Blaenau Ffestiniog GWR Yard.

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(52°59′38″N, 3°56′12″W)

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iBase ID

1800

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Blaenau Ffestiniog GWR Yard.

Blaenau Ffestiniog GWR slate transhipment yard. The photographer is looking towards the backs of houses on the east side of New Market Square with Capel Bowydd and Mills Row on the extreme left. The narrow-gauge siding to the left is the most southerly (furthest away from the mainline). It does not serve any standard-gauge wharf, this being purely a storage area, the transhipment wharves can be seen in use over on the right. The huge amount of stacked slate suggests that this was during a slump in demand, but that production was still high. The string of iron 2-ton slate waggons visible on the curve seem to include FR, GWR and LNWR built vehicles.

The standard-gauge waggons all belong either to the Great Western or various private owners. Two belong to E M OWEN, a Blaenau merchant. In-between these are a Broughton & Plas Power waggon with grubby pale letters on a dark background (usually black or dark brown, B&PP was a colliery in the Ruabon area and their waggons are a common sight at Blaenau), and WYNNSTAY waggon, another colliery from the Ruabon area. This suggests that this scene was taken pre-grouping (after which the common user agreement saw waggons from all of the 'Big Four' used all over Britain's railway network) circa 1910.

In the far distance on the right is an extremely rare glimpse of the joint FR/GWR signal box (Blaenau Box No. 2) which was located at the end of the joint island exchange platform. The original FR box had been extended when the GWR arrived, with the nearer end of the building (seen here above the crane) added on to house the frame controlling access to the standard-gauge lines.

Source. A Gray

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SH7009845838

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