Llangefni_railway_station
Llangefni railway station
Disused railway station in Anglesey, Wales
Llangefni railway station was situated on the Anglesey Central Railway line from Gaerwen to Amlwch.
A temporary terminus station was opened in 1864, approximately a quarter of a mile south of the current station.[3] This station, near Glanhwfa Road, could be opened prior to the completion of bridge and cutting by which the railway travels through Llangefni. Once the portion of the line to Llanerchymedd had passed inspection in January 1866, the permanent station was opened.[4] Little is known of the temporary station, but it may have seen some use as a goods yard after its closure to passengers.[5]
The line running through was single track and although a short loop was in existence on the Down (south) side it was never used as a passing loop.[3]
A gated track, presumably for livestock, ran diagonally down the steep hill side opposite the station and below the primary school. The gate was still there in the 1960s, with railway company plate, although the track itself was heavily overgrown.
The two-storey station building was located on the Up (north) side of the track as was the small waggon shed and larger goods yard. The goods yard was used mainly for cattle as Llangefni was (and still is) the island's market town. A platform extension was undertaken in 1887 when the LNWR took over the line.
All stations on the Anglesey Central line closed to passengers in 1964 as part of the Beeching Axe; goods works continued until 1993. The line itself has not been removed but the loop and the sidings have been, the latter being used as a car park. The station buildings themselves are now in private ownership.[6] One of the best places on the island to see the remaining tracks are located in the Dingle (Nant Y Pandy) nature reserve near the station.
Announced in November 2009 the Welsh Assembly Government has asked Network Rail to conduct a feasibility study on reopening the line between Llangefni on Anglesey and Bangor for passenger services. Network Rail assessed the track bed and published its report in 2010, although a business case to reopen the line is yet to be developed.[7][8]
On 11 October 2018, the overbridge carrying the line across the A5114 was struck by a 'convoi exceptionnel' HGV in the service of Martex; the damage to the bridge was judged too severe for it to remain in situ once the vehicle had been recovered, therefore on 14 October 2018, two 100~tonne capacity cranes attended the site, first extracting the road vehicle, then stripping off the track panels from the bridge deck, finally removing the bridge span. All recovered railway materials, including the damaged bridge, were taken to the Gwalchmai yard of Bob Francis Cranes. Thus, the previously mothballed route is now severed; the Daily Post has covered these events, mostly because the road closure has been an inconvenience locally.[9]