:Llysfaen railway station

{{Infobox station

| name = Llysfaen

| status = Disused

| image =

| borough = Llysfaen, Conwy County Borough (then Denbighshire)

| country = Wales

| coordinates = {{coord|53.2912|-3.6676|type:railwaystation_region:GB|display=inline,title}}

| grid_name = Grid reference

| grid_position = {{gbmapscaled|SH888785|25|SH888785}}

| platforms = 2

| original = London and North Western Railway

| pregroup = London and North Western Railway

| postgroup = London, Midland and Scottish Railway

| years = {{Start date|1862|08|01|df=yes}}

| events = Opened as Llandulas

| years1 = 1 July 1889

| events1 = Renamed Llysfaen

| years2 = {{end date|1931|01|05|df=y}}

| events2 = Station closed

}}

Llysfaen railway station was located in Llysfaen, Conwy County Borough (then Denbighshire), North Wales, situated between the Old Colwyn to the west and the sea to the north.

History

Opened 1 August 1862 by the London and North Western Railway,[http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/l/llysfaen/index.shtml disused-stations.org.uk article] it was served by what is now the North Wales Coast Line between Chester, Cheshire and Holyhead, Anglesey. Initially known as Llandulas station, it was changed to Llysfaen in 1889 when a new station, was built nearer Llanddulas.

A basic signal box was built near the station. This helped to control traffic in and out of the sidings used by Imperial Chemical Industries to serve its nearby quarry. It was improved to a brick building in 1870 and further improved in 1902.[http://www.signalbox.org/gallery/lm/llysfaen.php History and photo of the box on signalbox.org]

In 1868 the LNWR was criticised by the Board of Trade during their report following the Abergele rail disaster. Two uncontrolled goods wagons left the sidings at Llysfaen and were struck by the Prince of Wales locomotive which was hauling several carriages near Abergele.[http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/wales/archive/bbc-north-west-wales-abergele-train-disaster.pdf BBC North West Wales article on the disaster] The report read: "Llysfaen sidings had never been inspected by a Government official or been approved by the Board of Trade. They were quite unfit to be used at the same time to support the quarry operations and to accommodate slow trains allowing expresses to pass them.[http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/documents/BoT_Abergele1868.pdf Copy of the BoT report on railwaysarchive.co.uk]"

There were two platforms at the station connected by a ground level barrow crossing over the tracks. The main station building was located on the up line (eastbound) whilst the down line platform had a small shelter. The station was closed on 5 January 1931[http://www.carmacottages.co.uk/ Mention of the station on a local website] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130703045821/http://www.carmacottages.co.uk/ |date=3 July 2013 }} and the signal box was taken out of action in 1983 following the closure of the sidings. Only a few remains of the platforms can be seen.

:Llysfaen railway station

History

References

Further reading