Notes: Dinas was situated on the London & North Western Railway’s (LNWR) Menai Bridge – Afon Wen line, which opened in stages between 1852 and 1871. The section of line at this point had originally been opened by the Carnarvonshire Railway (CR), but from the start it was operated by the LNWR, being formally absorbed in March 1869. Between Penygroes and Caernarfon, the CR line used some sections of trackbed of the earlier 3ft 6in gauge Nantlle Railway, which opened in 1828, and was absorbed into the CR in 1865. This was a horse drawn tramway, built to transport slate from Nantlle to the quay at Caernarfon, but from 1856 onwards, it was known to have carried passengers between Penygroes and Caernarfon.

The LNWR down platform (Afon Wen direction) was, in effect, an island platform as the NWNGR terminated on its eastern side. Whilst the LNWR side was an actual brick-faced platform the NWNGR line was at ground level, its rails ballasted up to rail level with cinders. Between the LNWR and the NWNGR lines, towards the southern end of the platform, was a single-storey stone station building with a pitched roof of slate. The building was the property of the NWNGR but it provided passenger facilities for both lines.

On the eastern side of the NWNGR line was a goods shed which served the NWNGR. To its south were sidings of both narrow- and standard-gauge lines at which goods were exchanged between the two systems. Located between the LNWR and the NWNGR lines at the north end of the station stood a two-storey stationmaster’s house constructed of brick.

At the time of opening Dinas Junction was served by LNWR trains running between Afon Wen and Bangor and by NWNGR trains running to and from South Snowdon. In 1893 the passing loop on the LNWR line was extended. The Bradshaw timetable for December 1895 showed fourteen Monday to Friday and twenty Saturday departures from Dinas as in the table below.

In July 1912 Dinas was renamed Dinas Junction. The NWNGR was not a financial success, especially after an abortive attempt had been made to extend the line to Porthmadog by creating a new section of railway and using an existing line (the Creosor Tramway). Passenger services were suspended at the end of 1913, and on 1 November 1916 the line closed.

On 31 July 1922 the NWNGR became part of the Welsh Highland Railway (WHR) which also took over the Croesor tramway and built a line from it to Rhyd Ddu via Beddgelert. The line to Porthmadog via Beddgelert opened for traffic on 1 June 1923. From that time passengers could travel between Dinas Junction and Porthmadog. Some through services did operate, but a change of train was usually required at Beddgelert.

On 1 January 1923 the LNWR was absorbed into the London Midland & Scottish Railway (LMS). Very quickly the WHR found itself in financial difficulty. It had been lightly laid using redundant NWNGR equipment, and the anticipated mineral traffic did not materialise. Passenger numbers were significant only during June, July and August. The WHR went into receivership on 1927. Passenger services were reduced and became summer-only, but the LMS did advertise the WHR as a day out opportunity with through tickets being available. The LMS line remained busy: the summer timetable for 1932 showed nine Monday to Saturday northbound departures and eight Monday to Friday southbound, with an additional southbound departure on Saturdays from Dinas Junction as shown in the table below.

By 1936 there was only a handful of WHR services running during the summer months. The passenger service was withdrawn completely on 28 September 1936, and a year later goods services also ceased. The WHR station building was then leased by the LMS.

With the end of WHR services passenger numbers at Dinas Junction declined. Without the WHR it no longer justified the suffix ‘junction’ which was removed from 26 September 1938. With the start of the Second World War on 3 September 1939 services were initially reduced but

In 1947 the passing loop was extended once again so that longer trains could pass at Dinas. One of the drivers for this was the creation of a Butlins camp at Penychain (near Pwllheli) which had been under construction in 1938 and which was commandeered by the admiralty as a naval training base in 1939. After the Second World War the Butlins camp was handed back to its owners, and it opened to paying customers for the summer season of 1947. From the outset special trains were operated.

On 1 January 1948 the Menai Bridge – Afon Wen line became part of British Railways (London Midland Region). Afon Wen station and the Pwllheli – Barmouth line were allocated to the Western Region. The summer 1948 timetable showed Dinas as having only eight northbound and six southbound trains on Monday to Friday, as shown in the table below.

On 10 September 1951 British Railways closed Dinas station to all traffic.

On 9 August 1963 H M The Queen boarded a train at Dinas which took her to Criccieth. The station was tidied up with vegetation being cut back and a 6ft strip of tarmac being laid. There was no ceremony at the station as the Queen was on a private visit to her brother-in-law, Anthony Armstrong Jones, Earl of Snowdon.

Passenger and goods services continued to pass through Dinas until 7 December 1964 when the line closed completely, a victim of the Reshaping of British Railways report of 1963 (‘Beeching Report’). The track remained in situ at Dinas until July 1969 after which it was lifted.

The Dinas station site became a depot for the Gwynedd County Council. The station building and goods shed survived as part of the depot, but the space between the platforms on the former LNWR line was filled in and levelled.

In the 1960s an attempt was made to resurrect the WHR but it came to nothing. The idea did not go away, however, and in 1989 real progress was made when the Ffestiniog Railway made a bid for the WHR trackbed. In 1995 the WHR (Transfer) Light Railway Order gave the FR authority to acquire WHR assets, and the Millennium Commission awarded a grant of

On 7 August 2000 the line was extended to Waunfawr, and Dinas became a through station. Further extensions of the line followed in stages with the final section into Porthmadog opening to regular passenger services in 2011.

Tickets from Michael Stewart route map drawn by Alan Young

Sources:

• Bangor to Portmadoc including the Llanberis lines – V Mitchell & K Smith – Middlewood Press 2010
• Bradshaws Rail Times December 1895 - Middlewood Press 2011
• Bradshaws Rail Times July 1922 - Guild Publishing 1986
  
• British Railways (London Midland Region) Timetable 23rd May to 25th Sept 1949
• British Railways (London Midland Region) Timetable 17th of Sept 1956 to 16th of June 1957
• British Railways (London Midland Region) Timetable 18th of June 1962 to 9th of September 1962
• From Chester to Holyhead: The Branch Lines – B Rear - OPC 2003
• LMS Time Table July 18th to September 11th 1932
• Railway Passenger Stations in Great Britain a Chronology - M Quick - Railway and Canal Historical Society 2009

To see the other stations on the Menai Bridge - Afonwen line click on the station name: Menai Bridge, Treborth, Port Dinorwic (1st), Port Dinorwic (2nd), Griffiths Crossing, Caernarvon, Carnarvon Pant, Llanwnda, Groeslon, Penygroes, Pant Glass, Brynkir, Ynys, Llangybi, Chwilog & Afon Wen

See also: Nantlle