Rhyl was amongst the initial fourteen stations on the Chester to Holyhead Railway, officially opened in 1848. The main two-storey block is by Francis Thompson, architect for the line, with later alterations and extensions. The station was once the junction for the branch to Denbigh (Vale of Clwyd Railway), now closed. Two platforms remain in use although the layout was more substantial until the late 1980s. There are two impressive London and North Western Railway-built brick and timber signal boxes, known as Rhyl No.1 (nprn 34913, at the east end of the station; still operational) and Rhyl No.2 (nprn 34914, at the west end; disused but intact).
RCAHMW, 15 December 2011.
A steam-hauled named train, 'The Welsh Dragon', commenced running during the summer between Rhyl and Llandudno (nprn 415921) from 03 July 1950, making seven trips each way daily. (Railway Magazine, November 1950, p.782). The service was run by diesel railcars from c.1957, making eight trips each way daily, until its demise in the mid-1960s. It was the first diesel named train on British Railways (Locospotters? Annual, Ian Allan, 1959).
B.A.Malaws, RCAHMW, 05 May 2017.