Cros-ny-Curin

**Cros-ny-Curin** (Sudric for **"the Ford of the Mountain Ash"**) is a small village and station on the Skarloey Railway. It is located between Crovan's Gate and Glennock.

## History

Some thirty chains beyond the bridge at Crovan's Gate the line climbs sharply before levelling out for the last mile to Cros-ny-Cuirn. This stretch needs to be negotiated carefully as the trackbed has an element of instability which the most careful ballasting has so far failed to correct. It was here that the unwary Duncan came to grief soon after he arrived at Crovan's Gate.

The village stands astride the Ballahoo/Glennock road and east of an ancient ford still marked by Rowan trees. It was regularly used by the Crovan's Gate Mining Company's pack-horse trains until about 1806 when they by-passed it with a bridge and diverted the road to suit. When, in 1820, the chain of inclines up the valley to Ward Fell replaced the pack-horses, Cros-ny-Cuirn's importance as a transport centre grew, but came to a sudden end with the adoption of steam haulage in 1885. Horses and horse keepers departed, sidings were lifted, stables and wagon sheds were abandoned and a small unstaffed station with a siding was henceforth enough for local needs. This siding had been so little used during "the lean years" that it became grass-grown and invisible.

Other inhabitants of the village are farmers and farmworkers, with a sprinkling of quarrymen and railwaymen. A few business people from Crovan's Gate and Ballahoo have settled here and commute daily. Sir Handel Lloyd Brown lives here too at The Rowans, a house built by his father on the hillside overlooking the gorge and from which he has an extensive view over the whole valley.

Just north of the station, the line swings over the road. The road was there first and hugged the river bank; so the railway builders crossed it on the level, hacking and blasting their right of way from the hillside to the east. Road and rail run side by side for two miles until first the road and then the railway swing west across the river. The level crossing has no gates. This was a sore point with the Sodor Island Council who kept pestering both the present Sir Handel and his father to install them, but neither saw any necessity. Gates had not been ordered in the Railway's Act; visibility in both directions is good and there has never been an accident.

In 1984, however, during road widening works, an incident occurred between a train hauled by Sir Handel and the Council's steam roller. The Council thought that this had allowed them to force Sir Handel's hand. They sued him, claiming that according to regulations his driver should have stopped dead at the crossing and they asked for an Order that gates should be erected. Unfortunately for them, Sir Handel had seen the whole incident from his study window. He counterclaimed against the Council for the careless driving of their steam roller and damages resulting therefrom. He was moreover able to prove, with the aid of photographs taken at the time by a reporter from the Crovan's Gate Gazette, that not only was his driver not at fault but that the incident had taken place some distance north of the level crossing. The Council lost its case. Damages were awarded against them and they were told that if they wanted gates, they would have to provide them themselves. This they declined to do and a certain coolness resulted.

In 1985 however, with the traffic build-up resulting from the Railway's Centenary publicity, it was found that the statutory level crossing precautions were causing unwelcome delays. Mr. Percival, therefore, approached the Chairman of the Council and suggested that if they were willing to share the cost, he would be prepared to install a system of train-operated bells and flashing lights. This offer was accepted and harmony was restored once more.

Where road and rail divide, the road dips sharply and swings west to cross the river by a hump-backed bridge. The railway, without change of gradient, crosses by a girder bridge. Two miles of lonely moorland follow. It was here that Rheneas came to grief but "first aid" rendered by his crew, enabled him to struggle up the last mile and a half to Glennock.

## Differences between the Railway Series, the TV Series and the SeventyVerse

* In the Railway Series, Cros-ny-Cuirn is based on Rhydyronen on the Talyllyn Railway. In the TV series and the SeventyVerse, the station buildings are based on Welshpool Raven Square station on the Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway.

## Trivia

* Its Talyllyn Railway equivalent is Rhydyronen going by the illustrations. Although Wilbert Awdry has stated that it could be similar to that of Hendy or Fach Goch on the Talyllyn Railway.