Pwllheli 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 ...

serving the small coastal town of

Pwllheli Pwllheli () is a market town and community of the Llŷn Peninsula ( cy, Penrhyn Llŷn) in Gwynedd, north-western Wales. It had a population of 4,076 in 2011 of whom a large proportion, 81%, are Welsh language, Welsh speaking. Pwllheli is the pl ...

on the

Llŷn Peninsula The Llŷn Peninsula ( cy, Penrhyn Llŷn or , ) extends into the Irish Sea from North West Wales, south west of the Isle of Anglesey. It is part of the historic county of Caernarfonshire, and historic region and local authority area of Gwynedd. Mu ...

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 ...

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 ...

. It is the terminus of the Cambrian Coast Railway.

History

In 1861 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 ...

was given authorisation to build a line along

Cardigan Bay Cardigan Bay ( cy, Bae Ceredigion) is a large inlet of the Irish Sea, indenting the west coast of Wales between Bardsey Island, Gwynedd in the north, and Strumble Head, Pembrokeshire at its southern end. It is the largest bay in Wales. Geograp ...

between and

Porthdinllaen Porthdinllaen (''in English'' sometimes Porth Dinllaen) is a small coastal village on the Llŷn Peninsula in the Dwyfor area of Gwynedd, Wales, built on a small promontory, and historically in Caernarfonshire. It is near the larger village of Mo ...

on the Llŷn Peninsula. However, the final five miles across the Llŷn Peninsula were never built. By 1865 the company had merged to become part of

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 ...

. When the first Pwllheli station opened on Thursday 10 October 1867 the decision to not complete the final five miles to

Nefyn Nefyn (, archaically anglicised as Nevin) is both a small town and a community on the northwest coast of the Llŷn Peninsula, Gwynedd, Wales. Nefyn is popular with visitors for its sandy beach, and has one substantial hotel. The A497 road termin ...

had already been taken. The station, which was about a half a mile from the town, became the line's terminus. On 19 July 1909 a second station was opened near by the town centre following land reclamation that permitted the extension of the line. It had two tracks separated by an

island platform An island platform (also center platform, centre platform) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway interchange. Island platforms are popular on ...

with a small loading dock to the north. The layout remained unchanged until rationalisation began in September 1977. A goods yard was developed on the site of the first station. Its

turntable A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

is now in the possession of the

West Somerset Railway The West Somerset Railway (WSR) is a heritage railway line in Somerset, England. The freehold of the line and stations is owned by Somerset County Council; the railway is leased to and operated by West Somerset Railway plc (WSR plc); which is ...

. 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 ...

(GWR) doubled the track between Pwllheli station and the goods yard in order to increase capacity. But after the goods yard was closed and both the

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'' ...

es and the signals were removed in 1977, the double-lined section is now used as a long run-round loop for visiting charter trains. By 1987 a supermarket had been developed on the former goods yard land. Prior to the closure of the Afon Wen to Caernarfon Line in 1964, there were two named daily express services during the summer between Pwllheli and

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

: *The ''

Cambrian Coast Express The ''Cambrian Coast Express'' was a named passenger train of the Great Western Railway (GWR), and later British Rail, running from London Paddington via Shrewsbury to Aberystwyth and Pwllheli over the Cambrian Line. GWR era Prior to ama ...

'' ran via

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 ...

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...

and

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

London Paddington Paddington, also known as London Paddington, is a London station group, Central London railway terminus and London Underground station complex, located on Praed Street in the Paddington area. The site has been the London terminus of services pro ...

. *''

The Welshman ''Y Cymro – The Welshman'' is a named passenger train of the Great Western Railway (train operating company), Great Western Railway running between and . ''The Welshman'' was a named passenger train of the London, Midland and Scottish Ra ...

'' ran via

Caernarfon Caernarfon (; ) is a royal town, community and port in Gwynedd, Wales, with a population of 9,852 (with Caeathro). It lies along the A487 road, on the eastern shore of the Menai Strait, opposite the Isle of Anglesey. The city of Bangor is ...

and

Crewe Crewe () is a railway town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. The Crewe built-up area had a total population of 75,556 in 2011, which also covers parts of the adjacent civil parishes of Willaston ...

to Euston. In 1977 one side of the island platform was abandoned and the track was lifted (the land is now a car park). The station canopy, which was constructed by the GWR, survived intact until some glass fell out in late 1979, and it was shortened early in 1980. Today only the concourse and a short section of the platform remain covered. Pwllheli has one platform, a siding and a loop. One of the old

es also remains and is used as a covered

ground frame Mechanical railway signalling installations rely on lever frames for their operation to interlock the signals, track locks and points to allow the safe operation of trains in the area the signals control. Usually located in the signal box, the ...

to operate the loop points.

Facilities

The station is now unstaffed and has no ticket machine, so all tickets must be purchased on the train or prior to travel. The main building still stands - part of it is used as a cafe and coffee shop whilst the remainder provides covered waiting accommodation. Train running information is offered by means of digital display screens, automated announcements, timetable poster boards and a customer help point. Step-free access is provided from the main entrance to the platform.

Services

Services are operated by

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 ...

and depart from Pwllheli for , or Birmingham International. Occasional charter services also terminate at the station. Trains run roughly every two hours on weekdays (Mon-Sat), with three departures on summer Sundays and just a single service in winter. In November 2013, services from the station were suspended due to structural problems with the 1867 Grade II-listed wooden viaduct at

Pont Briwet Pont Briwet refers to the road and railway bridges that cross the River Dwyryd, near Penrhyndeudraeth, Gwynedd in North Wales. The first bridge was a Victorian road and railway viaduct that was constructed entirely from timber by the Cambrian ...

near .

Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...

had intended to build the new bridge alongside the current one whilst keeping the latter open, but work to drive steel piles into the riverbed to support the new viaduct caused the old one to shift and made it unsafe. As a result, the train service north of had to be temporarily withdrawn whilst construction work continued and did not resume until the new bridge was ready. Meanwhile, a replacement bus service ran over the 22 mile (35 km) section to Harlech. The line eventually reopened on 1 September 2014 when construction work on the rail portion of the new bridge was completed."New Pont Briwet rail bridge over Dwyryd estuary opens"
''BBC News'' article; Retrieved 2014-09-08

References

Sources

* * *

External links

By DMU from Pwllheli to Amlwch, via ''Huntley Archives''
{{Gwynedd railway stations Railway stations in Gwynedd DfT Category E stations Former Cambrian Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1867 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1909 Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1909 Railway stations served by Transport for Wales Rail Pwllheli Grade II listed buildings in Gwynedd Grade II listed railway stations in Wales