Contents
6 The Jewel of Tywyn
The Talyllyn Railway
14 The Ffantastic Ffestiniog
The Ffestiniog Railway
26 Great Slate!
Quarry lines including the Padarn and Penrhyn railways and the Llanberis Lake Railway.
34 Journey to the top of Snowdonia
The Snowdon Mountain Railway
42 Beyond the ‘end of steam’
The Vale of Rheidol Railway
48 The Corris comeback
The Corris Railway
50 Beneath England’s highest peak
The Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway
58 The earl and his countess
The Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway
66 Island of steam
The Isle of Man, Groudle Glen and Great Laxey Mines railways.
72 Through the Aberglaslyn pass: The greatest railway adventure of them all?
The Welsh Highland Railway
84 Trams to Glyn Ceiriog
The Glyn Valley Tramway
88 Across the roof of England!
The South Tynedale Railway
92 An awakening in North Devon
The Lynton & Barnstaple Railway
100 Through the sand dunes
The Fairbourne Railway
104 From Slate to Shoreline: Alongside the lake of beauty
The Bala Lake Railway
108 Towards Britian’s highest tunnel
The Brecon Mountain Railway
110 Snowdonia in Exile!
The Launceston Steam Railway
113 Further adventures of a Penrhyn pair
The Teifi Valley Railway
116 Hebridean steam
The Isle of Mull Railway
118 Himalayan heaven
The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway
126 The one that got away!
The Leek & Manifold Valley Light Railway
130 High in the Lowther Hills
The Leadhills & Wanlockhead Railway
Introduction
Earl of Merioneth made history in 1979 when it became the first double Fairlie to be built by the Ffestiniog Railway in the 20th century. ROGER DIMMICK/FR
Sixty years ago, a canal and motor car enthusiast called Tom Rolt switched his attention to steam railways, and founded the preservation movement.
The acorn that was planted by the writer of a letter to an evening newspaper in 1949 led to the Talyllyn Railway being saved from closure 18 months later, and grew into the towering tree that is today’s preservation movement, with more than 120 operational lines and museum venues.
Rolt wrote a book called Railway Adventure. However, what he accomplished on the Talyllyn was just the start of a far bigger adventure, one that would soon eclipse even his wildest dreams.
The heritage railway sector is a great British success story, which was built on a far greater one: not just the invention of the steam locomotive by Richard Trevithick two centuries ago, but its adaptability to climb the steepest of mountains and go where no railway has ever gone before.
Steam on the narrow gauge as we know it began with the slate industry, which was as important to the post-Industrial Revolution economy of North Wales as coal mining was to the south. The introduction of steam locomotives by pioneer railways like the Festiniog revolutionised the transhipment of goods in such difficult terrain, where horse and gravity traction had hitherto been the only economic options.
It must be remembered that the world’s first demonstration of a steam locomotive, by Trevithick in 1804, took place on a narrow gauge railway; that is, one where the rails were narrower than the later ‘standard gauge’ of 4ft 81/2in. In the case of the Penydarren Tramroad, a short hop from today’s Brecon Mountain Railway, the gauge was 4ft 4ins.
Yet it was the adaptation of steam to run on lines of 2ft gauge or less that opened up many new horizons, not just for the quarryman but also the tourist.
It may have fallen flat on its face in 1936 first time round, but in 2009, the Welsh Highland Railway, a 26-mile steam highway from Caernarfon to Porthmadog, won a clutch of national awards, even before it was fully opened throughout.
The awesome scenery along the route culminating in the Aberglaslyn Pass and its many tunnels is breathtaking beyond belief, and those who followed in the footsteps of Tom Rolt many generations later had restored no less than one of the world’s greatest mountain routes of them all. It easily competes with the legendary British-built Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, which as highlighted in this volume, still makes excellent use of Manchester-built steam locomotives today.
When I was midway through grammar school, I completed an English project on the narrow gauge railways of North Wales. My teacher reluctantly gave me top marks, while remarking that it was a technical subject that really did not fit within the remit of his class. Nevertheless, I still went on to study Shakespeare and Dickens and obtain an English degree, and ended up as founding editor of Heritage Railway magazine.
Back then, the preservation movement was just 20 years old; and in Wales, apart from the Snowdon and Vale of Rheidol lines which had always operated over their entire length, the Talyllyn, Welshpool & Llanfair were still extending to the present terminii, while very much behind the scenes there were stirrings that spawned the Bala Lake and Llanberis
Lake railways. While the odd magazine advert suggested the Welsh Highland could be revived, few ever thought it possible – but look what we have today!
We have compiled a splendid portfolio of narrow gauge upland lines, not just in their ‘homeland’ of North and central Wales but right across the country.
If you never visit another heritage railway again, just take the time out to ride on the Welsh Highland – it really is too magnificent for words.
Visit the superbly restored time capsule that is Woody Bay station on the Lynton & Barnstaple – and soak up the wonderful ambience near the top of Exmoor.
Experience the breathtaking vistas of the Snowdon Mountain Railway, or the sylvan glades of the Vale of Rheidol and its fabled waterfalls.
Ride in the immaculate Victorian coaches on the Talyllyn and see just what inspired Tom Rolt to kick-start the whole movement.
And if you fancy writing the next page in the great 'Railway Adventure' yourself, try rebuilding a line for yourself: there are some excellent revival schemes, such as the twin pronged Glyn Valley Tramway restoration and that of the Penrhyn Railway, not to mention the L&B.
For me, I’m not only happy finally updating that school assignment 40 years on, but delighted to now be able to expand it to cover the rest of the British highlands and in one case, the Himalayas.
So here is a steamy celebration of six decades of solid achievement – and rest assured, there is more to follow!
Robin Jones
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