Deganwy railway station

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Link to French translationDeganwy railway station, Station Road

When the branch line to Llandudno opened in 1858, there was no need for trains to stop at what is now Deganwy. There was little here apart from a homestead called Tyddyn Deganwy and some houses, almost 1km to the south-east, beside the Llandudno to Conwy road (now Pentywyn Road). However, in 1866 trains began to call at a basic Deganwy station.

The station layout we see today was created in 1873 when the London & North Western Railway converted the Llandudno branch from single to double track, to cope with rapid growth in Llandudno’s tourism and population. The railway brought tourists to Deganwy, and Tyddyn Deganwy was expanded to become the Deganwy Castle Hotel. Fashionable shops were built along Station Road, and villas for wealthy people on the hillside behind.

During the First World War, sphagnum moss from the Conwy Valley was unloaded at the station. Women who belonged to Deganwy’s Queen Mary Needlework Guild made dressings for injured troops using the moss. In a property on Station Road, they cleaned the moss and bagged it in 60g (2oz) bundles for dispatch by train to medical facilities in Britain and Photo of Deganwy lengthmennear the front line.

Sphagnum moss does not grow in the Deganwy area. It was picked by schoolgirls in the Betws-y-coed area. They collected around 10 large sackfuls a week of moss.

At the Llandudno end of Deganwy station stands a signal box to the LNWR’s standard pattern. Its main purpose today is to control the barriers on the Marine Crescent level crossing.

The photo on the right shows three platelayers at Deganwy station c.1953. In the centre is Sam Evans. Each length of track was assigned to a group of local platelayers, known as lengthmen. The railway company (British Railways by 1953) regularly awarded prizes for the best-kept lengths. Sam Evans’ son Bob recalls that Deganwy sometimes won.

With thanks to Adrian Hughes, of the Deganwy History Group

Postcode: LL31 9EJ    View Location Map

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