The site of the original station at Rhyd Ddu - which the NWNGR and WHR named "Snowdon" and "South Snowdon" at different times - was occupied in the 1950s by a council car park, which remains a popular amenity for walkers, and now also for railway passengers. The new Rhyd Ddu Station is therefore on a new alignment immediately to the east, i.e. on the far side of the car park from the road.

Achnashean's fencing work in Summer 2001 included the recently secured Rhyd Ddu station site alongside the car park; The two pictures below (WHLR Ltd) show fencing at the station site in mid-August. The right-hand one, looking towards Beddgelert, clearly shows the deviation from the route through the original station, occupied by the car park visible in the background; the toilet block marks the site of the original station buildings.

The picture below, also looking towards Beddgelert but taken from a little higher up, gives a good idea of the station site, lying between the two lines of fencing. There was an extensive excavation and landscaping job to be done here before track and the platform could be established. The preparation of the station site represented Jones Bros' Contract 3C-3.

In mid-June 2002, work was under way to divert existing electricity cables linked to a transformer mounted on a pole which stood in the middle of the station site; some cables were being re-routed underground. As the site is not part of the original railway route, the cable diversion was carried out at the Railway's expense - unlike similar work at Snowdon Ranger, where overhead cables were foul of the historical alignment of the trackbed, and the cost of the work was thus the responsibility of the electricity supplier.

Contractors Jones Bros started the earthworks in mid-July 2002, from a base at the southern end of the site, beyond the car park. Early excavation saw a route dug through from the south to the centre of the site (right-hand picture), together with scraping of the surface. By this time the electricity pole which had previously obstructed the site (see above) had been moved to the eastern boundary of the station site.

Jones Bros staff and machinery are seen below at work on July 25th (pictures: first row, Jan Woods, WHLR Ltd; second row, John Cordrey) and 26th. .

In terms of earthworks, the site was effectively made up of two parts. At the northern end, marshy ground had to be consolidated and built up (this is the area where the roller was working in the pictures above). At the southern end, excavation was needed to lower the level of the ground to match. The net result was that more spoil was generated than could be re-used on site. This had to be removed by road, as the Snowdonia National Park Authority refused permission for it to be used to infill the fenced-off pit of the adjacent small Ffridd Isaf Quarry. This was because of association of the site with the prose and poetry of Sir Thomas Parry-Williams.

By mid-August, work had moved outwards from this central part of the site, to the northern end, where it is crossed by the path up Snowdon, and to the southern end, beyond the car park and site compound.

By the August Bank Holiday, excavation had reached its full width across the site. The area of rolled clay in the foreground in the left-hand picture below is the eventual site for a station building.

At the start of September, a culvert was being installed at an angle across the northern end of the site, to drain water which can flow from the footpath up Snowdon; the right hand picture shows the finished version three weeks later.

The ground proved to be easier to work than many had anticipated; only a very small amount of rock (as opposed to earth) had to be removed, as seen below, close to the contractor's compound at the southern end of the car park.

By September 7th the new slope along the eastern side of the station had received a coat of topsoil, and a consignment of stone had been delivered for construction of culvert headwalls.

By the middle of September 2002 the principal earthworks were almost finished, and ready for construction of the platform and laying of sub-base prior to ballasting of the loop lines. At the northern end of the site, a new line of fencing and gateposts were being installed for the path up Snowdon, following the station boundary. The existing gates were moved on to this new alignment in late September.

A rail store was established at the southern end of the site on September 19th, receiving new rails immediately on arrival from South Africa.

The core of the island platform was built up in the last full week of September, and by the 28th edging had been completed along its eastern edge, and across both ends.

At the start of October the formation was made up for the railway line along this eastern side of the platform, and outwards towards both ends of the run-round loop. At the northern end, the short section representing the level crossing across the track leading up Snowdon remained to be tackled in order to join up the station site with the formation and track already in place at the Rhyd Ddu North site.

By October 12th ballast had been laid through the eastern side of the platform, and sub-base had been laid further south, together with tidying of the southern end of the site.

In the third week of November, ballast was laid through the western side of the platform (on the right as seen below), although its edge had not yet been finished on that side. Bundles of sleepers had also been moved into place. The ballasting did not yet include completion of the loop formation at the southern end of the station.

The contractor's equipment and portable buildings were removed from the site in the first week of December, as Jones Bros's work at this site was almost done. At the same time, progress was made with permanent fencing along the western side of the station. The fencing around the new station building area can be seen to the right in the picture below, taken just after New Year 2003, with a light dusting of snow.

Tracklaying started at the southern end of the station on January 10th 2003. The North Wales Gang are seen below at work the following day, laying track running north from the rail stack, on the side of the loop which will run along the eastern side of the platform. By the end of work on the 12th, twelve panels had been laid, reaching almost as far as the northern end of the platform. Not all of this track was permanent; the southern extremity is temporary, to reach the rail stack, and one other length would later be replaced by the loop points.

Tracklaying progressed northwards a fortnight later, towards the gap at the level crossing leading to the Rhyd Ddu North site.

Part of the line along the as yet unmade western edge of the platform was laid soon afterwards, though as yet unconnected pending delivery and installation of the point at the southern end of the loop.

On March 15th a tarmac laying machine was noted on site, ahead of surfacing the platform in the following days; this had to be done before tracklaying continued, as completion of the southern end of the loop will block the access.

The platform will be extended southwards and have its western face completed as part of the Phase 4 works, for when Rhyd Ddu becomes a passing loop rather than a temporary terminus.

The set of points previously at Rhyd Ddu North was moved into its permanent position at the north end of the station loop at the start of April, as seen below prior to full assembly (it had been split into two parts for the move).

By May 10th this turnout had been moved to one side to allow further ballasting, and the turnout for the southern end of the loop had been delivered, also in two sections.

On May 18th volunteers were at work connecting the northern point, now assembled on its final alignment, to the part of the loop line laid in February.

The "ballast train" previously in use between Waunfawr and Betws Garmon was delivered to Rhyd Ddu by road on May 22nd, the operation being facilitated by lifting and packing the unconnected southern end of the loop track to allow unloading. By the time the pictures below were taken, track had been laid across the level crossing (not yet fully completed) at the northern throat of the station, leaving just a short section to lay to connect the station to the line back to Glanrafon, and thus release the ballast train to do its finishing work on a substantial stretch of railway.

A further turnout had been delivered to the southern end of the site by June 14th, in two sections as usual.

By June 27th the fencing contractors had erected poles for the pedestrian crossing which leads onto the platform, and also for fencing along the unfinished run-round loop side of the platform. At the northern end of the site fencing work had been started to give the final shape of the site at that end, including moving the previous gate across the path up Snowdon several metres further away from the track, plus poles for fencing past the boulder at Rhyd Ddu North, and for a farm crossing a short distance north of it.

Part of the southern end of the site was in use as a convenient delivery/storage point for top ballast to be loaded mechanically into the hopper wagons of the ballast train. The loop and sidings could not be completed while road access was still needed here, but the removal of the ballast train back to the Betws Garmon - Castell Cidwm section in early July cleared the way for track work to proceed.

Thus on July 9th the ramped track used for loading and unloading stock moved by road was laid back level, and ballast laying plant was on site at Rhyd Ddu South to work on finishing off this extreme southern end of Phase 3.

By July 12th the temporary track which had led to the rail store had been disconnected, and the point for the southern end of the loop had been connected to the platform line in its place.

The fencing contractor created a quite involved piece of fencing and gate work at the northern end of the station, where the way up Snowdon crosses the line. There were new gates on both sides of the line for vehicular traffic to farms and dwellings, and a separate pedestrian crossing just to the north, with gates with both lever and latch releases. As well as meeting the needs of a railway crossing, this was an improvement over the previous decrepit kissing gate. Railway signage had yet to be fitted when the picture below was taken; the blue sign concerns the voluntary summer ban on mountain biking on Snowdon.

The double crossing is seen below on July 16th, with the crossing timbers neatly fixed in place.

By this date the turnout at the northern end of the loop had been fitted out with its operating lever, and work was in hand on the platform access, via the raised area where the station building will eventually be built. The area had been surfaced with slate fines, and an access ramp is being made down to an entrance close to the toilet block.

The pictures below show the start of tracklaying to complete the southern end of the loop and a siding on July 18th. The two sections of the turnout for the siding had been placed on the loop line prior to being installed in their final position.

There was then a break in this work as attention was concentrated on fettling the main line for passenger trains; when the pictures of two short works trains were taken at Rhyd Ddu on August 9th, the southern end of the loop had yet to be connected up. This had not prevented early test and other trains (including the Royal special on July 30th) running with a diesel shunt at the other end of the station to reverse the trains.

The loop was completed in the final volunteer push immediately before opening; on August 14th sleepers were laid out by Team Wylfa for the headshunt, crossover and part of the siding, ready for rails to be laid over the weekend; the pictures below taken on Saturday 16th show various stages of this work.

Roland Doyle is seen below on Sunday 17th, waiting to operate the south loop point.

The last rail in the Rhyd Ddu siding was laid at 17.00 on 17th August; Andy Keene's pictures below show this operation, plus testing of the loop point with its spring mechanism, and final shunting of the works locos and stock into the siding, out of the way of public trains.

The gang, with Roland Doyle in the middle, agreed to Peter Johnson's request for a group photograph and decided to face its next targets - Beddgelert and Porthmadog!

The station came into public use the next day, Monday 18th 2003. Peter Johnson's picture below shows the first diesel passenger train, the 0850 ex-Caernarfon on Tuesday 19th. Despite the early hour the train had taken £300 in fares!