Waunfawr railway station

Waunfawr
General information
Location	Gwynedd
Coordinates	53.106°N 4.202°W / 53.106; -4.202
Owned by	Festiniog Railway Company
Managed by	Welsh Highland Railway
Platforms	2
History
Original company	North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways
Key dates
1877	Opened
26 September 1936	Closed
7 August 2000	Reopened

Waunfawr is a station on the narrow gauge Welsh Highland Railway, which was built in 1877 as the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways Moel Tryfan Undertaking, to carry dressed slate to Dinas Junction on the London and North Western Railway. Passenger services ceased on 26 September 1936 and the station was reopened on 7 August 2000 following the reconstruction of the railway from Dinas to Waunfawr. The train services are operated by the Festiniog Railway Company.

"Waunfawr" is Welsh for "Big Heath".

In 2000, in order to remodel the layout of the station, the old building was carefully taken down. Although carefully dismantled by the WH Heritage Group, the numbered and stored stone was inadvertently used as fill for the embankments, or to build a stone wall, by the contractor.

Following reconstruction, the section from Waunfawr to Rhyd Ddu was formally reopened by HRH the Prince of Wales on 30 July 2003. Prince Charles travelled from Waunfawr to Rhyd Ddu by special train.

The station flower and shrub beds were laid out and are maintained by the local community enterprise charity, Antur Waunfawr. The Snowdonia Park Hotel adjoins the station and was built originally as the station master's house. Entrance to and exit from the station platform is by way of the hotel car park. The station footbridge links with a car park and a caravan park. Snowdonia Sherpa Bus services call at the station.

In 2018-19, after a substantial benefaction, the station building was rebuilt in the style of the original NWNG building of 1877, but to modern building standards. The traditional appearance, matching the stations at Dinas and Tryfan Junction, is a considerable contrast from that at the new Caernarfon Station, but both are designed by the same architect!

• 
  Down train arriving at Waunfawr from Rhyd Ddu, powered by diesel locomotive "Castell Caernarfon" on 26 May 2004
• 
  NG143 at Waunfawr water tower
• 
  Train with NG143 heading for Caernarfon

References

• Boyd, James I.C. (1988) [1972]. Narrow Gauge Railways in South Caernarvonshire – Volume 1. Headington: The Oakwood Press. ISBN 978-0-85361-365-7. OCLC 20417464.
• Boyd, James I.C. (1989) [1972]. Narrow Gauge Railways in South Caernarvonshire - Volume 2: The Welsh Highland Railway. Headington: The Oakwood Press. ISBN 978-0-85361-383-1. OCLC 145018679.
• Butt, R. V. J. (October 1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199. OL 11956311M.
• Jowett, Alan (March 1989). Jowett's Railway Atlas of Great Britain and Ireland: From Pre-Grouping to the Present Day (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-086-0. OCLC 22311137.

External links

• The Welsh Highland Railway Project - official reconstruction site
• Welsh Highland Railway (Caernarfon)
• Rebuilding The Welsh Highland Railway - an independent site
• The Royal re-opening to Rhyd Ddu 2003
• Welsh Highland Railway Timetables
• Multimap Map of Waunfawr
• Festipedia
• Plans to reconstruct the NWNGR Waunfawr station building

Preceding station	Heritage railways			Following station
Tryfan Junction		Welsh Highland Railway		Plas-y-Nant
	Historical railways
Tryfan Junction		Welsh Highland Railway		Betws Garmon