Penmaenpool railway station at

Penmaenpool Penmaenpool (Welsh: Llynpenmaen) is a hamlet on the south side of the estuary of the River Mawddach in Wales, near Dolgellau. A Grade II listed toll bridge provides access across the estuary for light vehicles. Points of interest Penmaenpool ...

Gwynedd Gwynedd (; ) is a county and preserved county (latter with differing boundaries; includes the Isle of Anglesey) in the north-west of Wales. It shares borders with Powys, Conwy County Borough, Denbighshire, Anglesey over the Menai Strait, and C ...

North Wales , area_land_km2 = 6,172 , postal_code_type = Postcode , postal_code = LL, CH, SY , image_map1 = Wales North Wales locator map.svg , map_caption1 = Six principal areas of Wales common ...

, was formerly a station on the branch of 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 ...

, part of the

Ruabon to Barmouth Line Ruabon ( cy, Rhiwabon ) is a village and Community (Wales), community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. The name comes from ''Rhiw Fabon'', ''rhiw'' being the Welsh word for "slope" or "hillside" and ''Fabon'' being a mutation from Mabyn, St M ...

. It closed to passengers on Monday 18 January 1965. It had two platforms and a passing loop, plus an engine shed approximately half a mile west of the station next to the former fireman's house. According to the

Official Handbook of Stations The ''Official Handbook of Stations'' was a large book (, 494 pages) listing all the passenger and goods stations, as well as private sidings, on the railways of Great Britain and Ireland. It was published in 1956 by the British Transport Commiss ...

the following classes of traffic were being handled at this station in 1956: G, P, F, L, H & C and there was no crane.1956, ''

'', British Transport Commission

The site today

The station is now occupied by a car park, but the original station signal box remains next to the Penmaenpool Toll Bridge and was used by the

RSPB The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a Charitable_organization#United_Kingdom, charitable organisation registered in Charity Commission for England and Wales, England and Wales and in Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, ...

as an observation post and information centre for the local nature reserve. The former station master's house, ticket office and waiting room has been converted into an annexe for the George III hotel. Photographs of the station in its operating days are on display in the bar/reception area of the hotel. The former trackbed through the site is now in use as a footpath, the Llwybr Mawddach (or "

Mawddach Trail The Mawddach Trail ( cy, Llwybr Mawddach) is a cycle path route, part of Lôn Las Cymru, which runs for some from Dolgellau to Morfa Mawddach railway station , by Barmouth bridge on the Cambrian coast. It is maintained by the Snowdonia Na ...

").

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Penmaenpool station on navigable 1946 O. S. map

Photo of the engine shed

The site today

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Further reading