Llanddulas railway viaduct

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The original railway viaduct over the river Dulas was brought down by swollen river water on 17 August 1879. Seven days later, the London & North Western Railway opened a temporary, low-level bridge and connecting tracks to the main line on either side. Meanwhile its Crewe workshops fabricated new steel spans.

llanddulas_viaductSix masonry piers were built for the new viaduct, with round-the-clock working facilitated by one of the first uses of electric lighting on a construction site. The new bridge was opened to traffic on 14 September. The photo, courtesy of Conwy Archive Service, shows the structure in the early 20th century with a train of six-wheeled passenger coaches crossing.

On 20 August 1868, a disastrous accident resulted from an error during shunting of goods wagons at Llanddulas. The goods train was scheduled to precede the Irish Mail and set back into sidings at Llanddulas to allow the express to pass. On this occasion the train was too long to fit into one of the two sidings and was split for shunting.

Some wagons became free and rolled towards the ones which had been left standing on the main line. The jolt as the extra wagons arrived broke a gear in the brake van, and the wagons began to descend towards Pensarn.

The Irish Mail crashed into the runaway wagons west of Abergele & Pensarn station. Two of the wagons contained casks of paraffin, which quickly turned the wreckage of the wooden rolling stock into an inferno. The accident killed 33 people, who were buried in a mass grave at St Michael’s Church, Abergele. Additionally, the Irish Mail’s driver died later of his injuries.

Two of the closest eyewitnesses were schoolboy Frank Harris and Gertrude Hanniford, 15, who were strolling nearby. They climbed a fence to reach the wreckage. Frank recalled the event later, as much for the unexpected intimacy of helping Gertie over the fence as for the drama of the accident. Frank’s autobiography, published in Paris in the 1920s, was banned for decades in Britain and the USA because it detailed the love lives of himself and celebrities.

Postcode: LL22 8HG    View Location Map

Website of Conwy Archive Service

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