Bronwydd Arms railway station, originally a stop on the now closed

Carmarthen to Aberystwyth Line Carmarthen (, RP: ; cy, Caerfyrddin , " Merlin's fort" or "Sea-town fort") is the county town of Carmarthenshire and a community in Wales, lying on the River Towy. north of its estuary in Carmarthen Bay. The population was 14,185 in 2011, d ...

, is the headquarters of the preserved

Gwili Railway The Gwili Railway (Welsh: ''Rheilffordd Gwili'') is a Welsh heritage railway, that operates a preserved standard gauge railway line from the site of Abergwili Junction (near Carmarthen) in southwest Wales along a section of the former Carmarth ...

. The station first opened on 3 September 1860 as part of the Carmarthen and Cardigan Railway and closed to passengers on 22 February 1965. Following closure, the station building and signal box were demolished, leaving behind only a bare platform. In 1978, the Gwili Railway re-opened the station and gradually rebuilt the station building and signal box using redundant buildings recovered from the

Heart of Wales Line The Heart of Wales line ( cy, Llinell Calon Cymru) is a railway line running from Craven Arms in Shropshire to Llanelli in southwest Wales. It serves a number of rural centres, including the nineteenth-century spa towns Llandrindod Wells, Lla ...

. The station building was constructed from

Llandovery Llandovery (; cy, Llanymddyfri ) is a market town and community in Carmarthenshire, Wales. It lies on the River Tywi and at the junction of the A40 and A483 roads, about north-east of Carmarthen, north of Swansea and west of Brecon. Hi ...

signal box, clad with components from Ammanford (GWR) railway station, while the signal box from

Llandybie Llandybie ( cy, Llandybïe , " Saint Tybie's church") is a community which includes a large village of the same name situated north of Ammanford in Carmarthenshire, Wales. According to the United Kingdom Census 2001, Llandybie village itself is ...

was also recovered and is now used as the 'new' Bronwydd Arms signal box. A third box from central Wales,

Ffairfach Ffairfach is a village south of the market town of Llandeilo in the eastern part of Carmarthenshire, Wales. It is located close to the confluence of the Afon Cennen and the River Towy. Population is 516 according to 2017 census. Etymology The ...

, is also in use as a museum. Other smaller items have been incorporated into the rebuilt station, such as Great Western Railway lamp posts and benches, a parcels shed and a water tower, recovered from Barry Docks in 1979. The station features a

level crossing A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line crossing over or under using an overpass or tunnel. The term a ...

with wooden gates at the south end where the railway crosses the B4301 road. Passenger trains now currently use the crossing which had been brought into use as part of the railway's extension to Abergwili Junction. In 2010 the level crossing was renewed to enable the original two-gate system to be re-instated in GWR style, thus re-creating another feature of the original station. The crossing and its gates were completed by August 2011. Work had been concentrated on the extension of the line to Abergwili Junction which later re-opened in July 2017.

References

Sources

*{{Butt-Stations Heritage railway stations in Carmarthenshire Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1860 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1965 Beeching closures in Wales Former Great Western Railway stations