Talk:Tonfanau railway station
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We hired a holiday cottage ¼ mile from Tonfanau Station about 3 years ago and used the trains from there on several occasions. On the first morning the three of us got to the station in good time to catch the train to Penhelig. We could hear the train approaching from Barmouth and as it rounded the headland I held out my hand and gave a clear signal for the train to stop but it run right through with out even slowing up. While we stood on the platform wondering what we should do the train driver suddenly slammed on his breaks and came to a stop about 200 to 300 yards beyond the level crossing and then reversed back in to the platform to pick us up.
The lady conductor on board was very apologetic explaining that no one ever got on or off at Tonfanau. When we reached Penhelig I walked down to thank the drive for coming back for us and he said that he couldn’t very well have left us there.
Needless to say we were very relieved as we had no wish to wait over two hours for the next train. At that time only about 3 trains per day were scheduled to call at Tonfanau by request.
The following morning when we went to catch the train there was a couple with a young baby who also caught the it this time travelling towards Barmouth – almost a rush hour! We got on and off there a number of times during our stay and I have noticed that in the successive years all the trains in the timetable are now schedule to call by request thus giving Tonfanau quite a reasonable service. I can’t help but wonder if it’s because of the fact that we used the station during that week and I wonder how much the station is now used.
