Menai Bridge

Menai Bridge station was closed in 1964, but the ornate station building survived into the seventies. The platform was actually at first floor level, so it was a much bigger building than it appeared from the railway side. Originally it had 4 platforms, 2 on the main line and 2 on the Caernarfon branch, connected by subway. Although very close to the structure it took its name from, it was actually in a different county from the small town it served.

40126 at Menai Bridge 14/05/77 (s1069.jpg)

40126 passes Menai Bridge on an up service on the 14th May 1977. Although it appears that the up main platform survives, it was in fact a new concrete structure built for loading cattle onto railway trucks during the closure of the Britannia Bridge between 1970 and 1972. Just visible are the bases of the posts for the fencing used to corral the cattle. According to www.holyhead.com, 105,000 cattle were transhipped here between November 1970 and January 1972.

47456 at Menai Bridge 14/05/77 (s1070.jpg)

47456 passes Menai Bridge on the 14th May 1977 with a train for Holyhead. As well as the almost intact station building, the derelict signal box is also still present. The overgrown track in the foreground is the remains of the Caernarfon branch - still connected to the main line but secured out of use. This track ended a few yards further on - at the point where the connection to the marshalling yard diverged.

Menai Bridge signal box (s0530.jpg)

Seen on the 25th June 1976, this was all that remained of Menai Bridge signalbox. Originally controlling access to the Caernarfon branch, it was taken out of use when Bangor box took over control of the new single line over the rebuilt Britannia Bridge. Menai Bridge goods yard had been opposite the box - one of the yard buildings is seen in this view.