European Railroad Discussion > A foreigner visits Llandudno, Wales

One thing you should know is that the West Midlands of England and much of Wales is loaded with semaphore signals and manned signal boxes (towers). I took several shots during my three days of arriving and departing the Llandudno (something like "shan-did-na") station.

1. On Friday August 29, 2025 I rode Transport for Wales down to Blaenau Ffestiniog and back. Here is the view from the end of the platform of a signal bridge framing the Llandudno signal box. Think levers, mechanical interlocks, and cables.

2. The arrival of my train, a two-unit DMU.

3. Another train at the station with the Great Orme in the background. During the week that I was in Llandudno I never saw the Great Orme aerial tramway operating. Two of the support towers are visible above the left end of the train.

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4. A final shot on Friday of my train showing the Llandudno station in the background.

5. Two days later on a less sunny day a four-unit Transport for Wales DMU arrives at the Llandudno station. Many trains shuttle between Llandudno and Llandudno Junction on the east-west mainline.

6. And departs on a clear signal. I would take a later train direct to Shrewsbury, UK, not far from the Welsh border and two and a half hours to the southeast.

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NMlurker Wrote:
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> 6. And departs on a clear signal. I would take a
> later train direct to Shrewsbury, UK, not far from
> the Welsh border and two and a half hours to the
> southeast.

Shrewsbury, England.  Wales is in the UK, too.

NMlurker Wrote:
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> and departing the Llandudno
> (something like "shan-did-na") station.

It's very difficult to describe the pronunciation of ll in Welsh, definitely not shan, clearing the back of the throat is the closest I can think of :-)