Cros-ny-Cuirn

**Cros-ny-Cuirn** (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. It was here where Duncan derailed on a bad section of track.

## History

Some thirty chains beyond the bridge at Crovan's Gate the line climbs sharply before leveling 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 1865. 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 by 1951, it had become 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.

Just north of the station is Ben Glas, 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 Mr. Percival to install them, but neither saw any necessity. Gates had not been ordered in the Railway's Act of 1864; visibility in both directions is good and there has never been an accident.

## Trivia

* The station buildings are based on Welshpool Raven Square station on the Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway.
* A church near the station, seen in the concept art, is based on Llangower church, situated near the Bala Lake Railway.
* Its Talyllyn Railway equivalent is Rhydyronen.
* Prior to the map of Sodor being finalised, Cros-ny-Cuirn had two alternative names:
	+ George Awdry originally proposed the name **Crossag-ny-Cuirn**, meaning **"Little Crossing in the Mountain Ash"**.
	+ On a redrawn map of Wilbert Awdry's planned OO9 Skarloey Railway layout exhibited at the second Awdry Extravaganza, Cros-ny-Cuirn is spelled as **Cros-ny-Quern**.
* While planning his Ffarquhar Branch Mk2 layout, the Rev. W. Awdry also planned to create a OO9 Skarloey Railway layout featuring Cros-ny-Cuirn. The station was planned to be only a small halt with no loop, in a similar style to Henry or Fach Goch on the Talyllyn Railway.