Penychain railway station, is located by an over bridge at Pen-ychain on the Llŷn Peninsula in Gwynedd, Wales. For many years the station served the large Butlins Holiday Camp at Penychain. The station is on the Cambrian Line, between Abererch and Criccieth, from Whitchurch, measured via Oswestry (the original line diverging at Welshpool).
History The station opened as Penychain Halt on 31 July 1933. Butlin's built the adjacent camp in 1940 at the request of the Admiralty to serve as HMS Glendower, a Royal Navy training base at Penychain was already used as a Rifle range during WWI.The National Archives, Kew. ADM 1/10431 After the end of the war the Butlins camp opened, and the name was changed to Penychain for Pwllheli Holiday Camp on 3 April 1947. The name then changed to Butlins Penychain on 17 May 1993, before reverting to its current name on 18 May 2001.
Between November 2013 and September 2014, services were suspended north of Harlech due to issues with construction of Pont Briwet, near Penrhyndeudraeth. From 1 September to 1 December 2023, engineering work took place to finish restoration of the Barmouth Viaduct. Rail replacement buses served stations from Pwllheli to Machynlleth.
Facilities There is a large shelter, a bench, and a live departure screen. As there are no facilities to purchase tickets, passengers must buy one in advance, or from the guard on the train.
Passenger volume +Passenger volume at Penychain2004–052005–062006–072007–082008–092009–102010–112011–122012–132013–142014–152015–162016–172017–182018–192019–202020–212021–222022–232023–242024–25Entries and exits2,9962,5122,7192,2741,8962,4462,3943,0603,2523,2761,7163,4303,5404,1263,5543,2986402,8944,3144,8188,892 The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.
Services Penychain is an unstaffed halt and request stop. There are 8 trains a day, each way to and . A limited service of 5 trains each way operates on Sundays.eNRT May 2026 Edition, Table 075 (Network Rail)
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External links
By DMU from Pwllheli to Amlwch, via Huntley Archives