Bronwydd Arms railway station

Bronwydd Arms
Station on heritage railway
General information
LocationBronwydd, Carmarthenshire
Wales
Coordinates51°53′30″N 4°18′03″W / 51.89155°N 4.30077°W / 51.89155; -4.30077
Grid referenceSN417239
Operated byGwili Railway
Platforms1
History
Original companyCarmarthen and Cardigan Railway
Pre-groupingGreat Western Railway
Key dates
3 September 1860[1]Opened
31 December 1860[1]Closed
12 August 1861[1]Reopened
22 February 1965[1]Closed
1978Reopened
2023Closed to public
The station entrance in 1962

Bronwydd Arms railway station, originally a stop on the now closed Carmarthen to Aberystwyth Line, is the headquarters of the preserved Gwili Railway.

The station first opened on 3 September 1860 as part of the Carmarthen and Cardigan Railway and closed to passengers on 22 February 1965. Following closure, the station building and signal box were demolished, leaving behind only a bare platform.

In 1978, the Gwili Railway re-opened the station and gradually rebuilt the station building and signal box using redundant buildings recovered from the Heart of Wales Line. The station building was constructed from Llandovery signal box, clad with components from Ammanford (GWR) railway station, while the signal box from Llandybie was also recovered and is now used as the 'new' Bronwydd Arms signal box. A third box from central Wales, Ffairfach, is also in use as a museum.[2]

Other smaller items have been incorporated into the rebuilt station, such as Great Western Railway lamp posts and benches, a parcels shed and a water tower, recovered from Barry Docks in 1979.

The station features a level crossing with wooden gates at the south end where the railway crosses the B4301 road. Passenger trains now currently use the crossing which had been brought into use as part of the railway's extension to Abergwili Junction.

In 2010 the level crossing was renewed to enable the original two-gate system to be re-instated in GWR style, thus re-creating another feature of the original station. The crossing and its gates were completed by August 2011. Work had been concentrated on the extension of the line to Abergwili Junction which later re-opened in July 2017.

Preceding station Heritage Railways  Heritage railways Following station
Llwyfan Cerrig   Gwili Railway   Abergwili Junction
  Historical railways  
Conwil   Great Western Railway
Carmarthen to Aberystwyth Line
  Carmarthen
  1. ^ a b c d Butt 1995, p. 46.
  2. ^ "Disused Stations: Bronwydd Arms Station". Disused Stations. Retrieved 7 July 2022.