page_title: Betws-y-Coed railway station
section_title: Station history
hierarchical_section_title: Betws-y-Coed railway station / Station history
caption_attribution_description: English: Betws-y-Coed railway station taken from a nearby bridge. The Conwy Valley Railway Shop &amp; Museum can be seen in the upper right of the photo.
context_page_description: Betws-y-Coed railway station is a railway station on the Conwy Valley Line from Llandudno Junction to Blaenau Ffestiniog, Wales. It is situated 15 ¹⁄₂ miles south of Llandudno Junction.
  The passenger train service is operated by Transport for Wales and is marketed as the Conwy Valley Railway.
  The railway station is also an important bus interchange station. It is used by the Snowdonia National Park Sherpa bus services to Capel Curig, Pen-y-Gwryd, Pen-y-Pass, Beddgelert, Porthmadog, Tryfan and Bethesda. Other connecting bus services operate to Penmachno, Corwen, Llangollen, Llanrwst, Trefriw, Dolgarrog, Conwy and Llandudno. The local bus timetables advertise the train services and the "Gwynedd Red Rover" day ticket is valid on Conwy Valley trains as well as the Sherpa and Conwy Valley bus services. There is also a coach park at the station, which is extensively used by tourist coach operators.
context_section_description: The Conwy Valley line was constructed by the London and North Western Railway with the primary aim of transporting dressed slate from the Blaenau Ffestiniog quarries to a specially built quay at Deganwy for export by sea. The original plans envisaged a railhead at Betws-y-Coed and a large goods yard was established with intended interchange to a proposed narrow gauge line (with a significant saving in construction costs) via the steeply graded Lledr Valley to Blaenau Ffestiniog. Other entrepreneurs proposed narrow gauge lines from Corwen to Betws-y-Coed, Penmachno to Betws-y-Coed and from Beddgelert to Betws-y-Coed. In the event the line to Blaenau, which was not completed until 1879, was built to standard gauge and the other proposals were abandoned.
  Extensive passenger and goods facilities were however provided at Betws-y-Coed, where the station, which was opened in 1868, adjoins the London to Holyhead A5 turnpike road and was thus ideally located to serve many isolated communities in Snowdonia and also the rapidly developing tourist industry. In the LMS timetables the station was listed as "Bettws-y-Coed - Station for Capel Curig".
  There was originally a passing loop with full length up and down platforms. A camping coach was positioned here by the London Midland Region from 1955 to 1959, the coach was replaced in 1960 by a Pullman camping coach which was here until 1970.
  The loop was removed in the 1960s but the footbridge that previously gave access to the now removed down platform has been retained and provides access to the Conwy Valley Railway Museum, which runs a miniature railway and other attractions in the former goods yard.
  The comprehensive range of passenger station buildings have been preserved and sympathetically adapted for use as a cafe, coffee shop, holiday apartments and retail outlets. The station now functions as an unstaffed halt. The platform was refurbished and a digital Passenger Information System installed in Spring 2009. Train running information is also provided via telephone and timetable poster boards.
caption: The station platform in July 2017.
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