Llanwnda railway station

Llanwnda is a village, community and electoral ward in Gwynedd, Wales. The community has a population of 1,994 as taken at the 2011 Census. It is situated about 3 miles to the south of Caernarfon, and 5 miles south-west of Llanrug. According to the 2011 Census, 81.6% of the population were Welsh speakers. The image on the right is of Glanrhyd, Llanwnda, not the village of Llanwnda less than a mile to the south. The community includes the slate mining villages of Rhosgadfan and Rhostryfan.

Dinas is a large hamlet near Bontnewydd, Caernarfon, in Gwynedd, north-west Wales. It is in the ancient parish and modern community of Llanwnda and is served by the parish church of St. Gwyndaf in Llanwnda village, which is about a quarter of a mile to the south. The hamlet developed with the opening of the turnpike Toll roads from Caernarfon first to Pwllheli in 1805, then to Porthmadog in 1810. Two coaching inns were built to serve the roads, Y Mount, which is now an Indian restaurant and Tafarn Hen, which is now a private residence. The Carnarvonshire Railway was built in 1866 on the route of the horse drawn Nantlle Railway. The building in 1878 of the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways (later part of the Welsh Highland Railway) resulted in the opening of Dinas Junction station complete with slate transshipment facilities, which brought the construction of houses for the railway staff. The 20th century saw the development of suburban housing for Caernarfon. The present Dinas railway station, on the site of the Dinas Junction, was reopened in 1997 as a base for rebuilding the Welsh Highland Railway from Caernarfon to Porthmadog. It is a visitor attraction and local passenger facility that also links Dinas to Waunfawr, Beddgelert, Pont Croesor and beyond.

Dinas is a station on the narrow gauge Welsh Highland Railway, which was built in 1877 as the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways Moel Tryfan Undertaking to carry dressed slate for trans-shipment to the LNWR. Passenger services ceased on 26 September 1936 until which time Dinas had been a joint station, known as Dinas Junction with the LNWR and later the LMS. In 1951, British Railways closed their part of the station but the line through the station remained open until the line from Caernarvon to Afon Wen was closed in 1964. The trackbed was subsequently developed as the Lôn Eifion tourist cycle route. When the station was reopened on 11 October 1997, it was as the southern temporary terminus of the extended and soon to be restored Welsh Highland Railway from Caernarfon. Following reconstruction of the trackbed, the line was reopened on its original trackbed, in stages; on 7 August 2000 to Waunfawr; in 2003 to Rhyd Ddu; through the Aberglaslyn Pass to Beddgelert and Hafod-y-lyn in 2009; 26 May 2010 for Pont Croesor and finally on 4 January 2011 to Porthmadog. The official opening for the completed line was 20 April 2011. The train services are operated by the Festiniog Railway Company by its Welsh Highland Railway subsidiary. At Dinas, the new narrow gauge platforms are built on the site of the former standard gauge platforms. Two buildings survive from the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways era, namely the former goods shed and the original station building which has been carefully restored. Dinas station yards house the Welsh Highland Railway offices, carriage sheds and locomotive depot as well as extensive civil engineering works and sidings.

Plas Dinas is a Grade II listed building in Bontnewydd, Gwynedd, near Caernarfon in North Wales, between the Welsh coast and the Snowdonia mountains. It is a large country house which retains significant features of an early 17th-century house at its core. Since 1915 the estate has been in the hands of the Armstrong-Jones family. Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon spent much time there, including with Princess Margaret during their marriage from 1960 to 1978. Since the 1990s the mansion has been a country house hotel, now called Plas Dinas Country House.

Groeslon railway station served the village of Groeslon, Gwynedd, Wales. It operated first as part of the Nantlle Tramway and afterwards as a railway under the auspices of several different companies. The station and line closed on 7 December 1964 as recommended in the Beeching Report.

Groeslon (Welsh pronunciation; Welsh: Y Groeslon, "the crossroads") is a small village in the community of Llandwrog in the Welsh traditional county of Caernarfonshire. Groeslon is administered by Gwynedd Council. The population was 880 at the 2011 censusNearby villages are Penygroes, Carmel and Dinas. The village lies approximately five miles south of Caernarfon. It has one primary school in the centre of the village and no secondary schools. Most secondary school age pupils go to Ysgol Dyffryn Nantlle in Penygroes. Groeslon was by-passed in 2002 by the A487 road, a trunk road which cost around £12 million to complete. A bat bridge was constructed in 2010 to guide lesser horseshoe bats across the road. Formerly an agricultural and slate mining village, Groeslon is now expanding as a commuter village for the surrounding towns, especially Caernarfon and Bangor. Its initial growth came as a result of the construction of the LMS railway in 1867. Groeslon railway station closed in December 1964. The railway line is now part of the national cycle route. In the village there is one pub called the Penionyn. At the bottom of the village, bordering the A487, a huge wall becomes visible. This is the wall to the Glynllifon estate, formerly the seat of Lord Newborough, which is now a country park and college (Meirion Dwyfor) specialising in land based industries, e.g. agriculture, equine studies and arboriculture. Groeslon is covered by a Neighbourhood Policing Team based in Penygroes.

Bontnewydd is an unstaffed halt on the narrow gauge Welsh Highland Railway. The halt was opened on 31 May 1999 on the petition of the villagers of Bontnewydd and is between Caernarfon and Dinas on the Lôn Eifion cycle route. It is a request stop with no station buildings and a single low platform. The train services are operated by the Festiniog Railway Company.

Llanfaglan is a parish in Gwynedd, north-west Wales. It lay in the medieval cwmwd of Is Gwyrfai. Llanfaglan is a medieval parish bordering with the parish of Llanbeblig, Caernarfon, on the shore of the Menai Strait and Traeth y Foryd. It is in the modern community of Bontnewydd. The church in Llanfaglan, St Baglan's (Grid reference SH 455 606) stands alone in the middle of a field and is now owned by the Friends of Friendless Churches. In 2005, it was discovered that the church and the older part of the cemetery were part of a pentagonal enclosure. The period of this enclosure is not known as it is the only one of this type known of in Europe up to now. A 5th or 6th Century gravestone inscribed with Fili Lovernii Anatemori, has been reused as a lintel over the door. This was the gravestone of Anatemarios, mab Loverniws. Although the Christian church probably dates from the 13th century, additions date from the 17th century as do the internal fittings. The church remains consecrated and is still in occasional use.

Bontnewydd (Welsh, meaning 'New Bridge' in English) is a small village and community with a population of 1,162 located on the A487 road 1+2⁄3 miles (2.7 km) south of Caernarfon in Gwynedd, Wales, close to the river Gwyrfai, 2 miles (3.2 km) from its outflow into Foryd Bay.It is served by Bontnewydd railway station, an unstaffed halt on the Welsh Highland Railway. The village has one small supermarket, an outdoor attraction called Gypsy Wood Park, a pub called The Newborough Arms and one school. Bontnewydd was known as Bodallog prior to the new bridge being built. According to the 2011 Census, Bontnewydd is the community with the 3rd highest percentage of Welsh speakers in Wales. 82.6% of residents aged three and over reported being able to speak Welsh in the 2011 Census, as compared to 84.8% reporting being able to do so in the 2001 Census.Since 1995 Bontnewydd has also formed an electoral ward, represented by a county councillor on Gwynedd Council.The community includes Llanfaglan.

The Afon Gwyrfai is a short river in Gwynedd, Wales. For half of its length it flows through Snowdonia National Park. Exiting Llyn y Gader it flows north through the small village of Rhyd-ddu to enter the southeastern end of Llyn Cwellyn. Downstream of the lake it flows northwest past Betws Garmon, leaving the national park and continues to the southern edge of Waunfawr. It then turns slightly west to flow on to Bontnewydd beyond which it turns slightly south to enter Foryd Bay (Y Foryd). The tidal channel within the bay flows north into the western end of the Menai Strait. Principal tributary streams include the Afon Treweunydd which contributes water from the reservoir of Llyn Ffynnon-y-gwas and from the lakes of Llyn Glas, Llyn Coch and Llyn Nadroedd in Cwm Clogwyn immediately west of the summit of Snowdon. The tidal channel of the Gwyrfai within Foryd Bay also accepts the flow of the left bank tributaries, the Afon Foryd, Afon Rhyd and Afon Carrog. The river is shadowed by the line of the Welsh Highland Railway for much of its length, and by which it is crossed four times.The name may signify the '(river of) curved places', referencing its meandering course.

Glynllifon is the name of the old estate which belonged to the Barons Newborough, near the village of Llandwrog on the main A499 road between Pwllheli and Caernarfon in Gwynedd, Wales. The original mansion was until recently a privately owned hotel.

Carnarvon (Pant) was the temporary northern terminus of the Carnarvonshire Railway, located on the southern fringe of Caernarfon, Gwynedd, Wales.The line from Afon Wen to Caernarfon was built from the country end, as were the other standard gauge routes to the town, resulting in there being three temporary termini on the edges of Caernarfon. This was eventually resolved by building the "Caernarfon Town Line" through a tunnel under the historic centre to join the various routes. When this was completed Pant station was closed. The station appears to have been built on rented land, as in November 1868 a Mr Rice Thomas threatened to eject the railway from the station for non-payment of rent. The facilities included a platform and a turntable, both still traceable on the land in the 1940s and a siding which acted as an open air engine shed.Freight and passenger trains passed through the edge of the station site until 7 December 1964, when all services were withdrawn. The line was lifted in 1969. In 1997 the Welsh Highland Railway began running through the edge of the station site, having used part of the trackbed for their narrow gauge line to Porthmadog. Sources cited in this article differ on the station's location, research continues.