Conwy
Conway lies on the opposite bank of the river Conwy from Llandudno Junction. The first bridge here - the Conwy Suspension Bridge - was built by Thomas Telford in 1826 as part of his improved road route to Holyhead. By 1849, the Conwy Railway Bridge had been built by Robert Stephenson for the Chester and Holyhead Railway. This was a double track bridge, of wrought iron tubular construction. Both road and rail bridges were designed to blend with the imposing bulk of the adjacent castle. When I was young, these were the only bridges over the river but a modern road bridge and later a tunnel (opened in 1991) improve road conditions. Telford's venerable suspension bridge is now restricted to pedestrians, but the only concession to the age of the railway bridge is the effective shortening of the spans by building supporting pillars either side of the river.
The bridges across the River Conwy, with Conwy Castle on the right, viewed from Deganwy.
Conwy Castle was built by King Edward the First between 1283 and 1289. It's a 'proper castle' which still impresses in the way that the French fortified town of Carcassone impresses (it's only recently I've discovered that the 'rehabilitation' of Carcassone by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc in the 19th century is not altogether authentic).
Conwy Castle towers above the railway.
Penmaenmawr
Our next stop was at Penmaenmawr, known for quarrying and tourism. Here the railway is forced close to the sea and there are three tunnels - Penmaenbach, Moel Llys and, after our stop, Pen-y-Clip Avalanche Tunnel. The weather seemed to be deteriorating, making the area appear rather bleak. Railway sidings remain for taking away aggregates and railway ballast by rail but there was no sign of current activity. I've had a soft spot for the place ever since spending a holiday there as a child.
We carried on another ten miles to Bangor, with an intermediate stop at Llanfairfechan.
Bangor
Approaching Bangor there are two more tunnels - Llandegai Tunnel then, after a short open air section where Bethesda Junction used to be, Bangor Tunnel. The layout at Bangor is now considerably simplified. There are Up and Down 'Through' lines and Up and Down platform loops. There are a few sidings on the Down side but it's hard to recall just what a busy station this was in steam days.
However, I was cheered to find that the original 1870 station building on the Up side, designed like all the original structures for the Chester and Holyhead line by Francis Thompson, remains. Although the building has suffered various modifications during its life, its origins remain clear.
Francis Thompson's handsome 1870 building on the Up platform at Bangor.
Leaving Bangor, we passed the remaining signalbox (formerly Bangor No. 2) which is perched on the embankment on the Up side overhanging the line. The train then plunged into the darkness of Belmont Tunnel.
Entering Anglesey
Soon after emerging from Belmont Tunnel, Telford's Menai Suspension Bridge, opened in 1826, was visible on the right. These days, the view of this famous bridge is impaired because of the numerous trees which have been allowed to grow. The railway then curves to the right, high above the waters of the Menai Strait prior to making its own leap across the water to Anglesey. The Britannia Bridge was designed by Robert Stephenson and, like the Conwy Railway Bridge described earlier, originally used wrought iron rectangular tubes. After its opening in 1850, the design carried the increasing loads of the railway until 1970 when boys playing inside the tubes set fire to the pitch-covered wooden roof of the tubes, compromising the structural integrity of the bridge.
Click on above image for a larger view.
The Britannia Railway Bridge circa 1852 (Wikimedia Commons).
Fortunately, it was decided to rebuild the bridge, retaining the original stone piers (another feature designed by Francis Thompson) but the tubes have been replaced by steel arches - a practical solution but, sadly, lacking the simple elegance of the original conception. Although the redesign accommodated the original two tracks, only one was provided. The bridge re-opened to rail traffic in 1972 but it was also decided to piggy-back a road on top of the railway (the road opened in 1980), leaving only rather claustrophobic views from passing trains (but still, I suppose, an improvement on when the trains ran through the rectangular tubes!) The bridge retains its four carved stone guardian lions but the modern steelwork supporting the road diminishes their impact. On leaving the bridge in Anglesey, the railway reverts to double track for the remaining 21 miles to Holyhead.
Llanfair P. G.
The first railway station in Anglesey, once closed but happily re-opened, benefitted from an extended name sometimes abbreviated to 'Llanfairpwll' or 'Llanfair P. G.'. The National Rail Enquiries site gives both names here. I've written briefly about Llanfair P. G. here.
Gaerwen
Gaerwen retains its signal box but has lost its station. When I was young, it was the junction for a seventeen mile long branch to Amlwch, with a second branch from Holland Arms to Red Wharf Bay. I travelled on both lines during the holiday at Penmaenmawr I mentioned above. Freight traffic survived for some years to a chemical works at Amlwch but the whole infrastructure is currently disused and the connection to the main line at Gaerwen has been severed. Various schemes have been mooted for bringing the line back into use.
After Gaerwen, there are intermediate stations at Bodorgan (with its two tunnels), Ty Croes and Rhosneigr.
Valley
This location is probably best known for its R.A.F. Station which has a very informative website here. Valley is the last railway station before Holyhead and it retains its signal box which controls a level crossing with barriers and a number of sidings.
The sidings are the nearest railhead to Wylfa Nuclear Power Station. This power station currently has one operational 'Magnox' reactor rated at 980MW (a second was shut down in 2012) and is operated by Horizon Nuclear Power, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hitachi Limited. The Horizon Wylfa website outlines their aspirations for new nuclear generation on the site. There's also a Wikipedia article here.
The sidings at Valley have one further 'claim to fame'. The line from Crewe to Holyhead is used by a number of Steam Charter trains so, to allow locomotives to be turned at Holyhead prior to returning to Crewe, a triangle or 'wye' was constructed within the Valley sidings in 1989.
Holyhead
The Inner Harbour remained as I remember it, in the shape of a 'V' pointing south, embraced by railway platforms on both sides. But no passenger ferries berth in this area now. The Stena ferry which most railway passengers head for has a new berth (Terminal 1), on the east quay, further towards the outer harbour, supported by a modern passenger terminal leading off the concourse area at the buffer-stops end of the railway station.
Additional terminals have been build on Salt Island, near the old Admiralty Pier. To get vehicles to these new terminals from the road entrance which is on the east side of the railway, a concrete road bridge has been constructed right across the Inner Harbour, cutting off the old quays. A second bridge for pedestrians has also been built across the Inner Harbour, leading from the concourse area at the buffer-stops end to the west quay, where a futuristic spiral ramp and bridge takes people across the railway sidings and a road, to emerge directly into the old town.
The weather had deteriorated as we approached Holyhead and the town was being lashed by driving rain and high winds. I was wearing the padded coat and thick gloves I'd used during my visit to the Antarctic (part of my Round the World trip described here so, having deployed the rain hood, I set off to explore the area.
I decided to tour the station itself first, so I made my way across the pedestrian bridge to the west quay and platform 1. The bridge had stainless steel handrails with blue tinted glass panels coming up to shoulder height, offering no protection against the wind-driven rain. I was amused to notice that the tinted glass panels gave an attractive tropical hue to the waters of the Inner Harbour, which were actually dark green. The weather conditions discouraged me from properly appreciating the artistic embellishment - a sort of cairn of slate with an inlaid message in Welsh and English. I did notice that, rather than being a boring straight bridge, it described a gentle 'S' curve (a windy, winding bridge, but not a wobbly bridge).
View of the pedestrian bridge and spiral ramp, looking towards the town.
Platform 1 has lost its train shed and the modern awning offered scant protection to the gusting, horizontal rain. Years ago, this platform was numbered '3' (I've mentioned in the post Zen and the Art of Platform Numbering the British approach to 'modernising' platform numbers). At the landward end of the station, there's another concourse area for passengers arriving by road. This concourse was rather dark and uninviting on my visit, but at least seemed to be appreciated by a group of local skateboarders practising there. This concourse forms part of a modern building (replacing the railway hotel) principally occupied by Stena Line who are now the Holyhead Port Authority. The Stena Line website for Holyhead is here with a very good map here.
Holyhead Station in steam days showing the railway hotel (Photo: 'A Pictorial Record of L.M.S. Architecture' by V. R. Anderson and G. K. Fox).
Holyhead Station in 2014.
The railway hotel may have gone, but the elaborate cast-iron clock turret commemorating the opening of the 'Old Harbour Extension' in 1880 by the then Prince of Wales is now Grade II listed and remains in the turning circle outside the modern building.
Commemorative clock turret outside Holyhead station.
I left the station by the ramped approach leading to the road bridge crossing the railway. This bridge is always busy with traffic between the A55 Expressway and the entrance to the port on the east side of the railway. Turning right, I continued along Victoria Road in between the West Dock and, at a higher level, the town. Pelham Emergency Gate was as near as I could get to Salt Island, which hosts Terminals 2, 3, 4 and 5. I'd seen pictures of the commemorative arch at the entrance to the Admiralty Pier, but I'd assumed it had been lost to the redevelopment. But no, it survives listed Grade II, together with adjacent features. Usually called the Admiralty Arch, it's also known as the George IV Arch and marks the end of Telford's road from London to Holyhead, completed in 1826 with the opening of the Menai Bridge. There's a useful history of the road we now call 'the A5' in Wikipedia here.
Holyhead, Salt Island: Custom House (Grade II*) and Admiralty Arch.
Turning left into Prince of Wales Road, Holyhead immediately took on the appearance of a seaside resort. The rain had almost stopped, but it restarted later. I would have visited the Maritime Museum, but it was closed until Easter.
Prince of Wales Road, Holyhead.
I turned inland, passing rows of neat houses offering bed and breakfast before coming to the town centre. With a town population of only around 12,000, this had a very relaxed feeling, even on a Saturday afternoon. I detected the aroma of fish and chips before I spotted the small shop. Even a small portion of chips to take out was very generous. Eating my chips, I passed the offices of the town council, the cinema, the magistrates court and various shops. The Cash Machine at the bank offered two languages, reminding me that I was in a different country.
Holyhead town.
My route back to the railway station took me through the churchyard of the Church of St. Cybi which is within the walls of an earlier Roman Fort, then over the futuristic, stainless steel bridge crossing the Inner Harbour. I decided to take a Virgin train to Crewe. This comprised two 5-coach 'Voyagers' and should have given me a quicker journey than on my outward leg. However, after setting off on time, we stopped at Valley for about 10 minutes, reportedly because of a signalling fault and we then suffered various checks afterwards. However, I still thoroughly enjoyed the trip.
Maritime Matters
Throughout my visit the 'Stena Explorer' was berthed at Terminal 1. The Stena Line site for this catamaran is here and Wikipedia have an article here.
'Stena Explorer' at Terminal 1, Holyhead.
I didn't identify the Stena Line vessel at Terminal 5 but it was probably Stena Adventurer. There's brief information on Wikipedia.
Irish Ferries also operate from Holyhead, and one of their ships (MS 'Ulysses', I think) was at Terminal 3. They operate:-
Dublin Swift (Johnathan Swift) (a catamaran).Near Terminal 4, there was a Jack-up Barge operated by Fugro Seacore.
Ulysses.
Epsilon (introduced in December 2013).
Jack-up Barge operated by Fulgro Seacore.
As I was returning to the railway station, the 'MTS Valiant' came into the Inner Harbour heading for the Refit Berth in the West Dock. The tug is operated by Marine & Towage Services and the specification is here.
'MTS Valiant'.
Related posts in this blog
A Trip to the Seaside (Part 2) (Describes a 2011 trip along the North Wales Coast line to Llandudno).
Trip to Holyhead (Part 1: Crewe to Llandudno) (Describes the first part of this trip).
My pictures
North Wales Views.
Holyhead: Town and Harbour.
My railway pictures
North Wales Line (Crewe - Llandudno).
North Wales Line (Llandudno - Holyhead).
Holyhead railway station.
