Driver’s Eye View – Welsh Highland Railway (Rheilffordd Eryri) – Porthmadog to Beddgelert

I’d like to say a big thank you to Dave the driver, Roger the fireman and Claire for arranging everything.
The Welsh Highland Railway holds a special place in my childhood memories because the Aberglaslyn Pass was a favourite place for my grandfather to take me. Back in the mid sixties there was little sign of a railway apart from the bridge to nowhere, another rickety old bridge over the Afon Glaslyn (river) with a plank in the middle to walk on and some short tunnels and one long one that was very dark. Childhood memories tend to be a bit sketchy and my grandfather sometimes embellished the truth, I’m not sure whether or not Ivor the engine and Jones the steam ever actually graced the rails next to the river, but why let the truth get in the way of good story?
The Glaslyn Pass was like a magnet, I visited many times over the years and I learned that the story my grandfather told me of a short lived narrow gauge railway through the gorge was indeed true. Sometimes there would be rumours that some enthusiast group or other was going to reopen the line, but it was an obvious lost cause, it had been closed longer than it had been open and in places it was difficult to determine the actual route of the railway. The rumours persisted and eventually rails were laid along long part of the closed Caernarfon to Afon Wen Railway as far as Dinas the former terminal of the WHR. I travelled on one of the first trains between Caernarfon and Dinas, by then it was clear that the possibility of once again being able to travel by narrow gauge train to Porthmadog might be more than a pipe dream. There were still many hurdles to overcome, but nevertheless I looked forward to my annual visits to photograph the rail head inching its way towards Beddgelert. The Forestry Commission Camp site served by the Welsh Highland Railway’s Meillionen Halt became the destination for many family holidays, at first it was difficult to determine where the railway once ran, but as the years passed, the route was cleared, fences erected and eventually the railhead made its way past the campsite, culminating is being woken one morning by the sound of a diesel locomotive propelling a works train past our caravan. In 2001 work was bought to a halt by an outbreak of Foot and Mouth disease for a year or so, there were issues with the National Trust and trains were not allowed to terminate at Beddgelert, meaning the line had to be completed all the way to Hafod y Llyn before trains could carry passengers. Rhyd Ddu became the limit of passenger working for what seemed like an eternity, although in reality work on the railway was continuing, finally trains started running to new temporary termini at Hafod y Llyn in 2009 and Pont Croesor in 2010. The dream of once again being able to travel by narrow gauge train from Dinas to Porthmadog became a reality in 2012 with the start of through running between Caernarfon and Porthmadog
The Welsh Highland Railway (Welsh: Rheilffordd Eryri) is a 25-mile (40.2km) long, 1 ft 11 1⁄2 ins (597 mm) narrow gauge heritage railway in the Welsh county of Gwynedd, operating between Caernarfon to Porthmadog.

01:51 – Porthmadog
02:49 – Britannia Bridge
04:59 – Snowdon Street
05:45 – Cambrian Coast Railway
06:14 – Porthmadog bypass
06:34 – Welsh Highland Heritage Railway
06:46 – Pen-y-Mount Junction, Station
12:45 – Pont Croesor
15:01 – Afon Glaslyn
15:27 – B4410 (road)
24:39 – Hafod y Llyn
26:11 – A4085 (road)
27:22 – Nantmor
29:07 – Aberglaslyn No.4 Tunnel (292 metres)
30:07 – Aberglaslyn Pass
30:21 – Aberglaslyn No.3 Tunnel (9 metres)
30:34 – Aberglaslyn No.2 Tunnel (29 metres)
33:10 – Afon Glaslyn (river)
33:22 & 33:37 – A498 (road)
35:49 – Goat Tunnel or No.1 Tunnel (38 Metres)
36:37 – Beddgelert

To watch videos I made documenting the reopening of the WHR, please click on the following links – https://youtu.be/_qwmYHPQ6tk https://youtu.be/EtKiyuOlruU https://youtu.be/aKkKhL5INd8

Map 1:12 – Google Earth/Maps
Map 1:18 – https://www.openrailwaymap.org/ – Use of the ‘OpenRailwayMap’ mark is licenced by the OpenStreetMap Foundation

To find out more about the railway or to book your own Welsh Highland Railway adventure please click on this link – https://www.festrail.co.uk/