EYARTH STATION - A POTTED HISTORY

 

Eyarth was a small station on the Denbigh, Ruthin & Corwen Railway in North Wales. As its name suggests, the DR&C ran from Denbigh, (where it formed junctions with lines to Rhyl on the North Wales coastline and to Chester via Mold), through Ruthin to Corwen (where it formed a junction with the line from Ruabon to Barmouth, via Llangollen). The station served the nearby village of Llanfair Dyffryn Clwyd, although the village was 1/3 mile away across the fields and 2/3 mile away by road. Perhaps that was why it was called Eyarth, as Eyarth House was as near to the station as Llanfair DC. This part of the line opened on 6 October 1864. Eyarth station closed to passenger traffic on 2 February 1953 and regular goods traffic ended on 30 April 1962, with the line formally closing on 1 March 1965.

The DR&C owed its existence to the “railway mania” that swept Britain in the mid 1800’s. When the new railway technology arrived, everyone wanted to be part of it. Local businessmen because they didn’t want their town to miss out on the business boom that was sure to follow and investors because they thought it was a good way to make a quick profit. The result was that whilst many important, profitable lines were build that are still there today, a number of lines were built that should never have seen the light of day. So it was the dot.com boom of its time!

The DR&C was one of the latter lines I’m afraid. It ran through the idyllic Vale of Clwyd in North Wales and whilst the Vale is one of the most beautiful parts of Wales, it had neither the population nor the industry to justify a full scale railway line. In fact, the original plans really only came to fruition because they attracted the interest of two of the major railway companies that already had sizable interests in the area. The London & North Western Railway (the LNWR) already controlled the main line along the North Wales Coast from Chester to Holyhead and had access to the new holiday resorts of Rhyl, Prestatyn and Llandudno, with all the holiday traffic that brought. The Great Western Railway (the GWR) wanted to get access to that traffic and as they already owned the line through Corwen, they saw the DR&C as the way to get it. To stop the GWR, the LNWR agreed to support the DR&C and eventually took it over and ran it.

For some 100 years, the DR&C had a particularly uneventful existence, firstly as part of the LNWR, then the LMS after the 1923 Grouping and finally at part of the Midland Region of British Railways after nationalisation in 1947. There was much agriculture in the Vale and this brought some traffic, as did a few small quarries, timber yards and the like. But they were never substantial. And with such a small population, passenger traffic was never more than 6 trains a day, even at the height of the railway era.

As road traffic developed, especially after WWII, business declined on the DR&C and like so many other country branch lines that you have read about, it was soon ear marked for closure. The portion from Ruthin to Corwen, including Eyarth, closed to passenger traffic in 1953. After that, there were occasional tourist passenger trains (but they wouldn’t have stopped at Eyarth) and limited freight traffic, sometimes no more than one train a day. So not surprisingly, the line closed to all traffic in 1964 and formally closed in 1965. The lines were lifted soon after.

As was the case with most of these closed lines, land was soon reclaimed for other uses and in many parts, only a keen eye would be able to pick out where the line ran. In the towns of Denbigh and Ruthin, little or no evidence remains and a section of the track bed near Nant Clywd station was used to relay the A494 road. Only here and there can old earthworks be seen to give clues as to where the DR&C ran, all those years ago.

Eyarth Station is one of the few exceptions to the rule. The station building survived for some time and is now in private hands, converted to a lovely Bed & Breakfast house. I have stayed there and would thoroughly recommend it. Although much altered and extended, enough of the original building and earthworks survive for it to be clear where the line once ran.

EYARTH STATION

WHY MIGHT THE LINE HAVE SURVIVED?

 

It is difficult to come up with a plausible reason why the line might have survived into the BR Blue era, so why try to find one? Instead, the working theory I am running with is pure fantasy, derived in order to justify having the things I wanted on my layout, including the locomotives, the types of trains, signage, signalling etc. Here is a summary of the theory:

As was actually the case, Dr Richard Beeching presented his “Reshaping of British Railways” report on 27 March 1963. This report proposed, amongst other things, wholesale closure of unprofitable branch lines. It sparked an outcry from communities that would lose their rail services, many of which (especially in the case of rural communities) had no other public transport. In 1964 a Labour government was elected under Prime Minister Harold Wilson, having promised during the election campaign to halt the rail closures if elected.

Whereas in reality, they soon back tracked on the election promise, in my version of history they followed through with it, prompted by two major events. Firstly, on 1 November 1964, only days after the election, the world was shaken by a worldwide “oil-crisis”, as Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern oil producers were thrown into a major conflict that continued for several years. Soon afterwards, the Daily Mirror published an expose on the previous Transport Minister, Sir Earnest Marples and the conflict of interest that arose from him owning a major construction company – whose main concern was the building of roads. (In actual fact this did not come to public attention until the mid 1970’s). More public outcry ensued and would not go away.

The Government realised that they could no longer allow the move towards road transport and its heavier use of scarce oil resources to continue. Instead they began to steadily increase fuel taxes and other costs of road transport, diverting financial resources towards public transport, including British Rail. They gained considerable political capital by claiming that they had a moral obligation to provide a viable public transport system. This move also distanced the new government from the “Marples Scandal”.

Instead of declining, freight tonnages increased as mass road transport became more and more expensive. As a result of the increased freight activity and the commitment to public transport, lines earmarked for closure or recently closed were re-opened. Specifically, passenger and freight services were reinstated on the DR&C. Freight initiatives such as “Railfreight” were adopted and some rolling stock was re-branded. These services ran alongside traditional trip workings and pick up goods services, for which rolling stock remained in service. Carriage by rail of newspapers, parcels and even cattle continued longer.

But the move had financial consequences for the Government and money had to be found for investment in the railways. It also changed the dynamics of rail operation. The process of “dieselisation’ was well underway and was therefore completed. But there was limited investment available for new capital stock so solutions had to be found for “first-generation” classes that were perceived to be unreliable (e.g. Class 17) or under powered (Classes 24 & 25). Also, because the local and trip freight services that they were originally intended for had not been lost to road transport, these classes survived longer. Computerisation still came to BR and locomotives were renumbered in accordance with the TOPS system. But there were limited funds available for infrastructure and smaller, less profitable lines such as the DR&C had to make do with much of their steam age equipment, such as semaphore signalling.

Funding was also obtained by rationalisation of larger stations and selective selling of more valuable land. In the market town of Ruthin, two miles away, the land previously used for the goods yard was sold off to build an industrial estate To retain some freight handling capacity in the area and to cater for increasing commuting to Denbigh and Chester, Eyarth station received an something of an upgrade, with a hard standing area added to the siding, additional security and the provision of basic parking facilities. The previously single track road from the station to the main Ruthin - Wrexham road was also widened. The rest is history..... well, actually fantasy!