The Aberystwith and Welsh Coast Railway was a standard gauge railway company, running a line along the west coast of Wales.
The railway was planned to run between and , and on to Porth Dinllaen, with branches to and . These branches joined the Bala and Dolgelly Railway and Newtown and Machynlleth Railway respectively. There were two major river bridges planned: the Dovey Bridge, across the River Dovey, and the Barmouth Bridge, over the River Mawddach. The former proved impracticable to build, so an altered route was built from to , near Glandyfi, forming a Y-shaped network. Powers were also obtained in acts of Parliament on multiple occasions for a line from Pwllheli to Porth Dinllaen, though this was never built. The routes were opened progressively between 1863 and 1869.
The company was absorbed into Cambrian Railways in 1865. Continuous shortages of money delayed the completion of the network.
The Dolgelly branch was closed in 1965 as part of the Beeching cuts, and the remainder of the line was under threat of closure in the 1970s. In 1980, serious defects were found in Barmouth Bridge due to a marine worm boring into timber piles, which took several years to fix.
History 19th century
The first main line railway in central Wales, the Llanidloes and Newtown Railway, was opened in 1859.Rex Christiansen and R W Miller, The Cambrian Railways: volume I: 1852-1888, David & Charles, Newton Abbot, 1971, , page 23 At first it was not connected to any other railway, but it fostered interest in railway development, and soon, through routes to Newtown from both Chester (opened 1861)Christiansen and Miller, page 31 and from Shrewsbury (opened 1862)Malcolm Reed, The London and North Western Railway: A History, Atlantic Transport Publishers, Penryn, 1996, , page 110 were available.
Striking westward and crossing very difficult terrain, the Newtown and Machynlleth Railway was opened on 31 December 1862.Gwyn Briwnant-Jones, Railway through Talerddig: The Story of the Newtown & Machynlleth and Associated Railways in the Dyfi Valley, Gomer Press, Llandysul, 1990, , page 48 Although Machynlleth was an important market town, its promoters were considering an extension to Aberystwyth and the Cardigan Bay coast. Due to a shortage of subscription money from general investors, the Newtown and Machynlleth Railway was in the hands of a successful partnership of railway contractors, David Davies and Thomas Savin, who put up most of the construction money and took paid-up shares as the majority of their payment. These men shared the idea of continuing to the coast, but Savin's ambitious vision of a huge investment in developing the coastal district was considered by Davies to be over-reaching, and the partnership was dissolved on 30 January 1861.C C Green, The Coast Lines of the Cambrian Railways: volume one, Wild Swan Publications, Didcot, 1993, , pages 1 to 3Peter E Baughan, A Regional History of The Railways of Great Britain: Volume 11: North and Mid Wales, David St John Thomas, Nairn, 1980, , pages 155 to 161
The Newtown and Machynlleth Railway had preliminary designs made for a coastal line, to be known as the Machynlleth, Aberystwyth and Towyn Railway. At about the same time, the Llanidloes and Newtown Railway and the Oswestry and Newtown Railway (the latter still under construction), working together, had a scheme prepared for a coastal line from Aberystwyth to Pwllheli, with several branches. Davies supported the Towyn scheme, while Savin favoured the line to Pwllheli. Moreover, there was no talk of the Pwllheli line continuing to Porth Dinllaen, on the north side of the Lleyn Peninsula. Porth Dinllaen was a natural harbour on the north side of the Lleyn Peninsula, that had been proposed as a packet station for the Irish mail service. At that time, Holyhead had been selected in preference, but Porth Dinllaen still had supporters for development as a ferry port.
Both schemes were to be presented to Parliament for the 1861 session, but the Machynlleth, Aberystwyth and Towyn Railway scheme failed to deposit its documentation in time for the parliamentary deadline and was unable to proceed. The Aberystwith and Welsh Coast Railway Bill (in earliest documentation spelt ) alone continued the parliamentary process and was given royal assent on 22 July 1861 as the (24 & 25 Vict. c clxxi); the authorised share capital was £400,000 (later increased). The railway was to extend from Aberystwyth to Portmadoc, an important harbour at the time. There was also to be a branch from Ynyslas to Machynlleth to connect to the Newtown and Machynlleth Railway. The main line would bridge the Dovey estuary with a viaduct from Ynyslas to Aberdovey. Seeing a connection to its own line as essential, the Newton and Machynlleth Railway succeeded in getting a clause in the A&WCR Act that, if the A&WCR failed to complete the Machynlleth connection by 1 August 1864, the N&MR might take the powers over.Donald J Grant, Directory of the Railway Companies of Great Britain, Matador Publishers, Kibworth Beauchamp, 2017, , page 6Christiansen and Miller, pages 59 to 61
The A&WCR took stock and made progress to secure the extension from Portmadoc to Pwllheli and Porth Dinllaen. Railway schemes supported by the Great Western Railway were being planned from Llangollen towards Barmouth, and possibly on from there to north Wales.Baughan, page 137 The A&WCR wanted to head off the threat; to do so it proposed a branch line from near Barmouth to Dolgelly. The A&WCR obtained the second act on 29 July 1862, the (25 & 26 Vict. c. clxxvi), which authorised these extensions.Green, pages 3 to 9
The Bala and Dolgelley Railway, friendly to the GWR, had been authorised on 30 June 1862, so that when built it would complete a GWR-supported route to Dolgelly from Ruabon.Grant, page 25
Further north, the Carnarvonshire Railway was incorporated on 29 July 1862 with powers to build from Carnarvon to Portmadoc by way of Afon Wen.W G Rear, LMS Branch Lines in North Wales, volume 1, Wild Swan Publications Ltd, 1986, , page 2 The Carnarvonshire Railway authorisation duplicated the A&WCR as between Afon Wen and Portmadoc. The duplication was ignored at first, but the position was finally resolved by an agreement of 13 December 1865 under which the Cambrian Railways (successor to the A&WCR) built the section.
The A&WCR concentrated its construction work on the Machynlleth branch, as it was clear that this offered better hopes of early income, compared with the main line crossing the Dovey estuary. In addition, the deadline set by the clause in the act had to be achieved. The line was opened from Machynlleth as far as Borth on 1 July 1863; it was initially worked by Thomas Savin, the contractor who had built the line. The rest of the Aberystwyth line, from Borth to Aberystwyth, was opened for goods traffic on 23 June 1864; passenger operation had been refused by the Board of Trade inspecting officer, Captain Tyler, but after rectification work, passengers were carried from 1 August 1864.Green, page 9
A part of the northern section of the network, from Aberdovey to Llwyngwril, was the next to be opened, on 24 October 1863. The Aberdovey station was at the harbour, and was initially connected with a ferry from Ynyslas.Christiansen and Miller, pages 61 to 64 The line from Llwyngwril to Barmouth Junction, and from there to Penmaenpool on the Dolgelly line, followed on 3 July 1865. There was an intermediate station called Barmouth Ferry, at the place where Fairbourne station was later built. Passengers for Barmouth alighted there and walked on across the sandbar to catch a ferry over the Mawddach estuary to Barmouth Harbour.Christiansen and Miller, page 64C C Green, The Coast Line of the Cambrian Railways: volume two, Wild Swan Publications Ltd, Didcot, 1996, , page 1
The third bill promoted by the company was passed as the (26 & 27 Vict. c. cxli), on 13 July. It authorised the construction of an Aberystwyth Harbour branch as well as alteration of the Dovey viaduct and of the Mawddach bridge, to add a vehicular road as well as the railway. The south-western extremity of the Corris Railway was duplicated by the A&WCR line and was no longer useful; the Corris Railway was authorised to abandon its line west of Machynlleth, by the Corris Railway Act 1864 (27 & 28 Vict. c. ccxxv) of 25 July.Green, volume 1, page 7 (The Aberystwyth Harbour branch was not constructed because the Cambrian Railways as successor to the A&WCR wished such traffic to go to Aberdovey.R W Kidner, The Cambrian Railways, Oakwood Press, Headington, 1992, , page 118)
The A&WCR's engineer, Benjamin Piercy, was dismissed early in 1864 as part of a power struggle between Thomas Savin and other factions on the board. He had been progressing the design of the Dovey bridge, but practical and financial difficulties with it had been emerging. In particular, finding a good foundation stratum was proving extremely difficult. Piercy's expulsion gave an opportunity to revisit the plan to bridge the estuary, and in May 1864 the decision was taken to abandon the bridging plan.Green, volume 1, pages 8 and 9 In October 1864 preparations were undertaken for a parliamentary bill to authorise the abandonment, and to substitute an extension from Aberdovey to a junction with the Aberystwyth line near Morben. The line became known as the "deviation line" and the junction location was later called Dovey Junction. The bill was given royal assent on 5 July as the (28 & 29 Vict. c. cclxxxiii). The act stipulated that the fares and goods rates for consignment between Aberdovey and Borth via Morben were to be the same as if the bridge were built and in operation. The GWR had planned to achieve direct access from Dolgelly to Aberystwyth by way of the bridge, and it obtained the insertion of a clause empowering it to build the bridge itself within ten years, though it never attempted to do so.Christiansen and Miller, page 66Green, volume 1, pages 11 and 12
The course of the connecting line at Aberdovey was difficult, and a proposed waterside route through the town proved unacceptable. An alternative path around the back of the town was developed, but it was operationally difficult, with steep gradients and sharp curves, as well as three tunnels. In addition, the Aberdovey Harbour station would be bypassed, there was no space for a new station on the deviation line, and the new Aberdovey station was inconveniently located some way west of the town.
The group of Newtown railways were now discussing amalgamation: the several small railways would be stronger if they joined forces. The A&WCR was included in the talks, but there was a standard condition imposed by Parliament in considering amalgamations, that the companies concerned must have spent at least half of their authorised capital, and that at least half of their authorised network must have been built. The A&WCR was not yet in that position, and had to be excluded from the amalgamation bill. The other companies were authorised to amalgamate, forming the Cambrian Railways, by the Cambrian Railways Act 1864 (27 & 28 Vict. c. cclxii) of 25 July. Henceforward the A&WCR was included in strategic discussions and plans with the Cambrian Railways.Green, volume 1, page 9
A year later, the criterion for amalgamation was achieved, and the A&WCR was incorporated in the Cambrian Railways by the passing of the (28 & 29 Vict. c. ccxci) on 5 July: the merger took effect on 5 August 1865.
The Manchester and Milford Railway built a line from Pencader to Aberystwyth, opening there in August 1867, with platforms on the south-west side.Kidner, page 115