ÿþ<HTML LANG=en-GB> <HEAD> <TITLE>The Derelict Miscellany :: Derry Ormond Halt</TITLE> <META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="derelict, abandoned, railway, station, great, western, lampeter, carmarthen, aberystwyth, halt, trains, disused, betws, bledrws"> <META NAME="description" CONTENT="Exploring a derelict Great Western station near Lampeter, Ceredigion, Wales"> <META NAME="author" CONTENT="D. A. Gregory"> <META NAME="ROBOTS" CONTENT="ALL"> <link rel="icon" href="favicon.ico" type="image/x-icon"> <link rel="shortcut icon" href="favicon.ico" type="image/x-icon"> </head> <body link="#668b8b" bgcolor="darkgray" text="000000" vlink="#668b8b"> <center> <table width=1044> <tr><td> <table width=1044 cellspacing=0> <tr background="gam_print_ordsvywat-sun-171278517207606.jpg"> <td background="gam_print_ordsvywat-sun-171278517207606.jpg" align=right><A HREF="index.html"><img src=1.jpg border=0></a></td><td background="gam_print_ordsvywat-sun-171278517207606.jpg" align=center> <a indepth="true" STYLE="text-decoration: none" HREF="index.html"><h1>T H E &nbsp D E R E L I C T &nbsp M I S C E L L A N Y</H1></A> R e f l e c t i o n s &nbsp o n &nbsp f o r g o t t e n &nbsp a n d &nbsp a b a n d o n e d &nbsp s p a c e s <br><br> </td><td background="gam_print_ordsvywat-sun-171278517207606.jpg" align=left><A HREF="index.html"><img src=2.jpg border=0></a></td></tr></table> </td></tr> <tr><td bgcolor="#EEE9E9"> <center><a indepth="true" STYLE="text-decoration: none" href="http://derelictmisc.org.uk/index.html">{home} </a> &nbsp &nbsp <a indepth="true" STYLE="text-decoration: none" href="http://derelictmisc.org.uk/menu2.html">{menu} </a> &nbsp &nbsp <a indepth="true" STYLE="text-decoration: none" href="aboot.html">{about} </a> &nbsp &nbsp <a indepth="true" STYLE="text-decoration: none" href="cont.html">{contact} </a> &nbsp &nbsp <a indepth="true" STYLE="text-decoration: none"href="http://twitter.com/DerelictMisc" target="blank">{twitter}</a> &nbsp &nbsp <a indepth="true" STYLE="text-decoration: none" href="disc.html">{disclaimer}</a> &nbsp &nbsp <a href="#" STYLE="text-decoration: none" onClick="window.open('veh/index.html','', 'width=589,height=577,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,status=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no');return false;"> {rusty old cars}</A> &nbsp &nbsp <a href="#" STYLE="text-decoration: none" onClick="window.open('misc/menu.html','', 'width=870,height=482,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,status=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no');return false;"> {miscellany}</A> &nbsp &nbsp <a indepth="true" STYLE="text-decoration: none" href="links.html">{links}</a> &nbsp &nbsp <a indepth="true" STYLE="text-decoration: none" href="contrib.html">{contribute} </a> </td></tr><tr><td bgcolor=#EEE9E9><table width=100% bgcolor="#EEE9E9"> <td width=13></td><td> <center> <br><u><font size="5">Derry Ormond Halt</font></u><br>M. &amp; M. R./G. W. R./B. R.</center> <b>What:</B> Railway halt <BR> <b>Where:</B> Betws Bledrws, Ceredigion <BR> <b>Built:</b> 1867, shelter of later date <BR> <b>Architect:</b> Unknown <BR> <b>Abandoned:</b> 1964 <BR> <b>Listed:</b> No <BR><b>Visited:</b> 2006, March 2011<BR> <b>Last Known Condition:</b> Derelict, the trackbed is now used for vehicle storage <br><b>Page Updated:</b> June 2011<BR> <br>Derry Ormond Halt was quite an unexpected discovery on my part; tracing the route of the disused Carmarthen and Aberystwyth Railway from Lampeter to Pont Llanio, (a route which took me over countless fences, through three farmyards and a disused quarry filled with evil-smelling brown stuff) I was lucky enough to find this remarkably well preserved little station. Opened in 1867 by the Manchester and Milford Railway Company as part of a line between Carmarthen and Aberystwyth, it served the village of Betws Bledrws and the nearby Derry Ormond Estate for which it is named. <br>By 1911, the M. &amp; M. R. had rather overstretched itself, in no small part due to the cost of completing a new branch line from Lampeter to Aberaeron in the same year, and was bought by the famous Great Western Railway Company. The ambitious goal of linking Manchester and Milford Haven (which was to be billed as the Liverpool of South Wales, was never realised, but the completed lines were useful for local traffic, and formed the only direct link between North and South Wales. The next change of management came in 1948 after the Transport Act, when the line became part of the British Railways Network. <br>In 1963, B. R's Chairman, Dr. Richard Beeching had recommended the line's closure. Flood damage beat him to it, however and forced the line's closure to passengers in 1964. Although goods services continued to be run until 1970, Derry Ormond, a small and rather isolated halt, seems to have closed at the same time as passenger traffic ceased. [1] <br> <center> <br> <a href="#" onClick="window.open('transport/PIC_0175.jpg','', 'width=640,height=480,scrollbars=no,resizable=yes,status=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no');return false;" > <img alt="Standing on the earth bank looking along the line through the station." src="transport/PIC_0175.jpg" HEIGHT=174 border=1> </A> <a href="#" onClick="window.open('transport/PIC_0177_001.jpg','', 'width=640,height=480,scrollbars=no,resizable=yes,status=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no');return false;" > <img alt="The station building, still in the original G.W.R. 'Chocolate and Cream' colour scheme" src="transport/PIC_0177_001.jpg" HEIGHT=174 border=1> </A> <a href="#" onClick="window.open('transport/c.jpg','', 'width=640,height=480,scrollbars=no,resizable=yes,status=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no');return false;" > <img alt="The waiting room." src="transport/c.jpg" HEIGHT=174 border=1> </A> <a href="#" onClick="window.open('transport/PIC_0180.jpg','', 'width=640,height=480,scrollbars=no,resizable=yes,status=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no');return false;" > <img alt="Ticket window." src="transport/PIC_0180.jpg" HEIGHT=174 border=1> </A> <br>L-R: Looking up the line to the station; The station building; Waiting room fireplace; Ticket window <br> <BR> <a href="#" onClick="window.open('transport/PIC_0178.jpg','', 'width=640,height=480,scrollbars=no,resizable=yes,status=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no');return false;" > <img alt="The office" src="transport/PIC_0178.jpg" HEIGHT=174 border=1> </A> <a href="#" onClick="window.open('transport/PIC_0201.jpg','', 'width=640,height=480,scrollbars=no,resizable=yes,status=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no');return false;" > <img alt="Looking back at the station building" src="transport/PIC_0201.jpg" HEIGHT=174 border=1> </A> <a href="#" onClick="window.open('transport/PIC_0188.jpg','', 'width=640,height=480,scrollbars=no,resizable=yes,status=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no');return false;" > <img alt="The mobile home" src="transport/PIC_0188.jpg" HEIGHT=174 border=1> </A> <a href="#" onClick="window.open('transport/PIC_0189.jpg','', 'width=640,height=480,scrollbars=no,resizable=yes,status=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no');return false;" > <img alt="Inside" src="transport/PIC_0189.jpg" HEIGHT=174 border=1> </A> <br>L-R: Ticket and stationmaster's office; View back down the line; The vandalised mobile home; Living room <br><BR> <a href="#" onClick="window.open('transport/PIC_0200.jpg','', 'width=640,height=480,scrollbars=no,resizable=yes,status=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no');return false;" > <img alt="Buckled wall" src="transport/PIC_0200.jpg" HEIGHT=174 border=1> </A> <a href="#" onClick="window.open('transport/PIC_0191.jpg','', 'width=640,height=480,scrollbars=no,resizable=yes,status=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no');return false;" > <img alt="bedroom" src="transport/PIC_0191.jpg" HEIGHT=174 border=1> </A> <a href="#" onClick="window.open('transport/PIC_0194.jpg','', 'width=640,height=480,scrollbars=no,resizable=yes,status=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no');return false;" > <img alt="Complete works of Shakespeare" src="transport/PIC_0194.jpg" HEIGHT=174 border=1> </A> <a href="#" onClick="window.open('transport/PIC_0195.jpg','', 'width=640,height=480,scrollbars=no,resizable=yes,status=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no');return false;" > <img alt="'Something New in Model Boat Building' 1952" src="transport/PIC_0195.jpg" HEIGHT=174 border=1> </A> <br>L-R: Smashed and buckled wall; Bedroom; Complete Works of Shakespeare, c.2004; D.H. Matheson's <i>Something New in Model Boat Building</i>, c. 1952. <br> <BR> <a href="#" onClick="window.open('transport/1.jpg','', 'width=640,height=480,scrollbars=no,resizable=yes,status=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no');return false;" > <img src="transport/1.jpg" HEIGHT=174 border=1> </A> <a href="#" onClick="window.open('transport/4.jpg','', 'width=640,height=480,scrollbars=no,resizable=yes,status=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no');return false;" > <img src="transport/4.jpg" HEIGHT=174 border=1> </A> <a href="#" onClick="window.open('transport/2.jpg','', 'width=640,height=480,scrollbars=no,resizable=yes,status=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no');return false;" > <img src="transport/2.jpg" HEIGHT=174 border=1> </A> <a href="#" onClick="window.open('transport/3.jpg','', 'width=640,height=480,scrollbars=no,resizable=yes,status=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no');return false;" > <img src="transport/3.jpg" HEIGHT=174 border=1> </A> <br>L-R: Lorries, 2011; No-smoking sign in cab; Puzzle map; Dumped gas cylinders. <br> </center> <br>The halt is a remarkable survival of a small station little altered since G.W.R days, and consists of a single platform and station building, still in G. W. R. colours, which served the combined function of waiting room and ticket office. A badly vandalised mobile home is parked at the end of the platform and contains books and other odds and ends. <br>Since the first pictures were taken, the trackbed has found new use as a storage yard for mothballed lorries. <CENTER> <br><font size="1"> <u>SOURCES OF INFORMATION</u> <BR> <br> [1] "'History of the Carmarthen to Aberystwyth Railway", Available at: http://www.gwili-railway.co.uk/history.htm. Accessed: 12/12/06 <br><br><u>ALSO</u> <br> Fairhurst, R. "New Adlestrop Railway Atlas." <br> <br> </font><center><font size="1"></font><b> <a indepth="true" href="index.html">Home..</a></b><br><br> </td><td width=13></td></tr></table> </TD></TR><TR><TD bgcolor="#EEE9E9" ALIGN=CENTER> <font size=1>Derelict Miscellany. Website &amp; content Copyright D. A. Gregory 2005-Present unless stated to be otherwise.</font> </td></tr></table> </font> </body> </html>