Foryd railway station

Former railway station in Conwy County Borough, Wales

53°18′26″N 3°31′44″W / 53.3073°N 3.5289°W / 53.3073; -3.5289Grid referenceSH981800Platforms2Other informationStatusDisusedHistoryOriginal companyVale of Clwyd RailwayPre-groupingLondon and North Western RailwayPost-groupingLondon, Midland and Scottish RailwayKey dates5 October 1858Opened20 April 1885Closed11 May 1885New station opened2 July 1917Closed1 July 1919Reopened5 January 1931Closed4 June 1938Reopened as Kinmel Bay Halt10 September 1938Closed19 June 1939Reopened2 September 1939Closed[1]9 October 1948Officially closed

Foryd railway station (later known as Kinmel Bay Halt) was a railway station built to serve Kinmel Bay, then in Flintshire but now in Conwy County Borough, Wales.

History

The original Foryd station was opened on 5 October 1858 and was situated on the Denbigh, Ruthin and Corwen Railway,[2] incorporating a station house designed by the Denbigh firm of Lloyd Williams and Underwood.[3] The station was then moved to its second site, this time on the North Wales Coast Line, on 20 April 1885.[4] where it remained until its closure in 1948. There were four tracks running through the station, two slow and two fast, with the two platforms located adjacent to the slow tracks.

As was the case with many smaller stations of the time Foryd closed temporarily as a war economy measure between 2 July 1917 and 1 July 1919. The station continued to be used for only 12 years after this, closing again in 1931. It was then renamed to Kinmel Bay and experimentally re-opened during the summers of 1938 and 1939. Services never ran from there again and the station was permanently closed on 9 October 1948.[5] Nothing remains of either the station buildings or platforms, although the busy North Wales Coast Line still runs through the site.

In 2009 there was much speculation that a new station was to be built in the area.[5] January 2013 saw the North Wales Weekly News announce that £20 million had been earmarked for new stations in the UK and that funds would be applied for from this pot for the scheme.[6] However just a month later the Taith Joint Board, the North Wales transport consortium, pulled out of seeking funding for the project, stating that the "necessary infrastructure improvements have not been carried out".[7]

References

  1. ^ Butt, R.V.J., (1995) The Directory of Railway Stations, Yeovil: Patrick Stephens
  2. ^ Wright, Paul; Price, Bevan. "Foryd (Kinmel Bay Halt)". Disused Stations.
  3. ^ Lowe, Jeremy B. (1985). Welsh Country Workers Housing 1775-1875. National Museum Wales. p. 29. ISBN 978-0-72000-298-0.
  4. ^ "Railways". Rhyl History Club.
  5. ^ a b "Towyn on track for station resurrection after 70 years". North Wales Weekly News. 26 February 2009.
  6. ^ "Kinmel Bay and Towyn to get train stations". North Wales Weekly News. 31 January 2013.
  7. ^ "No funding application for train station in Towyn and Kinmel Bay". Rhyl Journal. 21 February 2013.

Further reading

  • Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (2012). Branch Lines around Denbigh. West Sussex: Middleton Press. fig. 6. ISBN 9781908174321. OCLC 814270878.
  • Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (2012). Rhyl to Bangor. West Sussex: Middleton Press. fig. 12. ISBN 9781908174154. OCLC 859594415.
Preceding station Historical railways Following station
Rhyl
Line and station open 		  London and North Western Railway
North Wales Coast Line 		  Abergele and Pensarn
Line and station open