4.5.1964 (Regular stone trains continued until 5.9.1973)

Demolished - the much altered Co-op Vale of Clwyd Farmers’ warehouse still stands amongst other industrial buildings on the Anglia Autos site. The crane from the goods shed has been relocated at the end of the railway path.

Notes: Dyserth Station was located at the southern end of the 2½-mile long Prestatyn to Dyserth line. The branch had been opened in 1869 by the London & North Western Railway (LNWR) to carry lead and haematite from mines in the upper Prestatyn Valley down to the Chester and Holyhead Main line at Prestatyn. At this time there was no passenger service, but goods stations were provided at Meliden and Dyserth. As the line approached Dyserth it split into three sidings, the southernmost passing through a stone-built goods shed. The goods yard did not handle livestock but it did have a 1 ton 10 cwt crane.

Towards the end of the nineteenth century there was demand for a passenger service on the line, with a petition being sent to the LNWR in 1896. The LNWR eventually agreed to this, and a regular passenger service started on Monday 28 August 1905. At Dyserth the new passenger station was south-east of the goods shed on the south (up) side of what had been the middle siding. There was a low platform comprising a single row of sleepers along the front and sides, with cinder infill to the rear, and a station sign at the back of the platform. At first there were no other passenger facilities, but within a few years two single-storey wooden buildings were erected; one came from Connah’s Quay and the other was moved from the goods yard. One of the huts was at the back of the platform and housed a booking office (the only one on the branch) and a general store, while the other was used as a waiting room and toilets.

From the start passenger train services were operated by a ‘railmotor’ that ran between Prestatyn and Dyserth. Initially there were only two intermediate stopping places, at Meliden and at Rhuddlan Road. There were eight services in each direction during the summer months which reduced to five during the winter, and no Sunday service, but by the summer of 1906 this had improved to 14 trains a day in each direction.

The service proved to be very popular with local people; in the summer months tourists used the trains to Dyserth to view the Cwm waterfalls and a ruined castle. At the end of the first year, the line had carried 30,000 passengers. By 1911 the service frequency had built up to sixteen trains in each direction Monday - Friday (one down train did not call at intermediate

In 1906, an additional station was opened at Chapel Street in Prestatyn. In 1908 an Act was obtained to extend the line from Dyserth to Marian Mills. Despite the Act being renewed the only work that was carried out was undertaken by a local landowner, a Mr Pochin. He built a short section of route on his own land in the hope of encouraging the LNWR to move the project forward. The Great War stopped any further work, and the extension was never built. During the twentieth century the brick-built Co-op Vale of Clwyd Farmers’ warehouse was built beyond the station, on the north side of the sidings near the end of the line.

Due to an increase in passenger numbers after the war the railmotor was replaced with tank locomotives and coaches that could be operated in push-and-pull mode.

On the 1 January 1923, Dyserth became part of the London Midland & Scottish Railway (LMS). During the 1920s Dyserth station began to feel the effects of competition from motor bus services. The General Strike of 1926 did not help matters as it caused even more passengers to desert the railway. Although passenger numbers were dropping in the 1920s, freight traffic remained healthy with three trains a day in 1923. In an attempt to attract more passengers to the line the LMS opened two further stations: St Melyd Golf Course in 1923 and Alt-y-Graig in 1929. Passenger services were still struggling financially, especially in the winter months, and this led to the LMS withdrawing them on the 22 September 1930 after only 25 years of operation.

The line reverted to being purely a freight route. Castle Quarry closed in 1931, and the number of daily freight trains was reduced to two. This was maintained until 1953, when the freight service was further reduced to one train a day. This followed the mechanisation of processes at Dyserth Quarry which resulted in a reduction of staff and increased use of road transport.

Dyserth station closed to goods services on 4 May 1964, but one daily stone train continued to operate to the station until 7 September 1973. In 1969 two railtours visited Dyserth: the ‘Welshman Railtour’ organised by the Wirral Railway Circle on 22 March and the RCTS/LCGB (North West Branches) ‘Festiniog Rail Tour’ on 11 October

Stone trains continued to operate regularly to the station until 7 September 1973. Even after this date occasional trains still worked stone away from Dyserth, but the traffic had ceased by 1980 and the track was lifted in that year.

Attempts were made to reopen the line as a preserved railway but the plans came to nothing. In the late 1980s British Rail transferred the trackbed to Rhuddlan Borough Council who developed into a footpath passing through Meliden station site.

The goods shed survived closure and in 2017 it received a grant of over £1 million for a restoration project. 

Dyserth station was redeveloped for industrial use (Anglia Autos) with the Clwyd Farmers’ warehouse retained, although now much altered. The goods shed yard crane has been relocated as a feature at the end of the railway path. Part of the site, including the station itself, has recently been further redeveloped as a small private housing estate (Anglia House).

Sources:

• From Chester to Holyhead The Branch Lines by Bill Rear
  
• Railway passenger stations in Great Britain: a chronology by Michael Quick (Railway & Canal Historical Society 2009)
• Clinker’s Register of Closed Passenger Stations and Goods Depots by C R Clinker (Pub: Avon Anglia 1978)

Further reading: The Prestatyn and Dyserth branch line by Stephen P. Goodall (Oakwood Press 1986) ISBN-13: 978-0853613138.
Other web site: www.dyserth.com web site for a feature on the Dyserth branch with more photos.
Click here to see a 4 minute film of a DMU railtour to the Dyserth branch in 1968.

To see other stations on the Dyserth branch click on the station name:

Chapel Street, Woodland Park, St. Melyd Gold Links, Meliden & Allt-y-Graig