Goat Tunnel

Goat Tunnel
Goat Tunnel
Previous Station	Beddgelert Station
Previous Location	Beddgelert Station
Status	Tunnel in use
Next Location	Bryn y Felin Road bridge
Next Station	Nantmor
Stations Locations	Harbour Station

No.1 or Goat Tunnel (47 yards long).

South of Beddgelert Station the line descends into the awkward short No. 1 or Go-at Tunnel (so pronounced by the locals); at the lower end the line swings sharply to avoid crossing the Bridge To Nowhere (which was built by the Portmadoc Beddgelert & South Snowdon Railway in 1904-08) and runs alongside the A498 to Bryn y Felin, passing behind Bryn y Felin house with another sharp curve.

Southern mouth of Goat Tunnel, 2007. The PBSSR alignment veered off to right of picture. (Simon Melhuish)

Goat Tunnel is located behind the Goat Hotel in Beddgelert. Known during reconstruction as Tunnel No. 1, it was originally bored around 1905 for the PBSSR but was modified to ease the gradient for the WHR in 1922/3, with further modification for the reconstructed line in the new millennium. The wooden sleepers seen in the photo were soon replaced by steel ones, whose lower profile formed part of the solution to a vertical clearance issue.

Looking from the top and middle of the upper picture, the old PBSSR alignment up in the centre to the bridge, and the new alignment of the WHR on the right, where track has been freshly laid. It is believed that a temporary bit of track was laid between these two for the transport of timber during the First World War, that would have started just above where the RRM is in this picture. 2007. (Simon Melhuish)

See also

• The WHR Tunnels