Carrog Station

  Carrog Station was designed by Pountney Smith and built by the Llangollen and Corwen Railway in 1865, similar in design to Glyndyfrdwy Station (2 miles away) it served the nearby village of Llansantffraid Glyndyfrdwy but was given the name of a local farm presumably to avoid confusion with Glyndyfrdwy Station and also with Llansantffraid Station near Oswestry.  The village is nowadays known as Carrog, again presumably to avoid confusion.  The station as built boasted just a single platform but after the railway was taken over by the Great Western Railway in 1896 a second platform was added amongst other improvements.  The buildings on platform 1 included a station master`s house, ticket office, waiting room, ladies waiting room, and toilets.  the signal box was built in 1897 as was a waiting room on platform 2.  

   A camping coach was situated at the station for many years which was very popular, it was capable of accommodating eight persons and the cost of hire in the 1960 summer season was £12, this was on the condition that when booking six adult return tickets were bought from the customer`s home station to Carrog.  Lighting and cooking were provided for by the station master at a further cost of 17/6d (87 1/2p).  The stationmaster also provided for linen and crockery and luggage could be sent in advance.  Station staff would also arrange for provisions to be sent from local shops.  The camping coach was removed after the 1962 summer season never to return.

   The station master would also issue fishing permits for the nearby River Dee (as happened at other stations along the line).  From June 1955 the station became unmanned from  7:35pm each day, tickets then being issued by the guard on the train.  The signal box was closed in  March 1964 and the goods yard in May 1964.  The last train arrived 12th. December 1964 when floods breached the line near Llandderfel but tickets continued to be sold at the station for the bus replacement service until the official closure date of18th. January 1965.

  In 1975 the Flint & Deeside Railway Preservation Society (later to become The Llangollen Railway Society) had permission to rebuild the railway between Llangollen & Corwen, apart from the trackbed and station buildings along the line there was no infrastructure left.  The railway returned to Glyndyfrdwy in 1993 and the extension to Carrog began in 1994.  On closure of the railway in 1965 the trackbed and station buildings along the line had been sold to Denbighshire County Council, at Carrog the stationmaster`s house had now become a council house which in the 1980`s was sold to the tenant under "the right to buy" scheme that the government of the day had set up.  The property was then sold to the present owner who fortunately was more than keen to see the railway return to the station.  By this time the signal box and platform 2 waiting room had been demolished on safety grounds but the rest of the station was intact, indeed the waiting room and ticket office was exactly as it had been left in 1965 when the station closed for business with timetables and posters still in situ.  A "Friends of Carrog" group was set up with the aim of restoring the station to it`s 1950`s condition.

Carrog Station August 1976

 The Friends of Carrog began in earnest on restoration work which included a full refurbishment of the station building including rewiring and new plumbing, the wooden floor was rotten so it was removed and a concrete floor put in it`s place.  It was intended to make a tearoom in the ladies waiting room and to enable the room to be made big enough the internal wall between it and the ladies toilet was removed and the ex-toilet then became part of the tearoom.  A brand new toilet block in keeping with the station was built behind the tearoom.  

  A replica signal box was built on the site of the original and a redundant Great Western Railway waiting room was removed from Weston Sub Edge in Warwickshire and rebuilt on platform 2 to replace the original.  The platforms were resurfaced to a profile to meet modern safety standards and the original lighting columns which were still standing were refurbished and rewired, replica lamp heads were sourced to match the originals.

  The spring of 1996 saw the rails return to Carrog and reopening was set for May of that year. The reopening was to be carried out by the railway`s president, His Grace the Duke of Westminster.  The first passenger carrying train to carrog was a diesel railcar (DMU) which carried many of the railway`s members and volunteers ahead of the VIP train which was hauled by Foxcote Manor.  After a short speech, the Duke declared Carrog Station open for business again and wished the railway well.  Carrog Station was firmly back on the railway map again.

  Since reopening Carrog has been in the charge of various stationmasters, each one doing his/her utmost to ensure the high standards of restoration & maintenance have been kept.  There is always work to do here, but there is nowhere nicer to do it!