Dovey Junction railway station (Welsh: Cyffordd Dyfi) is a railway station on the Cambrian Line in Wales. It is the junction where the line splits into the line to Aberystwyth and the Cambrian Coast Line to Pwllheli. Passenger services are provided by Arriva Trains Wales.
Allowing for the inclusion of outlying buildings and signals, it is routinely claimed that Dovey Junction lies at the intersection of three counties, these being the traditional Welsh counties of Meirionydd, Montgomery and Ceredigion.
The station is in the midst of the large Dyfi National Nature Reserve, near to the Cardigan Bay coast. There is no settlement here but, contrary to common belief, it is not completely isolated: the three-quarter mile station path provides passenger access to and from the hamlet of Glandyfi.
The station has been rebuilt twice in recent years, the original Great Western Railway buildings first being replaced at some point in the 1970s by a flat roofed station building. This building was subsequently replaced in the 1990s by a simple bus shelter, having fallen into a state of disrepair and being far larger than required at this remote location.
The station is found in Arriva Trains Wales' timetable number 1. Passengers use platform 1 for services to Pwllheli via the Cambrian Coast Line or Birmingham International via Birmingham New Street, and platform 2 for services to Aberystwyth via Borth, or Birmingham International via Birmingham New Street. Trains join at Machynlleth to make a 4-carriage service.
The station platforms were raised in 2008 in conjunction with raising of the tracks, to reduce the likelihood of closure of this section of line due to flooding. The work is part of a major programme of work on the Cambrian Line, including ERTMS signalling to replace the existing RETB system and an extended (dynamic) passing loop at Welshpool to permit running an hourly service from Shrewsbury-Aberystwyth in the future.
Dovey Junction is often quoted as a defining feature of the Great Western Railway in Wales, namely its inheritance of junctions in unlikely and inconvenient locations. Other examples are Moat Lane Junction, Talyllyn Junction, Afon Wen and Barmouth Junction (renamed Morfa Mawddach in 1960).
Famous quotes containing the words junction, railway and/or station:
“In order to get to East Russet you take the Vermont Central as far as Twitchell’s Falls and change there for Torpid River Junction, where a spur line takes you right into Gormley. At Gormley you are met by a buckboard which takes you back to Torpid River Junction again.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)
“Her personality had an architectonic quality; I think of her when I see some of the great London railway termini, especially St. Pancras, with its soot and turrets, and she overshadowed her own daughters, whom she did not understand—my mother, who liked things to be nice; my dotty aunt. But my mother had not the strength to put even some physical distance between them, let alone keep the old monster at emotional arm’s length.”
—Angela Carter (1940–1992)
“To act the part of a true friend requires more conscientious feeling than to fill with credit and complacency any other station or capacity in social life.”
—Sarah Ellis (1812–1872)