Old Llanberis railway station

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button_lang_welshOld Llanberis railway station

Photo of old Llanberis stationThe original section of this building was once the main railway station in Llanberis. The building has been much extended for its current role as a shop.

The aerial photo, courtesy of the Welsh Government, shows the station in 1946, with open land on all sides. The circular shape on the right of the railway site is the turntable pit, where steam locomotives were turned on a rotating piece of track to face forwards for the return journey.

Llanberis was the terminus of a 13km branch line from Caernarfon, opened on 1 July 1869 by the London & North Western Railway. The line was primarily for moving slate and other minerals mined locally to destinations on Britain’s rail network. The Padarn Railway, on the opposite shore of Llyn Padarn, continued to carry slate but was configured primarily for onward distribution by ships from Y Felinheli. In 1873 the LNWR tried to extend the railway to the quarry terminal at Gilfach Ddu, but the local landowner objected.

Aerial view of Llanberis railway station in 1946The station complex included a warehouse, where goods were stored after being unloaded from railway wagons. In 1880 a poet named Robert Hughes – bardic name ‘Alarch Gwyrfai’ – was jailed for a month for stealing a bottle of whisky from the warehouse, although a police constable had told magistrates he was one of the wisest men in the community!

Also delivered here were Swiss-built steam locomotives for the Snowdon Mountain Railway. They were hauled from here to the mountain railway’s station on temporary narrow-gauge tracks along the roadside. The mountain railway’s opening in 1896 drew more visitors to Llanberis, many of them arriving on LNWR trains.

Regular passenger trains here ended in 1930, in the face of road competition, but the station was used by occasional tourist excursion trains into the 1950s. The last freight train left Llanberis on 3 September 1964. The Llanberis bypass road now follows the route of the railway.

The station building is now home to Llanberis Art & Craft, which sells fancy goods. There are photos of the station on the wall behind the counter.

Postcode: LL55 4TA    View Location Map

Website of Llanberis Art & Craft (Facebook)

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