Meillionen
| Meillionen | |||||||||
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 Upnor Castle stopping at Meillionen | |||||||||
| Type | Request Halt | ||||||||
| Status | Open | ||||||||
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| Latitude | 53:01:04.68N | ||||||||
| Longitude | 04:07:17.64W | ||||||||
| Grid reference | SH578488 | ||||||||
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| Stations | Locations | Bridges | Tunnels | Map | |||||||||
Meillionen (English: Clover) is a request halt on the Welsh Highland Railway serving the adjacent caravan site. It lies at a height of approximately 115m (377 ft), and a route distance of approx 14.97km (9.3 miles) from Porthmadog.[route 1][wikipedia 1]
Overview[edit]
The station serves the popular Beddgelert Forest Campsite, run by the Forestry Commission in association with The Camping and Caravanning Club. The station offers an alternative to going to Caernarfon or Porthmadog by car or the perilous walk to Beddgelert along the main road.
Known during construction as Beddgelert Forest Campsite Halt, the name Meillionen (after the Afon Meillionen which runs under the railway just north of the halt) was chosen in order to comply with the railway's policy of naming halts in Welsh only, avoiding an unfeasibly-large bilingual sign. Despite this, the halt is still often referred to as the campsite, especially because Meillionen isn't the easiest word for English speaking passengers to say when requesting the train stop.
Beyond the halt, the line skirts a woodland and on the left you can see, descending below the line, the cutting and earthworks of the never-completed Portmadoc Beddgelert and South Snowdon Railway of 1904-08. This was to have been worked by trams on gradient of 1 in 28; but when the line was finally completed in 1922-23, steam haulage was used and as steam engines are not very good at steep gradients, the gradient was eased to 1 in 40 by extending the railway round the Cwm Cloch or Lower S-Bend. Before you enter the S-bend, you can see on the left the other two curves of the S below you. The top bend runs through Cwtting Mawr, a gloomy and rather wet gash in the landscape, some forty feet deep in the middle. It is quicker to walk down the Cwm Cloch lane from the top to the bottom crossing than to travel by train, but again, the views by rail are rather spectacular. At the bottom of the S-bend, with the PB&SSR earthworks coming in on your left, you enter Beddgelert Station.
Company Access Statement[edit]
For general details see here
This halt is situated within the Beddgelert Forest Campsite, primarily for the use of campers. There is level access to the platform through a small gate. There are no car parking facilities.
This is a short platform and only certain carriages on the train will be accessible from it. It is therefore advisable to phone Caernarfon booking office on 01286 677018 before 1000 on the morning of travel so that the guard of the train is aware of your requirements. If joining at another station and travelling to Mellionen halt, you must advise the guard BEFORE boarding that you wish to alight at the camp site.
Trains will not normally stop here, as this location is classed as a halt, and not a scheduled stop.
Passengers on the train should notify the guard as soon as possible if they wish to alight at this location.
Passengers at the halt should hold out their hand to attract the attention of the driver, who will often give a short whistle to acknowledge that the train will stop.
See also[edit]
References[edit]