the losses being made by many of the country's 120 railway companies, by "grouping" them into four la ...
, and became part of
British Rail
British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...
ways in 1948.
![Footbridge at Machynlleth Station (geograph 5958597)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/Footbridge_at_Machynlleth_Station_%28geograph_5958597%29.jpg)
In 2016 a new footbridge with a lift at both ends to improve disabled access between the platforms was completed.
The previous bridge was donated to the
Cambrian Heritage Railways
The Cambrian Heritage Railways is a heritage railway company, trust and society based at both Llynclys and Oswestry in its newly restored Oswestry railway station, Shropshire, England.
Formed after the 2009 merger of the Cambrian Railways S ...
.
Motive power depot
![Old locomotive depot, Machynlleth - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/Old_locomotive_depot%2C_Machynlleth_-_geograph.org.uk_-_598861.jpg)
The railway built a small engine shed at the station in 1863. This was later expanded by Cambrian Railways, but the extensions were demolished after 1966, when the depot ceased to be used for servicing steam locomotives. Only the original building now survives.
Current operations
Machynlleth is the location where the majority of eastbound or 'up' trains from and combine to go forward as one towards and . Similarly, most trains in the opposite direction divide here before continuing west. The service in each direction is approximately two hourly, although trains to Pwllheli are far less frequent on Sundays. The infrastructure along the line was upgraded during 2010/11, with the intention of allowing hourly trains to and from Aberystwyth. In the 2015-16 timetable, some additional Shrewsbury - Aberystwyth services operate to give an hourly interval frequency during the morning and evening peak periods.
Cambrian Line signalling has been centrally controlled from Machynlleth since the 1980s conversion of the route from traditional signalling to a radio-controlled '
RETB
Radio Electronic Token Block is a system of railway signalling used in the United Kingdom. It is a development of the physical token system for controlling traffic on single lines. The system is slightly similar to North American Direct Traffic ...
' system. On 26 March 2011, the new
European Rail Traffic Management System
The European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) is the system of standards for management and interoperation of signalling for railways by the European Union (EU). It is conducted by the European Union Agency for Railways (ERA) and is the o ...
signalling system went into operational use across the Cambrian Line controlled from Machynlleth. Two days of driver familiarisation followed, with passenger operation commencing on the morning of 28 March 2011. A new control centre has been built on the down side opposite the earlier
signal box
In signal processing, a signal is a function that conveys information about a phenomenon. Any quantity that can vary over space or time can be used as a signal to share messages between observers. The ''IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing'' ...
which has since been demolished.
A past train operator,
Arriva Trains Wales
Arriva Trains Wales (ATW; cy, Trenau Arriva Cymru) was a British train operating company owned by Arriva UK Trains that operated the Wales & Borders franchise. It ran urban and inter-urban passenger services to all railway stations in Wales, ...
, has also developed Machynlleth into the main
depot
Depot ( or ) may refer to:
Places
* Depot, Poland, a village
* Depot Island, Kemp Land, Antarctica
* Depot Island, Victoria Land, Antarctica
* Depot Island Formation, Greenland
Brands and enterprises
* Maxwell Street Depot, a restaurant in ...
for its fleet of
Class 158 trains which provide all passenger services on the Cambrian Lines. Replacing the previous Victorian-era depot and yard, Arriva's depot opened in 2007 and prominently features environmentally friendly technologies such as
rainwater harvesting
Rainwater harvesting (RWH) is the collection and storage of rain, rather than allowing it to run off. Rainwater is collected from a roof-like surface and redirected to a tank, cistern, deep pit (well, shaft, or borehole), aquifer, or a reservoir w ...
and a
wind turbine
A wind turbine is a device that converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. Hundreds of thousands of large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, now generate over 650 gigawatts of power, with 60 GW added each year. ...
.
In 2011, The
Bluebell Railway
The Bluebell Railway is an heritage line almost entirely in West Sussex in England, except for Sheffield Park which is in East Sussex. It is managed by the Bluebell Railway Preservation Society. It uses steam trains which operate between an ...
discovered a well-worn totem sign from Machynlleth during the excavating of Imberhorne Cutting as part of the northern extension to
East Grinstead
East Grinstead is a town in West Sussex, England, near the East Sussex, Surrey, and Kent borders, south of London, northeast of Brighton, and northeast of the county town of Chichester. Situated in the extreme northeast of the county, the civ ...
, which was used as a landfill site by the local council in the late 1960s. The extension was opened on 23 March 2013. The sign is now displayed in their new museum.
Facilities
The station has a staffed ticket office in the main building on platform 2. This is open throughout the daytime, however when closed tickets must be bought on the train as no ticket machine is provided. There are toilets, a waiting room and a cafe in the main building and waiting room and shelter on platform 1. Train running information is provided by customer help points, CIS displays, automated announcements and timetable posters. Step free access is provided to both platforms by means of a footbridge with a lift at both ends.
The previous ramp up to platform 1 from street level having closed with the foundations of the new bridge being built across it.
References
External links
*
Corris Railway
{{Transport in Powys
Railway stations in Powys
DfT Category E stations
Former Cambrian Railway stations
Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1863
Corris Railway
Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1879
Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1879
Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1883
Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1931
Railway stations served by Transport for Wales Rail
Railway station
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...