The archetypal Pagoda Platform Shelter was a distinctively-shaped corrugated iron structure used by passengers waiting at railway stations in Wales and southern England.
The archetypal Pagoda Platform Shelter was a distinctively-shaped corrugated iron structure used by passengers waiting at railway stations in Wales and southern England.
In Britain Pagoda shelters are associated with the Great Western Railway (GWR) who introduced them in 1907 and erected a patchwork of them across their network. They were manufactured by an outside supplier and delivered in kit form. [1] They could therefore be assembled offsite, delivered on standard well wagons and craned into position, [2] [3] or assembled onsite, according to circumstances.
The GWR opened its first "Haltes" on 12 October 1903, anglicising the name to "Halt" in 1905. They were prime candidates for Pagoda shelters, but the market was crowded: finance, tradition, knowledge, skills and materials to hand meant that some lines had pagodas aplenty, some one or two and others none at all. The Bala to Ffestiniog Line in upland Wales, for example, had six halts erected at remote, virgin sites between the World Wars, Teigl Halt and Llafar Halt had pagoda shelters, but Trawsfynydd Lake Halt, Bryn-Celynog Halt, Tyddyn Bridge Halt and Capel Celyn Halt had shelters with other designs.
Opening halts and standardising cheap to install and cheap to buy infrastructure in the face of competition firstly from trams, then buses and ultimately cars overlapped with other initiatives such as the railmotor. [4]
Pagoda shelters were generally associated with branch lines, but many were erected next to regional arteries and some were erected next to main lines; Challow being an example on what was and remains a high speed route out of Paddington. [5]
Although they were renowned for their shape, their greatest virtues were their cost, simplicity and durability, coupled with the fact that the GWR "took them seriously". They were built to precise working drawings with materials to exact engineering specifications. The example installed at the remote Teigl Halt, for example, had a roof made of "No. 18 SWG Galvanised 3 inch Corrugated Sheeting [...] with a floor of specially prepared timber." [6] [7] [8] [9]
Many small halts used wooden platforms on a timber frame, rather than masonry or earth. The pagoda shelter could be used for these because of its light weight. [10] [11]
A pagoda shelter was typically provided for each platform, as, for example, at Truthall Halt. [12] As the halts where they were used were mostly on single-track lines, there was only one shelter, though Bilson Halt had only one platform with two pagoda shelters. [13] Stations such as Radipole and Ruislip Gardens with two platforms, had two, one on each platform, [14] [15] as did Appleford. [16] Harlech [17] [18] [19] [20] and Loudwater [21] had two platforms but a pagoda shelter opposite the masonry station building only. Perivale Halt had several on each platform. [22] Defiance Halt (later Defiance Platform) had one on each platform initially, but two more were added to the Up platform during the station's life. [23] Bala Junction had three platform faces with a pagoda shelter only on the most southerly. [24] [25]
Most pagoda shelters were simple structures with one doorway leading into one room. At Kelmscott and Langford, however, the station building was a "Pagoda Building", with three doors and four windows facing the platform and rooms inside for different purposes. [26] Penhelig still has a pagoda shelter which used to incorporate a "lean-to" staff cabin at the Aberdyfi end. [27] [28] The lean-to appears to have been incorporated into the overall building since it was de-staffed. The shelter differs from most pagodas in that it is either built of or clad with timber. [29]
Although the standard pagoda shelter measured 20 feet (6.1 m) by 8 feet (2.4 m), [30] they could be erected to different dimensions, occasionally at the same location, such as Dawlish Warren. [31]
The shelters were mainly used by passengers waiting for trains, but at least two - at Legacy [32] and Tetbury [33] - were "Pagoda lamp huts", whilst one at Witney was a shed. [34] Fairford [35] [36] and Twyford each had a "Pagoda bike shed". Pagoda huts existed next to Weymouth Junction signalbox, [37] and in Hagley station goods yard, [38] neither was for passenger use. A Pagoda shelter was erected at right angles to the track next to the down platform at Festiniog, unsigned and painted black; [39] [40] research continues into its purpose. It was still there in 1989, 28 years after the station closed and long after all other buildings had been demolished. [41] [42] [43]
The GWR did not have a complete monopoly of pagoda shelters; Grogley Halt, Nanstallon Halt and Dunmere Halt [44] on the former LSWR branch near Bodmin in Cornwall had one each, [45] and the Highland Railway had at least one, at the remote Borrobol on its main line to Wick. [46] In the United States, pagoda shelters were adopted on a large scale by at least one railroad. [47]
By 2015 a few, such as Denham Golf Club, survived in ordinary use. Some survived on preserved railways and others have been erected as new builds on such lines [48] [49] At least one has been rescued from a derelict site and installed on a preserved railway, at Donniford Halt on the West Somerset Railway. [50] The shelter and other platform furniture at Llanerch-Ayron Halt have been preserved, but not the railway.
Most, however, have been demolished, either to be replaced with a more modern structure, as at Machynlleth, or demolished along with the station, as at Llafar Halt, or obliterated along with the line and station, as at Mount Hawke and Goonhavern Halts. [51]
Blaenau Ffestiniog railway station serves the slate mining town of Blaenau Ffestiniog, Wales, and is the passenger terminus of the Conwy Valley Line from Llandudno Junction. Transport for Wales Rail operate through services to Llandudno Junction and Llandudno. The station is a joint station with the narrow gauge Ffestiniog Railway, which operates primarily tourist passenger services to Porthmadog throughout most of the year. A feature of the standard gauge service is the availability on trains and buses of the popular "Gwynedd Red Rover" day ticket.
Bala Junction railway station was on the Ruabon to Barmouth line in southern Gwynedd, Wales. It closed to passengers on Monday 18 January 1965. Bala Junction was unusual in that it was inaccessible by road and merely served as an interchange station; it was located about ¾ mile to the south-east of the town of Bala.
Frongoch railway station served the village of Frongoch on the Great Western Railway's Bala Ffestiniog Line in Gwynedd, Wales.
Capel Celyn Halt was a solely passenger railway station which served the rural area of Capel Celyn west of Bala. It was on the Great Western Railway's (GWR's) Bala Ffestiniog Line in Gwynedd, Wales.
Arenig railway station stood beneath Arenig Fawr on the Great Western Railway's Bala Ffestiniog Line in Gwynedd, Wales. It served this thinly populated upland area, but its particular purposes were to serve Arenig Granite quarry which opened in 1908 next to the station and to act as a passing loop on the largely single-track route. The railway was the quarry's main carrier and also its main customer, crushed stone being used for track ballast.
Trawsfynydd Lake Halt was a solely passenger railway station near the northeastern tip of Llyn Trawsfynydd, Gwynedd, Wales. Many Nineteenth and early Twentieth Century institutions in Wales were given anglicised names, this station being one. Over the years, and especially since the Second World War, most have been rendered into Welsh or given both Welsh and English names. Trawsfynydd Lake Halt closed before this happened.
Maentwrog Road railway station was on the Great Western Railway's Bala Ffestiniog Line in Gwynedd, Wales.
Festiniog railway station served the village of Llan Ffestiniog, Gwynedd, Wales. This station was one of many 19th century institutions in Wales to be given an anglicised name. Over the years, and especially since the Second World War, most have been rendered into Welsh or given both Welsh and English names, but Festiniog station closed before this happened. The village of Llan Ffestiniog – known locally simply as "Llan" – lies over 3 km south of the larger and more recent Blaenau Ffestiniog, and over three miles south by rail.
Trawsfynydd railway station served the village of Trawsfynydd, Gwynedd, Wales.
Manod railway station served the village of Manod which then stood on the southern edge of Blaenau Ffestiniog in Gwynedd, Wales.
Tan-y-Manod railway station was a railway station approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) south of Blaenau Ffestiniog, in Gwynedd, North Wales.
Bala railway station was on the Great Western Railway's Bala Ffestiniog Line in Wales. It replaced the first Bala station which was further away from the town, on the Ruabon–Barmouth line.
Tyddyn Bridge Halt was a railway station which served the village of Frongoch, Gwynedd, Wales. It was on the Great Western Railway's (GWR's) Bala Ffestiniog Line in Gwynedd, Wales.
Bryn-Celynog Halt was an unstaffed solely passenger railway station which served the rural area of Bryn-Celynog, east of Trawsfynydd, Gwynedd, Wales.
Llafar Halt was an unstaffed solely passenger railway station which served the rural area of Glanllafar, east of Trawsfynydd, Gwynedd, Wales.
Teigl Halt was a solely passenger railway station which served the rural area of Cwm Teigl, south of Blaenau Ffestiniog, Wales.
Trawsfynydd Camp railway station, sometimes referred to as Trawsfynydd Military station served the Trawsfynydd Artillery range at Bronaber, south of Trawsfynydd in Gwynedd, Wales. The station never opened for civilian traffic.
Cwm Prysor Halt was a railway station which served the remote rural area of Cwm Prysor, east of Trawsfynydd, Gwynedd, Wales.
On 10 September 1883, the Bala and Festiniog Railway (B&FR) and the Festiniog Railway (FR) opened what would be known as an interchange station in Blaenau Ffestiniog, Merionethshire, Wales. Merionethshire is now part of the county of Gwynedd.
North west Wales experienced a slate boom in the first half of the nineteenth century. Three sites stood out as experiencing the most explosive growth: Dinorwic near Llanberis, Penrhyn near Bethesda and Blaenau Ffestiniog.
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