Dovey Junction / Cyffordd Dyfi (DVY)

Dovey Junction is a stop on the Cambrian Line on the Powys / Ceredigion border where the line splits towards Aberystwyth or Pwllheli. The station is between Machynllech and Borth or Penhelig.

Transport for Wales 158 830 arrives with an east bound service

Information
Type:	National Rail (Cambrian Line)
Station code:	DVY
Opened:	1863
Platforms:	2

The station was opened as Gandovey Junction in 1863 by the Cambrian Railway, it was renamed Dovey Junction in 1904, Dovey or Dyfi refers to the river next to the station. Nowadays the station is in the middle of the Dyfi National Nature Reserve. It is also close to the hamlet of Glandyfi which is where the station entrance, this is in Ceredigion a kilometre away from the platforms which are in Powys!

The original Cambrian Railway buildings were replaced in the 1970s by a new brick building [1], this has now been replaced by a bus shelter type structure. The station is managed by Transport for Wales, there is a service in both directions at least every two hours, hourly at peak times.

The nature reserve is around the station

Down the platform

Station entrance

Down both platforms

TfW 158 827 departs for Pwllheli

[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Machynlleth to Barmouth (Middleton Press, 2009) Fig. 15

Ynyslas

Ynyslas was a stop on the Cambrian Line in Ceredigion, Wales between Glandyfi and Borth. 

Information
Type:	National Rail (Cambrian Line)
Opened:	1867
Closed:	1965
Platforms:	2

The station was opened by the Cambrian Railway in 1867 on it's line to Aberystwyth. The station had wooden station buildings and platforms, with a signalbox behind one of the platforms. The station has a couple of sidings to serve the riverside wharves.

The station was closed in 1965.

Ynyslas in it's latter days, the signalbox is fire damaged
(Photo by HB Priestley in 1963, KD collection)

Aberystwyth Cliff Railway

The Aberystwyth Cliff Railway is a funicular railway linking the town to the top of Constitution Hill, a Victorian pleasure resort which overlooks the sea front.

On the way up

Information
Type:	Private Railway (Aberystwyth Cliff Railway)
Opened:	1896
Stations:	2

Work began on the railway in 1895 and it opened the following year. The railway is 237m long, making it the second longest funicular railway in Britain. The railway, with two cable linked cars, was originally water powered but was electrified in 1921 when a Morley motor was installed [1]. Most of the attractions on Constitution Hill were removed in the early 20th century though the railway remained popular with holiday makers and sight seers. Some attractions including a new camera obscura have been restored in recent decades.

The railway rises a total of 130m and is to 1, 422mm gauge. The railway's two cars are called Lord Geraint and Lord Marks. The journey takes two minutes and twenty seconds [2].

Sea level station

The way up

Approaching the summit station

A view of the sea and Aberystwyth

Approaching the sea level

[1] Martin Easdown, Cliff Railways, Lifts and Funiculars (Amberley, 2018) p. 5

[2] Ibid. p. 6

Aberystwyth (AYW)

Aberystwyth is the terminus of the Cambrian Line and also of the Vale of Rheidol narrow gauge preserved railway (which remained part of British Rail until 1989 when it was privatised [1]).

Information
Type:	National Rail (Cambrian Line) & Preserved Railway (Vale of Rheidol)
Station code:	AYW
Opened:	1864
Platforms:	2

The station was built in 1864 by the Aberystwyth & Welsh Coast Railway but the main station building dates from a major rebuilding by the GWR in 1925. Nowadays much of this has been repurposed as the station has been downsized and parts have become a pub and a restaurant among other uses.

The station once had 5 platforms but only 2 remain now. One platform is used by the Vale of Rheidol Railway. The original terminus of the VoR was further away at Smithfield Road [2] but it moved next to the mainline station in 1925. Finally the VoR took over a platform which had been used by trains to Carmarthen until their withdrawal in the 1960s.

Nowadays there is a regular service from the mainline station to Shrewsbury, with a good number of the trains continuing as far as Birmingham International. The Vale of Rheidol runs services up to Devil's Bridge (in its early days the railway was known as the "Devil's Bridge Railway") through much of the year.

ATW 158 836 arrives

Buffer stops

View down the platform

Ironwork

Vale of Rheidol platform

Mainline station viewed from the Vale of Rheidol one

[1] Peter Johnson, Welsh Narrow Gauge (Ian Allan, 2000) p. 58
[2] Vic Mitchell, Corris and Vale of Rheidol (Middleton Press, 2009) fig. 61

Devil's Bridge / Pontarfynach (DVB)

Information
Type:	Preserved Railway (Vale of Rheidol)
Station code:	DVB
Opened:	1902

Devil's Bridge (Pontarfynach in Welsh) is the terminus of the Vale of Rheidol railway, a 603mm narrow gauge that runs from Aberystwyth. The station, which is over 200m above sea level, was opened along with the rest of the line for freight first and later passengers in 1902 [1].

The line was opened as the Vale of Rheidol Light Railway and was later taken over by Cambrian Railways, Great Western Railways and British Railways. The line remained part of BR until privatisation in 1989 and indeed the steam locomotives that operate on the line were the last British Rail owned steam locomotives (some even carrying the double arrow for a time!)

Devil's Bridge has a small station building (which is still the original) and a nearby shop/cafe. As its a terminus there is a run around loop and a small engine shed. A goods siding and shed were out of use by the 1940s and were later removed.

Bilingual station name sign

View of the station from a nearby bridge

The engine prepares to run around the train

[1] Vic Mitchell, Corris and Vale of Rheidol (Middleton Press, 2009) p. 6