Padarn Halt railway station

Padarn Halt
General information
LocationLlanberis, Gwynedd
Wales
Coordinates53°07′18″N 4°07′37″W / 53.1218°N 4.1270°W / 53.1218; -4.1270
Grid referenceSH 577 604
Platforms1[1]
Other information
StatusDisused
History
Original companyLMSR
Key dates
21 November 1936Opened[2][3]
12 September 1939Closed[4][5]

Padarn Halt was a passenger only railway station located in Llanberis, Gwynedd, Wales, on the western shore of Llyn Padarn. It opened on 21 November 1936 and closed on the outbreak of the Second World War. The line through the station remained in use for excursions until 1962 and for freight until 1964; it was lifted in 1965.

The LMSR closed the Llanberis branch to regular passenger services in 1930, though frequent Summer excursions continued to run. In 1934 the company reinstated a regular Saturdays only train specifically to serve Caernarfon market. In many parts of Britain "Market Trains" were an established part of local commerce and social life in a way which has passed into history. Llanberis station was not in the centre of Llanberis, so the company built the halt half a mile from the terminus specifically for this market traffic. The halt opened on 21 November 1936, from which time the market trains used the halt there instead of at Llanberis station. The halt consisted of an unlit single wooden platform on trestles, with a very small wooden waiting shelter at its southern end. It was accessed by a gravel footpath which continued over the tracks to the lakeside by a foot crossing.

The 1939 working timetable shows that some excursions made unadvertised stops at the halt.[6]

The track bed from Llanberis through the site of the halt (at what is now the lakeside entrance to the industrial estate) as far as Cwm-y-Glo is now occupied by the improved A4086, which by-passes the centre of Llanberis. No trace of the station remains.

Preceding station Historical railways Following station
Cwm-y-Glo
Line and station closed 		  Carnarvonshire Railway
Llanberis Branch 		  Llanberis
Line and station closed

References

  1. ^ Mitchell & Smith 2010, Photo 99 & 100 and Map XXIV.
  2. ^ Turner 2003, p. 14.
  3. ^ Butt 1995, p. 180.
  4. ^ Station history, via Disused Stations
  5. ^ Quick 2009, p. 303.
  6. ^ The station and line's Summer 1939 Working Timetable, via Rail Chronology

Sources

  • Butt, R. V. J. (October 1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199. OL 11956311M.
  • Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (2010). Bangor to Portmadoc: Including Three Llanberis Lines. Country Railway Routes. Midhurst: Middleton Press. ISBN 978-1-906008-72-7.
  • Quick, Michael (2009) [2001]. Railway passenger stations in Great Britain: a chronology (4th ed.). Oxford: Railway & Canal Historical Society. ISBN 978-0-901461-57-5. OCLC 612226077.
  • Turner, Alun (2003). Gwynedd's Lost Railways. Catrine, Ayrshire: Stenlake Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84033-259-9.