Foryd railway station

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.

Foryd
Site of the station in 1993
Location	Kinmel Bay, Conwy County Borough Wales
Coordinates	53.3073°N 3.5289°W
Grid reference	SH981800
Platforms	2
Other information
Status	Disused
History
Original company	Vale of Clwyd Railway
Pre-grouping	London and North Western Railway
Post-grouping	London, Midland and Scottish Railway
Key dates
5 October 1858	Opened
20 April 1885	Closed
11 May 1885	New station opened
2 July 1917	Closed
1 July 1919	Reopened
5 January 1931	Closed
4 June 1938	Reopened as Kinmel Bay Halt
10 September 1938	Closed
19 June 1939	Reopened
2 September 1939	Closed[1]
9 October 1948	officially closed

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.[6] 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.[7] 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".[8]

References

1. Butt, R.V.J., (1995) The Directory of Railway Stations, Yeovil: Patrick Stephens
2. disused-stations.org.uk page on the station
3. Lowe, Jeremy B. (1985). Welsh Country Workers Housing 1775-1875. National Museum Wales. p. 29. ISBN 978-0-72000-298-0.
4. History of the Vale of Clwyd railway on Rhyl History Club website
5. North Wales Weekly News article on a possible new station near the site
6. North Wales Weekly News article on a possible new station near the site
7. Local newspaper article on the proposal including the AM's backing
8. Rhyl Journal article announcing Taiths decision

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.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

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