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Baldy Bill (talk | contribs) Moved some unsourced material from History to new section, added sources to verify, added further detail from sources |
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As milk was an important part of the local economy, it was regularly put on to trains at Berwyn. Local farms would bring milk to the station in tall, heavy conical metal [[Milk churn|churns]] (generally with a capacity of {{convert|17|impgal|abbr=on}}). Two side handles allowed two men to lift the churns into a [[goods van]]. They could be rolled along on their bottom rims by one man, making a distinctive rattling noise. Milk churns would arrive at Berwyn every day from the nearby farms at [[Llantysilio]] for transport to the creamery at [[Corwen]].
During the [[First World War]], local teenage conscripts wrote their names and messages in indelible pencil on the wall of a pedestrian tunnel beneath Berwyn station in 1915. They did this shortly before boarding trains that would take them to their battalions. In 2007, research was undertaken to find out who they were. At least one young man is known to have died on the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]], and his name is now on the Llangollen War memorial.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/north_east/6269586.stm|title=WWI tunnel 'messages' exhibition |publisher=[[BBC News]]|date=4 July 2007}}</ref> Work is now underway to protect the surviving messages from water damage.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-45163110|title=WW1 soldiers' farewell notes on Llangollen bridge being lost to damp|date= 13 August 2018|publisher=BBC News}}</ref>
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By the 1980s, the newly relaid heritage line approached the former GWR station. Restoration work then began on the station dilapidated buildings. The first passenger train from Llangollen to return to Berwyn was a [[Diesel multiple unit|DMU]] on 19 October 1985. Steam hauled services began operating to Berwyn in December the same year. The station received a full passenger service in March 1986, with a formal opening ceremony being performed by the [[Gerald Grosvenor, 6th Duke of Westminster|Duke of Westminster]] on 13 June 1986. As the station had become the western terminus of the new line, a run-round loop was installed just past the station.
==Berwyn viaduct==
The six-arch stone-built '''Berwyn Viaduct''' is a Grade II listed building directly to the west of the original station,<ref name="cadw">{{cite web |title=Full Report for Listed Buildings |url=https://cadwpublic-api.azurewebsites.net/reports/listedbuilding/FullReport?lang=en&id=1235 |website=CADW |publisher=Welsh Government |access-date=7 January 2023}}</ref> and now forms part of the station as the platform extends over most of the viaduct's length. The viaduct lies between the [[River Dee, Wales|River Dee]] and the [[A5 road]]. In addition to crossing a steep-sided valley it also forms a bridge over the B5103 (which crosses the Dee on another viaduct at a lower elevation) and the unnamed brook draining from the north side of Vivod mountain.<ref>{{cite web |title=Berwyn Railway Viaduct, Llangollen and Corwen Railway |url=https://coflein.gov.uk/en/site/34760/ |website=Coflein |publisher=RCAHMW |access-date=7 January 2023 |date=4 August 2010}}</ref>
Berwyn station originally had a relatively short platform but with an increase in summer services in the early [[Edwardian period]], the platform was extended across the viaduct with timber decking on wrought iron frames. This unusual cantilevered platform at the western end of the station was dismantled in the late 1950s due to its deterioration and a lack of passengers. In 2003 the Llangollen Railway decided to restore the platform at Berwyn to its original extended length across the viaduct which required significant repair work to restore the drainage system and platform supports. The work, which cost £353,000, was completed in March 2004. The platform restoration received a civil engineering award from the [[Institution of Civil Engineers]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Berwyn Viaduct |url=https://dsace.co.uk/portfolio-item/berwyn-viaduct/ |publisher=David Symonds Associates |access-date=7 January 2023}}</ref>
==Preservation==
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