Place Blaenau Ffestiniog Grid reference SH 702 457 Platforms in use 0 | Area Gwynedd Spring 1883 Opened | |
5 September 1883 Last passenger train called 10 September 1883 Replacement standard gauge Blaenau Festiniog station opened Original company Festiniog and Blaenau Railway | ||
Glynllifon Street railway station was a temporary northern terminus station of the Festiniog and Blaenau Railway (F&BR), sited next to the street of the same name in Blaenau Ffestiniog in what was then Merionethshire, now Gwynedd, Wales.
Contents
- Map of Glynllifon St Blaenau Ffestiniog LL41 3DU UK
- Context
- History
- Closure
- The line reopened
- The station site in the 21st Century
- The future
- Further material
- References
Map of Glynllifon St, Blaenau Ffestiniog LL41 3DU, UK
Context
The complex and confusing evolution of Blaenau's passenger stations is expanded here.
History
From April to September 1883 the 1 ft 11 3⁄4 in (603 mm) narrow gauge F&BR was rebuilt as a standard gauge line. Narrow gauge services continued throughout the rebuilding by laying a third rail on the sleepers. At the line's northern end, however, the scale and complexity of replacing the line's Duffws (F&BR) terminus and goods yard made it impossible to continue to meet passengers' needs, so a temporary terminus was provided at Glynllifon Street, approximately 10 chains (200 m) short of Duffws.
Glynllifon Street station is only mentioned in one published source, which refers to a published postcard showing a train at the station. No hint of its existence is given in the standard work on the F&BR.
It is likely that the station had no platforms, in common with all other F&BR stations. Carriages were very low to the ground, so passengers boarded from and alighted to the trackside.
Closure
Narrow gauge trains ceased running on 5 September 1883 with standard gauge services beginning on 10 September 1883. Glynllifon Street station was closed permanently when the narrow gauge ended, being replaced by a permanent terminus initially known as "Blaenau Festiniog" on the site of the former Duffws (F&BR) terminus. The terminus was renamed Blaenau Ffestiniog Central in 1951, closed to passenger traffic in January 1960 and closed completely in January 1961.
The line reopened
The line through the site of Glynllifon Street station closed in 1961 but it was mothballed pending building the long-discussed cross-town link to enable trains to run along the Conwy Valley Line, through Blaenau and on to Trawsfynydd nuclear power station which was then being built. The line through the site reopened on 24 April 1964, but none of the station's facilities were brought back to life. The line closed again in 1998 as the nuclear plant was being decommissioned. Once more the route was mothballed in case a future use is found.
The station site in the 21st Century
By 2011 no hint of the station remained. In Spring 2016 the mothballed single track line still ran past the site to the former nuclear flask loading point.
The future
Between 2000 and 2011 there were at least two attempts to put the mothballed line through the site to use. In 2011 there were proposals to use the rails as a recreational velorail track. Neither this nor the earlier idea came to anything. The possibility remains that the surviving line could see future preservation or reuse by the nuclear industry.
To considerable local surprise fresh moves to reopen the line from Blaenau as far south as Trawsfynydd began in September 2016, with the formation of The Trawsfynydd & Blaenau Ffestiniog Community Railway Company. On 21 September at least one regional newspaper reported that "Volunteers are set to start work this weekend on clearing vegetation from the trackbed between Blaenau Ffestiniog and Trawsfynydd." The company was quoted as saying "We have been given a licence by Network Rail to clear and survey the line."