Maespoeth Junction
Maespoeth Junction lies to the south of Corris in Gwynedd It lies in the historic county of Merionethshire/Sir Feirionnydd, in the valley of the Afon Dulas.
Maespoeth was where the horse-hauled tramway (known as the "Upper Corris Tramway") from the slate quarries around Corris Uchaf met the main line of the Corris Railway coming from Aberllefenni. The name, which translates as "Hot Field", is shared with a nearby house.
In 1878 the railway built its engine shed at Maespoeth, in the vee of the two lines; it held the railway's three steam locomotives and was equipped to handle all but the heaviest repairs to the locomotives and rolling stock, but much of the machinery was removed after the line became part of the Great Western Railway in 1930. The engine shed survived the closure of the railway in 1948 and served subsequently as a winter working base for the Forestry Commission. In 1981 it was returned to railway ownership under the auspices of the Corris Railway Society and now again serves its original purpose as a home for the railway's locomotives and as its engineering headquarters. Passengers on the first restored section of the railway are given a guided tour of the shed.
Immediately to the north of the engine shed is a small stream. At an unknown date a section of the stream was lined with slate and a wood-framed dunny or latrine built over it to provide toilet facilities with constant running water. Although this remains in situ it is no longer used.
In the early 1920s the arrival of a fourth locomotive exceeded the capacity of the engine shed, and a small wooden building was built against the south wall of the engine shed and initially used to store one of the railway's original three locomotives. This building was later used to store carriages under repair. It disappeared in the early 1930s.
A smaller stone building - used as a stable and store for the Signals & Telegraph department - was built to the south of the engine shed and this survives, now being used as a volunteer's mess and as a small museum. Originally this building was separate from the engine shed, but the space between the two has now been roofed to provide a toilet block.
A wooden signal cabin with a stone chimney was built to protect the lever frame controlling the points and signals at the south end of the site, but this disappeared in the 1940s. A new signal box was built on the same site in the 1990s.
In 2009 a new carriage shed, largely built by volunteers from the Corris Railway Society, was opened on the east side of the site.
The original railway did not have a passenger station at Maespoeth, although most up-trains halted there to take water from a pipe overhanging the track, fed from a slate water tank inside the engine shed, supplied via a cast iron pipe from a mountain stream several hundred yards away. The heritage railway has built a platform alongside the engine shed and this currently serves as the southern terminus of the line.
References
A Return to Corris Corris Railway Society 1988 ISBN 0 905466 89 6
| Preceding station |  Heritage railways |
Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Terminus | Corris Railway | Corris | ||
| Historical railways | ||||
| Esgairgeiliog | Corris Railway | Corris | ||
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