Station Name:BEAG FAIR

[Source: Nick Catford]

Date opened:

4.1878 (first in timetable)

Location: North side of an unnamed minor road (C3032)
Company on opening: Narberth Road & Maenclochog Railway
Date closed to passengers: 1.1.1883
Date closed completely: 16.5.1949
Company on closing: Narberth Road & Maenclochog Railway
Present state: Nothing remains
County: Pembrokeshire
OS Grid Ref: SN101205
Date of visit: 19 February 2017

Notes: Notes: When the Narberth Road & Maenclochog Railway opened on 19 September 1876, there were stations at Llanycefn, Maenclochog and Rosebush, each having goods facilities. There was also a 'fare stop' at Beag where there was also a public goods siding. This first appeared in public timetables as Beag Fair in April 1878 and was also known as Beag Siding. There was no platform at Beag Fair and it is not known which side of the road bridge trains stopped but is assumed to have been the north side alongside the siding.

Beag had a single siding on the down side of the line. The siding points were worked from a six-lever ground frame locked by the train staff. The only signals here were a distant for each direction, probably used to indicate to drivers whether or not they had to stop to pick up. Beag Fair closed on 1 January 1883 when the line closed.

The advertisement (right) appeared in the Pembrokeshire Herald and General Advertiser 19 April 1878.

With opening extension to Letterston, Beag Siding reopened for goods traffic only on 1 April 1895. A small six-lever signal box was installed there at the insistence of the GWR, in case of any mishap affecting the main line. The box was on the up side at the start of the siding. The siding points continued to be worked from a ground frame. Telegraph instruments were provided at Beag

Airey's 1893 map (above) still shows Beag as a station even though passenger trains stopped calling there ten years earlier.

Beag continued to be served by goods trains; the surrounding area is sparsely populated and it is perhaps surprising that it handled any freight traffic at all, but much of the traffic would have been parcels which were actually rabbits, as was the case at all stations on the North Pembrokeshire branch.

When GWR took over in 1898 the signal box at Beag was closed even though it had opened only at the insistence of the GWR! The siding closed on 16 May 1949 when the line between Letterston and Clynderwen closed to goods traffic.

Ticket from Michael Stewart. Route map drawn by Alan Young. Airey's map from Alan Young

Click here for a brief history of the North Pembrokeshire branch

Sources:

See stations on the North Pembrokeshire Branch: Fishguard & Goodwick, Jordanston Halt, Letterston, Beulah Halt, Martell Bridge Halt, Castlebythe Halt, Puncheston, New Bridge Inn Halt, Rosebush, Maenclochog
& Llanycefn


Looking east at the site of Beag siding from the approach track in July 1974. The railway ran from right to left with the road bridge to the right.
Photo by John Mann


1907 1.2,500 OS map shows the single-line Beag Siding. Access to the siding was along a track to Pen Quarry. The small signal box is shown but not named on the east side of the line at the entrance to the siding. Beag Cottages are seen to the left of the road bridge.

Looking north from the road bridge towards Beag Siding in February 2017; the cutting
is heavily overgrown.
Photo by Richard Martin

The north parapet of Beag bridge in September 2016.
Photo by Richard Martin

The north parapet of Beag bridge in September 2016; the arch has been backfilled.
Photo by Richard Martin

The cutting on the south side of the bridge has been infilled and is now used as a car
park for the first cottage.
Photo by Richard Martin




 

 

 

[Source: Nick Catford


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