Dinas railway station

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Today Dinas is an intermediate station on the narrow-gauge Welsh Highland Railway between Caernarfon and Porthmadog. It was once known as Dinas Junction, since it was where the original WHR terminated, alongside the standard-gauge track of the London & North Western Railway’s route between Caernarfon and Afonwen, near Pwllheli.

The North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways Company (which opened the northern section of the WHR in 1877) received legal powers to extend its route into Caernarfon in 1885, but never used them. Instead, goods and tourists transferred to the LNWR at Dinas Junction. WHR trains ceased running in 1937, and soon afterwards “Junction” was dropped from the station’s name. The standard-gauge line closed in 1964.

Dinas station reopened in October 1997 as temporary terminus of the WHR’s new narrow-gauge track from Caernarfon. The former LNWR trackbed had been used for Lôn Eifion, a cycling and walking route, in the 1980s. Now part of National Cycle Network Route 8, the cycle path was accommodated alongside the new railway. The WHR was later extended in stages to Porthmadog. WHR locomotives and coaches are still maintained at Dinas.

Two stone buildings remain from the original station. One provided waiting facilities for passengers. Its restoration by volunteers won the Ian Allan National Railway Heritage Award in December 2000. The other building was a goods shed, through which a narrow-gauge track passed while a standard-gauge track entered from the Caernarfon end. A platform was provided inside for transfer of goods between wagons, or to road vehicles. This now provides covered WHR workshop accommodation.

Postcode: LL54 5UP    View Location Map

Ffestiniog Railway on HistoryPoints.org

Welsh Highland Railway website

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