, symbol_location = gb , symbol = rail , image = Sugar Loaf railway station in southern Powys (geograph 5368007).jpg , caption = Sugar Loaf station in April 2017 , borough = Sugar Loaf Mountain, Llandovery,

Powys Powys (; ) is a Local government in Wales#Principal areas, county and Preserved counties of Wales, preserved county in Wales. It is named after the Kingdom of Powys which was a Welsh succession of states, successor state, petty kingdom and princi ...

, country = Wales , coordinates = , grid_name =

Grid reference A projected coordinate system, also known as a projected coordinate reference system, a planar coordinate system, or grid reference system, is a type of spatial reference system that represents locations on the Earth using cartesian coordin ...

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Transport for Wales Transport for Wales (TfW; cy, Trafnidiaeth Cymru; cy, TrC, label=none) is a not-for-profit company owned by the Welsh Government and managed at arms length by its appointed board. TfW oversees the Transport for Wales Group (TfW Group) consi ...

, platforms = 1 , code = SUG , classification = DfT category F2 , years = 1868 , events = Opened , years2 = 1965 , events2 = Closed , years3 = 1984 , events3 = Reopened , years4 = 6 July 2020 , events4 = Temporarily closed , years5 = 21 August 2021 , events5 = Reopened , mpassengers = , footnotes = Passenger statistics from the

Office of Rail and Road The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) is a non-ministerial government department responsible for the economic and safety regulation of Britain's railways, and the economic monitoring of National Highways. ORR regulates Network Rail by setting its ...

Sugar Loaf 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 ...

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 ...

, and is the most geographically remote station on the

Heart of Wales Line The Heart of Wales line ( cy, Llinell Calon Cymru) is a railway line running from Craven Arms in Shropshire to Llanelli in southwest Wales. It serves a number of rural centres, including the nineteenth-century spa towns Llandrindod Wells, Llanga ...

. It is located northeast of a small but prominent knoll known as Sugar Loaf, around which the

A483 road The A483, officially described as the Swansea to Manchester Trunk Road, although now ending in Chester, is a major road in the United Kingdom. It runs from Swansea in Wales to Chester in England via Llandovery, Llandrindod Wells, Oswestry an ...

loops. The line through here was opened by the Central Wales Extension Railway in 1868. The passing loop was removed when station was closed to passengers in 1965 but the station subsequently reopened to traffic in 1984. The station's name in

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

is ''Dinas y Bwlch''; however, in Welsh station announcements, the station is referred to as ''Pen-y-fâl'', the name given to the mountain of the same name in

Monmouthshire Monmouthshire ( cy, Sir Fynwy) is a county in the south-east of Wales. The name derives from the historic county of the same name; the modern county covers the eastern three-fifths of the historic county. The largest town is Abergavenny, with ...

Usage

The station sees very few passengers; in 2010/2011 an estimated 84 passengers used the station and in 2014 it was reported that the station was averaging five passengers per month. In 2017/2018 it increased its passenger usage by nearly 710% from the previous year, taking it to as many visitors in the year as the previous 17 years combined. Its low usage seemed to make it a popular attraction. In 2020, with rail passenger numbers in general affected by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, the station saw 156 passengers, followed by zero the following year. Between 6 July 2020 and 21 August 2021, trains did not call at the station due to the short platform and the inability to maintain social distancing between passengers and the guard when opening the train door. This station is a

request stop In public transport, a request stop, flag stop, or whistle stop is a stop or station at which buses or trains, respectively, stop only on request; that is, only if there are passengers or freight to be picked up or dropped off. In this way, st ...

used mainly by trekkers and cyclists, since it is the nearest stop to the Sugar Loaf vantage point, although it was originally built to serve a number of cottages occupied by railway workers (such as signalmen and track gangers). The children of the workers travelled by train to school in

Llanwrtyd Wells Llanwrtyd Wells ( cy, Llanwrtyd "church of St Gwrtud") is a market town and community in Powys, Wales, in the historic county of Brecknockshire (Breconshire) on the Afon Irfon. The town is on the A483 between Llandovery and Builth Wells and is ...

. South of the station the line reaches the summit at above sea level and then passes beneath the hills via the Sugar Loaf tunnel, which is approached by gradients as steep as 1 in 60. It then descends steadily for the next down to . The climb up to the summit here was a challenging one for train crews in steam days (especially northbound) and the use of banking locomotives was commonplace.

Facilities

The station has basic amenities only - a waiting shelter and timetable poster boards - although it has had a digital CIS display fitted. There is no step-free access available, due to the station entrance being some distance from the nearest road (the A483) along a narrow path and in a cutting.

Services

All trains serving the station are operated by

. There are four trains a day in each direction (towards Swansea and ) from Monday to Saturday, and two services on Sundays. Being a request stop, passengers have to give a hand signal to the approaching train driver to board or notify the guard when they board that they wish to alight from the train there.

References

External links

{{Railway stations served by Transport for Wales Railway stations in Powys DfT Category F2 stations Former London and North Western Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1899 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1949 Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1950 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1965 Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1984 Heart of Wales Line Railway stations served by Transport for Wales Rail Railway request stops in Great Britain Low usage railway stations in the United Kingdom 1899 establishments in Wales

Usage

Facilities

Services

References

Further reading

External links