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Description

This is the northern terminus of the Welsh Highland Railway, built in the shadow of Caernarfon Castle alongside the Afon Seiont.

The station is built on the site of sidings and access to the slate quayside at Caernarfon. This has its railway origins in the Nantlle Railway of 1828, a 3ft 6in line. The slate exporting quaysides were served by lines. A nearby station, Carnarvon Castle [Station], opened just to the west in 1856 when the line opened to passengers. This terminus closed in 1865.

The line was converted to standard gauge and re-aligned in 1867, becoming the northern part of the Carnarvonshire Railway. Reconstruction in Caernarfon was slightly later, in 1870, when the line became part of the London and North Western Railway. It was also joined to the 1869 Carnarvon and Llanberis Railway.

Closure came in 1964. Caernarfon station and line were opened in 1997.

To the north the standard gauge line ran through Carnarvon Tunnel, opened 1870, to reach Carnarvon station. The tunnel closed in 1964 (the station survived until 1970 for passengers, 1972 for goods). The tunnel now carries a road.

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