Corwen railway station

Corwen
Original station building (closed in 1964) in January 2010
General information
Location	Corwen, Denbighshire Wales
Platforms	2
History
Original company	Llangollen & Corwen Railway
Pre-grouping	Great Western Railway
Post-grouping	Great Western Railway Western Region of British Railways
Key dates
1 Sept 1865	Opened
2 Nov 1964	Closed to goods
14 Dec 1964	Closed to passengers
2 Jun 2023	Reopened on new site

Corwen railway station refers to two stations, on different sites, which have existed in the town of Corwen in Denbighshire, Wales.

The first was on the Ruabon to Barmouth Line. It was opened in 1865 and closed in 1964. The second is located on the preserved Llangollen Railway and was opened in 2023.

Original station

The main station building in 1992, showing the demolished wings and central section, about to be redeveloped as a showroom

The first station to open was a temporary station to the east of the town, when the line from Denbigh opened in October 1864. A permanent station was opened by the Great Western Railway in May 1865. The station had two platforms, a signal box, and was a passing place on the single track line.

Corwen was also the southern terminus of the Denbigh, Ruthin and Corwen Railway (DR&CR), which ran from Rhyl via Denbigh and Ruthin to Corwen, opening in 1864. According to the Official Handbook of Stations, the following classes of traffic were being handled at this station in 1956: G, P, F, L, H and C and there was a 1-ton 10 cwt crane. The former DR&CR route officially closed in 1965.

Corwen station itself was scheduled to close under the Beeching Axe to passengers on Monday 18 January 1965 however it closed prematurely on Monday 14 December 1964 due to flood damage west of the station.

The main station building and site remains intact today, in private use since 1990 as a showroom for Ifor Williams Trailers; the trackbed was infilled, both main building wings and the toilets were demolished, and the central section was rebuilt to accommodate a showroom.

New station (Llangollen Railway)

The new Corwen railway station in 2023

In 2011, the preserved Llangollen Railway began work to re-construct the 2+1⁄2-mile (4.0 km) section of the permanent way from its then terminus at Carrog, past the site of Bonwm Halt and on to Corwen. As the original Corwen station is now in private use, and the track bed in between also sub-divided, construction of a new station, east of the original, was included in the project.

The first stage of the project saw the extension of the line to a temporary station at Corwen East, which opened in October 2014. There was a formal opening ceremony on St David's Day, 1 March 2015, followed by the first full season of trains. As a final stage, in early 2019 the temporary structure at Corwen East was removed and the line was extended a further 200 metres to the new permanent station, constructed next to the town's main car park. The new station opened on 2 June 2023. It features an island platform with two platform edges (accessed via a pedestrian underpass), a headshunt, and a small siding on the same alignment as, and accessed from, the run-round loop.

Preceding station		Disused railways		Following station
Bonwm Halt		Great Western Railway Ruabon to Barmouth Line		Cynwyd
Gwyddelwern		London and North Western Railway Denbigh, Ruthin and Corwen Railway		Terminus

Preceding station	Heritage railways			Following station
Terminus		Llangollen Railway		Carrog

Further reading

• Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (2010). Ruabon to Barmouth. West Sussex: Middleton Press. figs. 44-52. ISBN 9781906008840. OCLC 651922152.
• Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (2012). Branch Lines around Denbigh. West Sussex: Middleton Press. figs. 69-73. ISBN 9781908174321. OCLC 814270878.

External links

• Corwen Station coming soon – Llangollen Railway
• Corwen station on navigable 1952 O. S. map