Pentrecourt Platform was a minor

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 ...

near the village of

Pentrecwrt Pentrecwrt (or Pentrecourt) is a village in north Carmarthenshire, Wales on the A486 road halfway between Carmarthen and New Quay. History Pencastell is a bracken and tree-clad motte that can be seen on the hillside above Pentrecwrt. The vill ...

West Wales West Wales ( cy, Gorllewin Cymru) is not clearly defined as a particular region of Wales. Some definitions of West Wales include only Pembrokeshire, Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire, which historically comprised the Welsh principality of ''Deheuba ...

, on the originally

broad gauge A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways. Broad gauge of , commonly known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union (CIS ...

Teifi Valley line of the Carmarthen and Cardigan Railway. The halt opened in 1912 to serve the old Alltycefn Woollen Mill and the village, lying some 5 miles and 21 chains from the junction at Pencader and situated between the villages of

Llandysul Llandysul is a small town and community in the county of Ceredigion, Wales. As a community it consists of the townships of Capel Dewi, Horeb, Pontsian, Pren-gwyn, Tregroes, Rhydowen and the village of Llandysul itself. Llandysul lies in sout ...

and

Henllan Henllan is a village and community in Denbighshire, Wales with a population of approximately 750 (OfNS/2004) and lies in the countryside, approximately 2.25 miles (3.5 km) north-west of the walled town of Denbigh. The name is Old Welsh, ' ...

.Pentrecourt Halt model
Retrieved : 2012-09-27

History

The Teifi Valley Railway was originally conceived as a

broad-gauge A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways. Broad gauge of , commonly known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union (CIS ...

line between

Carmarthen Carmarthen (, RP: ; cy, Caerfyrddin , "Merlin's fort" or "Sea-town fort") is the county town of Carmarthenshire and a community in Wales, lying on the River Towy. north of its estuary in Carmarthen Bay. The population was 14,185 in 2011, ...

and Cardigan. The line was opened temporarily in 1860, under the

South Wales Railway The South Wales Railway ( cy, Rheilffordd De Cymru) was a main line railway which opened in stages from 1850, connecting the Great Western Railway from Gloucester to South Wales. It was constructed on the broad gauge. An original aspiration was to ...

and was fully opened the following year. It was operated by the Carmarthen and Cardigan Railway between

and

Cynwyl Elfed Cynwyl Elfed (; sometimes Conwyl and formerly anglicised as Conwil Elvet or Conwil in Elvet) is a village and community in the county of Carmarthenshire, Wales. The community includes the villages of Cynwyl Elfed, Blaenycoed and Cwmduad. It is si ...

. In 1864, the line was extended to Pencader and

. Converted to

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in Ea ...

() by 1872, however the company was bankrupt. The line was purchased 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 ...

and extended to a terminus at

Newcastle Emlyn Newcastle Emlyn ( cy, Castellnewydd Emlyn) is a town on the River Teifi, straddling the counties of Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire in West Wales. It is also a community entirely within Carmarthenshire, bordered by those of Llangeler and Cenar ...

in 1895, The GWR did not build the line on to Cardigan and Newcastle Emlyn remained the terminus. Although passenger services ceased in 1952, goods services continued until 1973 because of the

milk train Rail terminology is a form of technical terminology. The difference between the American term ''railroad'' and the international term ''railway'' (used by the International Union of Railways and English-speaking countries outside the United Sta ...

services to the

Co-operative Group Co-operative Group Limited, trading as Co-op, is a British consumer cooperative, consumer co-operative with a group of retail businesses including food retail, wholesale, e-pharmacy, insurance and legal services, and funeral care. The Co-op ...

creamery A creamery is a place where milk and cream are processed and where butter and cheese is produced. Cream is separated from whole milk; pasteurization is done to the skimmed milk and cream separately. Whole milk for sale has had some cream re ...

The station

The single line crossed from the south side of the valley over the Afon Teifi to the north side via a plate girder bridge supported on stone piers. A farmer's occupation bridge pierced the embankment a little further on, and then a culvert for a stream before the single short wooden platform and pagoda style corrugated iron hut on the up side of the running line was reached. The Platform was referred to as a Halt in timetables. The line ran downstream from the station towards Henllan, passing under the minor road supported on the Alltycefan Bridge before curving to the right alongside the steep hillside above the river and then passing into the 167 yard long Alltycefan tunnel. The station was demolished after closure. In 2015 the platform site was now overgrown with the trackbed now an unofficial footpath.

Notes

References

* * Holden, John S. Holden (2007). ''The Manchester & Milford Railway''. The Oakwood Press. . {{Manchester and Milford Railway Former Great Western Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1912 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1952 Disused railway stations in Carmarthenshire 1912 establishments in Wales