Teigl Halt railway station

Last updated

Teigl Halt
LocationCwm Teigl, near Blaenau Ffestiniog, Gwynedd
Wales
Coordinates 52°58′11″N3°55′13″W / 52.9698°N 3.9202°W / 52.9698; -3.9202 Coordinates: 52°58′11″N3°55′13″W / 52.9698°N 3.9202°W / 52.9698; -3.9202
Grid reference SH 712 430
Platforms1 [1] [2]
Other information
StatusDisused
History
Original company Great Western Railway
Key dates
14 September 1931Opened for passengers only [3]
18 July 1932First time in Bradshaw [4]
4 January 1960Closed, but line remained open for goods
28 January 1961Line closed [5]
10 April 1964Line reopened, but not the halt
17 October 1998Line closed and mothballed

Teigl Halt was a solely passenger railway station which served the rural area of Cwm Teigl, south of Blaenau Ffestiniog, Wales. [6] [7]

Contents

Origins

The line through the future station site opened in 1883, replacing the 1 ft 11+1⁄2 in (597 mm) narrow gauge Festiniog and Blaenau Railway which had run along the same route since 1868. Teigl Halt was one of the 198 opened by the Great Western Railway (GWR) between 1927 and 1939, [8] spurred by rising competition with buses and, to a lesser degree, cars. [9]

Description

The unstaffed halt's single platform edge was made of sleepers, the platform itself being infilled with ash and cinders. It was a mere 50 feet (15 m) long, so drivers had instructions to stop ensuring the guard's compartment was alongside. The amenities provided were a Pagoda platform shelter and an oil lamp, with a rough farm occupation crossing at the southern end. [10] [11] [12] [13]

Neighbouring infrastructure

Just south of the crossing, 23 miles 10 chains (37.2 km) from Bala, was a very short siding, physically unconnected to and at right angles to the track. This was for storing Engineering Department's motor trolleys. Staff wishing to make use of this would contact "Control" (the line's controllers and signallers) from Hut No. 19 which stood on the opposite side of the tracks from the platform. This hut contained a telephone and key apparatus enabling staff to take safe possession of the line. [14] When they were given permission to do so they manhandled the trolley onto the "main line", returning it the same way in due course.

A short distance south of the trolley siding, in plain view from the station when looking along the sharply curved track, was the Pont Llefraith bridge over the Afon Teigl. [15] This was replaced in the 1970s. [16] With a radius of just 7 chains (140 m) the curve and a cutting obscured a northbound ("Down") driver's view of an occupation crossing a short distance north of the halt, so a bell operated by a treadle warned road users of a train's approach. [17] [18]

Services

The September 1959 timetable shows

In 1935 the Ministry of Transport stated that the halt was used by 70 passengers per week. [17]

After the Second World War at the latest most trains were composed of two carriages, with one regular turn comprising just one brake third coach. At least one train along the line regularly ran as a mixed train, [20] with a second between Bala and Arenig. By that time such trains had become rare on Britain's railways. Workmen's trains had been a feature of the line from the outset; they were the Festiniog and Blaenau Railway's biggest source of revenue. [21] Such a service between Trawsfynydd and Blaenau Ffestiniog survived to the line's closure to passengers in 1960. [22] [23] Up to 1930 at the earliest such services used dedicated, lower standard, coaches which used a specific siding at Blaenau where the men boarded from and alighted to the ballast. [24] [25]

The line from Bala north to Trawsfynydd was designated in the restrictive "Blue" weight limit, with the section from Trawsfynydd to Blaenau limited even more tightly to "Yellow". [26] The literature conjectures on overweight classes being used on troop trains, but no solid claim or photograph has been published. Only two steam age photos of the line show anything other than an 0-4-2 or 0-6-0 tank engine, they being of GWR 2251 Class 0-6-0s taken in the 1940s. [27] [28] As the 1950s passed "5700" and "7400" 0-6-PTs stole the show, exemplified by 9610 at Festiniog in the 1950s. [29] 0-4-2T engines "..suffer[ed] from limited tank capacity and power." [30]

The halt in film

A mirror continuity sequence showing a train crossing the Teigl and reaching the halt features very briefly in an early Cold War spy film starring Elizabeth Taylor. [31]

Closure and reopening

By the 1950s the line was deemed unremunerative. A survey undertaken in 1956 and 1957 found that the average daily numbers of passengers boarding and alighting were:

Freight traffic was not heavy, most arriving and leaving Bala did so from and to the south and that to Blaenau could be handled from the Conwy Valley Line northwards.

In 1957 Parliament authorised Liverpool Corporation to flood a section of the line by damming the Afon Tryweryn. Monies were made available to divert the route round the dam, but it was decided that improving the road from Bala to Llan Ffestiniog would be of greater benefit. [32] Road transport alternatives were established for groups such as schoolchildren and workers. The plans afoot for rail serving Trawsfynydd nuclear power station were to be catered for by building the long-discussed cross-town link between the two Blaenau standard gauge stations. The estimated financial savings to be made were £23,300 by withdrawing the passenger service and £7000 in renewal charges. [33]

The halt closed in January 1960 but freight trains continued to pass the site for a further year. In 1964 the line, but not the halt, reopened from Blaenau southwards through the site of the halt to a siding near the site of Trawsfynydd Lake Halt where a large ("Goliath") gantry [34] [35] was erected to load and unload traffic for the then new Trawsfynydd nuclear power station. The main goods transported were nuclear fuel rods carried in nuclear flasks. The line was also used during the late 1980s for freight traffic to a siding at Maentwrog Road serving the explosives factory in Penrhyndeudraeth. [36]

Passenger trains briefly returned to the line in 1989, passing through to a temporary platform at Maentwrog Road. These trains ran for one summer in an attempt to encourage tourism at the power station. Few people used the service to visit the power station, most riders travelled "for the ride", so the following year tourist trains drove to the line's terminus then reversed, with no-one getting on or off. [37] This service lasted until the end of the 1990 Summer season.

Rail enthusiasts' special trains traversed the line from time to time. Notable examples were two "last trains". The first ran from Bala to Blaenau Ffestiniog and return on 22 January 1961 [38] [39] and in the post-1964 era the "Trawsfynydd Lament" [40] ran southwards to the limit of line at the power station loading point on 17 October 1998, the line having become redundant following removal of nuclear material from the power station.

The station site in the 21st Century

Geograph-5166981-the site of the halt in October 2016 Teigl Halt, October 2016 (geograph 5166981).jpg
Geograph-5166981-the site of the halt in October 2016

In 2011 part of the platform edge remained. By October 2016 even that had disappeared, with only a low mound remaining under undergrowth to suggest the halt had ever existed, although the mothballed line still ran through the site to the former nuclear flask loading point. [41]

The future

Between 2000 and 2011 there were at least two attempts to put the remaining line 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. [42]

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." [43] By mid-October 2016 the company had achieved six working days of track clearance. [44]

Preceding station Disused railways Following station
Manod
Line mothballed, station closed		  Great Western Railway
Bala and Festiniog Railway 		  Festiniog
Line mothballed, station closed

Blaenau Ffestiniog in 1955

Last train Special in 1961

From an Inspection saloon in the rain, about 1970

From a DMU door window in 1989, southbound

From a DMU door window in 1989, northbound

A DMU from a hillside in 1989, southbound

Still images before 1961

Still images 1964-1989

Still images since 1989

Related Research Articles

The Bala and Festiniog Railway was a 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in, standard gauge, railway backed by the Great Western Railway (GWR) in north-west Wales. It connected Bala with Blaenau Ffestiniog.

Bala Junction railway station Disused railway station in Gwynedd, Wales

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 Disused railway station in Gwynedd, Wales

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 Disused railway station 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 Disused railway station in Gwynedd, Wales

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 Disused railway station in Gwynedd, Wales

Trawsfynydd railway station served the village of Trawsfynydd, Gwynedd, Wales.

Manod railway station Disused railway station in Gwynedd, Wales

Manod railway station served the village of Manod which then stood on the southern edge of Blaenau Ffestiniog in Gwynedd, Wales. By 2015 urban spread had resulted in Manod being subsumed by its neighbour.

Tan-y-Manod railway station

Tan-y-Manod railway station was a railway station approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) south of Blaenau Ffestiniog, in Gwynedd, North Wales.

Bala (New) railway station Disused railway station in Gwynedd, 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 solely passenger railway station which served a rural area west of Frongoch, near Bala. 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.

GWR pagoda platform shelter

The archetypal Pagoda Platform Shelter was a distinctively-shaped corrugated iron structure used by passengers waiting at railway stations in Wales and southern England.

Trawsfynydd Camp railway station Disused railway station in Gwynedd, 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 railway station Disused railway station in Gwynedd, Wales

Cwm Prysor Halt was a railway station which served the remote rural area of Cwm Prysor, east of Trawsfynydd, Gwynedd, Wales.

Tyddyngwyn railway station was immediately north of the later Manod station in what was then Merionethshire, now Gwynedd, Wales.

Blaenau Ffestiniog Central railway station

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.

References

  1. ↑ Southern 1995, pp. 77–79.
  2. ↑ Mitchell & Smith 2010, Photos 38 & 39.
  3. ↑ Butt 1995, p. 227.
  4. ↑ Quick 2009, p. 376.
  5. ↑ Southern 1995, pp. 64 & 81.
  6. ↑ Jowett 2000, Map 44.
  7. ↑ Williams & Lowe 2018, pp. 151–153.
  8. ↑ Coleford 2010a, p. 509.
  9. ↑ Wells 2016, pp. 374–9.
  10. ↑ Clemens 2003, 9 mins from start.
  11. ↑ Clemens 2014, 1 hr 10 mins from start.
  12. ↑ Reade 1983, p. 19.
  13. ↑ Riley 1977, p. 7.
  14. ↑ Southern 1995, p. 77.
  15. ↑ Halt and bridge Jaggers Heritage
  16. ↑ Bridge replacement near Teigl Halt Alan Hayward
  17. 1 2 Coleford 2010a, p. 512.
  18. ↑ Boyd 1959, pp. 547 & 549.
  19. ↑ Mitchell & Smith 2010, Preface.
  20. ↑ Christiansen 1976, p. 71.
  21. ↑ Boyd 1988, p. 88.
  22. ↑ Southern 1995, pp. 15–17.
  23. ↑ 1960 Working timetable, via 2D53
  24. ↑ Southern 1995, p. 13.
  25. ↑ Blaenau Ffestiniog (GWR) track layout Signalling Record Society
  26. ↑ Southern 1995, p. 14.
  27. ↑ Green 1996, p. 40.
  28. ↑ Southern, Leadbetter & Weatherley 1987, p. 72.
  29. ↑ Mitchell & Smith 2010, Photo 36.
  30. ↑ Boyd 1959, p. 548.
  31. ↑ "The Conspirator", MGM 1949, 26 minutes from start
  32. ↑ Morton Lloyd 1961, pp. 270–1.
  33. ↑ Coleford 2010b, pp. 577–582.
  34. ↑ Mitchell & Smith 2010, Photo 28.
  35. ↑ Southern 1995, p. 71.
  36. ↑ Mitchell & Smith 2010, Photo 31.
  37. ↑ Tourists trains to the station 2D53
  38. ↑ Southern 1995, p. 93.
  39. ↑ Last train ticket Michael Clemens
  40. ↑ The Trawsfynydd Lament Penmorfa
  41. ↑ "Teigl Halt in 2016". flickr.
  42. ↑ Pagnamenta 2016, p. 38.
  43. ↑ Crump 2016, p. 15.
  44. ↑ "The railway's website". Traws-railway. Archived from the original on 26 November 2016.

Sources

Further material

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.