Station Name: RHEWL

[Source: Paul Wright]


Date opened: 1.3.1862
Location: North side of the Rhewl to Telpyn road. (Ffordd yr Orsaf)
Company on opening: Denbigh, Ruthin and Corwen Railway
Date closed to passengers: 30.4.1962
Date closed completely: 30.4.1962
Company on closing: British Railways (London Midland Region)
Present state: The main station building and sections of the platform are still extant and in use as a private dwelling. The building has two new wings extending across the platform. The single storey station building has been demolished.
County: Denbighshire
OS Grid Ref: SJ112605
Date of visit: 12th September 2009

Notes: Rhewl station was situated on the Denbigh, Ruthin and Corwen Railway (DRCR) which was incorporated under an act of July 1860 opening in stages between March 1862 and October 1864. Rhewl opened with the first section of the line to come into use, between Denbigh and Ruthin, on the 1st March 1862.

The station was 5.75 miles from Denbigh and and close to the village of Rhewl. Situated on the north side of a road overbridge Rhewl station was provided with one low platform on the west side of the line on which stood a two storey building that contained a booking office, waiting areas, toilets and staff accommodation including a house for the station master. There was a single storey building housing toilets at the north end of the main station building. A very rarely used goods loop was also provided at the station along with a siding and loading dock for livestock, there was also a 5 ton crane.

When the station first opened the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) operated the first public services on behalf of the DRCR. Within a year, when the line had been extended to Gwyddelwern DRCR were operating their own trains. By 1866 however the DRCR was in financial difficulty and services were once again provided by the LNWR. The LNWR formerly absorbed the line into its ownership on the 1st July 1879.

In 1875 Rhewl Station was served by five trains in each direction on weekdays. Three of the northbound services ran from Corwen to Denbigh, whilst two ran from Ruthin to Denbigh. Some services went on Chester. In the southbound direction three services ran to Corwen and two to Ruthin.  By 1904 the Rhewl was served by five trains in each direction running between Corwen and Denbigh and two additional services running between Chester and Ruthin.


In 1923 the station became part of the London Midland Scottish Railway (LMS). In the mid-1920s Robert Harold Roberts was appointed as Station Master for Rhewl. He had previously been a booking clerk at Mold. The General strike of 1926 saw a reduction of passenger services to three trains in each direction but the following year six services were provided. Robert Roberts transferred to Woodlesford in 1929. In 1939 Rhewl Station had eight trains in each direction. Six of the services ran on the Denbigh to Corwen axis and two on the Chester to Ruthin.




Passenger Services were reduced during the Second World War. They did revert to six trains in each direction after the end of the war. In 1948 the Denbigh to Corwen line became part of the British Railways (London Midland Region). Road competition began to affect the line and by the early 1950s withdrawal of passenger trains on the section of line between Ruthinand Corwen was proposed. The last scheduled passenger services to run south of Ruthin ended in February 1953.

Rhewl continued to be served by passenger trains, running between Chester and Ruthin throughout the 1950s. Throughout the 1950s and up until 1961 land cruise trains running from Rhyl during the summer months also passed through the station. On the 1st September 1958 goods services were withdrawn from Rhewl and the station became unstaffed. By the early 1960s closure of the line from Chester to Ruthin was proposed. The final passenger services were withdrawn on the 30th April 1962 and Rhewl Station closed completely.

Complete closure of the line came on the 1st March 1965 after which the track through Rhewl Station was lifted. The station building survived and today it is in use as a private residence. The road overbridge which crossed the line to the south of the station was demolished in the 1970s.


Tickets from Michael Stewart, Bradshaw from Nick Catford and Route Map by Alan Young.

Source: From Chester to Holyhead the Branch Lines by Bill Rear. Oxford Publishing 2003
ISBN 978-0-860935-69-8

With thanks to Howard Benson and his Woodlesford Story of a Station Website

To see other stations on the Denbigh, Ruthin & Corwen Railway click on the station name: Denbigh, Llanrhaiadr, Ruthin, Eyarth, Nantclwyd, Derwen, Gwyddelwern & Corwen


Rhewl station looking north-west in the 1920s.
Photo from Cyril Roberts





Rhewl station shown on an 1899 map.


A busy scene at Rhewl station in the 1920s. A northbound train is seen departing from the station.
Photo from Cyril Roberts


A group photograph on the platform at Rhewl station in 1922.
Photo from Cyril Roberts


Station Master Robert Harold Roberts with his son Cyril at Rhewl Station in 1929. Robert Roberts had been Station Master at Rhewl since the 1920s having previously been a booking clerk at Mold.
Photo from Cyril Roberts


Robert Harold Roberts was the Station Master at Rhewl from the mid-1920s until 1929 when he moved to Woodlesford. He is seen in this view at Rhewl with his young family in 1929.
Photo from Cyril Roberts


Rhewl station seen after closure in the early 1960s.
P
hoto by Dave Nicholas

Rhewl Station in March 1978
P
hoto by Alan Young

Looking north west along the trackbed at Rhewl Station in September 2009.
P
hoto by Paul Wright


1920s

1920s

1929

1929

 

September 2009

September 2009

 
Click on thumbnail to enlarge

 

 

 

[Source: Paul Wright]



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