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Motoring to some little Welsh Railways by Anthony A. Vickers

THE motorist usually regards himself as above the use of trains, but in Wales he can if he wishes find a delightful selection of quaint little railways, of Emmett-like proportions, and possessing individual characters quite unlike that of their larger brothers. I am not here including a number of surviving industrial lines, serving the declining slate quarries of North Wales, which provide no passenger service, but are well known to railway enthusiasts.

Starting with the southernmost of the remaining passenger narrow-gauge railways, we can visit the Vale of Rheidol line. Built in 1902, it never had any appreciable interest in freight traffic. It was taken over by the Cambrian, Great Western and British (Western Region) railways in turn, and has benefited from the resources of the larger companies. It is maintained to main line standards, and takes passengers from Aberystwyth for 12 miles up the Rheidol Vale to Devil’s Bridge. I strongly recommend that a return trip be started at Devil’s Bridge, catching, say, the train at 11.45 a.m. In this way one retains until the last the most memorable part of the journey. On the way down, the last few miles meander along the flat meadows and fields, terminating alongside the main line station.

Aberystwyth has not much to recommend itself to the casual visitor and this little railway is indeed its only real attraction to the tourist: despite this there was said to have been a move by the town council to make the railway move its terminus from its present site to a point west of the level crossing over the road which leads, I believe, only to a market which is used once a week. If this were done, the town’s popularity with visitors must inevitably decline.

Be that as it may, we can catch the 1.45 train back to the hills, and finish the trip with a train-load of some 300 passengers, all being hauled up the last five miles of twisting, gruelling slope by the very sturdy and powerful little engines. This line passes through scenery which cannot be reached by any other means of transport, for the last five miles or so is cut out of the north side of the hills which form the south side of the deep and steeply walled Vale of Rheidol, and provides unrivalled views as the train winds in and out of the heavily wooded slopes.

A short trip along the coast to the north takes us, by way of Machynlleth, to the north side of the Dovey estuary, where the road to Aberdovey winds up and down and in and out of the hills. It is not to be hurried over, for there are many traps for the unwary, the unwise and hasty driver: but for the motorist prepared to pull off the road and stroll to a vantage point there are again some glorious views, across the waters to Borth Bog and the town beyond, or back up the estuary to the hills. Often on the water may be seen one of the craft belonging to the original Outward Bound School.

Four miles north of Aberdovey the road enters Towyn, passing over the Talyllyn Railway. Three times a day, in the primitive but adequate terminus station, a train of oddly assorted but well-kept carriages, behind a smartly liveried green engine, may be seen waiting to make the eight mile journey to Abergynolwyn. The railway might have been Roland Emmett’s model, for some of the equipment is up to 100 years old, and has been working throughout the life of the railway.

It is perhaps not unexpected that Abergynolwyn terminus is not particularly near the town of that name (although the original mineral line can still be traced somewhere near it); and of course the line never went particularly near Talyllyn lake, or even within sight of it! But each of the stations, as well as some of halts at which the trains will stop “ on request,” can be made the start or finish of a planned walk up into the hills, between the valley and the Dovey river beyond.

The Talyllyn Railway was bought by the Talyllyn Railway Preservation Society in 1946, and saved from extinction. Since then it has been run and maintained by volunteers from all parts of the country; by engineers, clerks, business men, lawyers, doctors and retired rail-waymen, who like to spend part of their holidays as labourers, signallers, fitters, or firemen. There is even one “ lady fireman,” but the Ministry of Transport regulations require that there be paid drivers. A few minutes on the Talyllyn takes one into a world where reverence is not restricted to that which is big and new, but where there is pride and pleasure in the preservation of a living monument and memorial to an essential step in the industrial development of this country.

Passing north again, the tourist may glance at the Fairbourne Railway, a short commercial line which is a scale model of a standard gauge line and not a true narrow-gauge one. If you don’t understand the difference, I suggest that you go to see for yourself. For myself, the next stopping place is at Portmadoc, for the Festiniog Railway. This, like its southern neighbour, the Talyllyn, fell on evil days in 1946, but was revived under very much more difficult conditions, for it lay unattended for several years. It is now run on a rather more ambitious, and some think more precarious, scale, with a larger full time paid staff, and with quite extensive workshops and repair sheds at Boston Lodge.

The locomotives include two last relics of the double-boilered Fairlie patent design, both of which have been completely rebuilt since the line was taken over. One of them, now in good working order, was when I last saw it a rusty, dirty ghost, hiding in a dark storage shed. In its early days this line was visited by engineers who came from all over the world to see for themselves these elegant slender locomotives, and verify for themselves the tales of their wondrous haulage powers.

Across the Causeway

Now Taliesin and Merddin Emrys, together with a smaller sister, Prince, carry trainloads of passengers from Portmadoc across the causeway (the “ Cob ”) over the Mawddy estuary, then eastwards into the hills, climbing all the way. Built as a slate quarry railway, it is now dependent entirely on the tourist trade, and the subscriptions of the members of the Preservation Society. These members may visit the railway either for the pleasure of seeing it in action, or they may provide more practical assistance by joining the working parties which during the winter months provide the labour force for all the heavy maintenance: the full time staff has to rely entirely on these enthusiasts for manpower.

The line runs through some of the finest scenery in North Wales, climbing up the hillsides until it makes a huge sinuous horseshoe curve high above Maentwrog and Llyn Mair, to run into Tan-y-Bwlch station. Here each train in turn is met by the station-mistress, dressed in her full Welsh costume, just as was the case when I first visited the line in 1935. Here the journey has to end, at least for the time being, pending the rebuilding of the top section of track which was submerged, together with a long tunnel, by a large hydroelectric scheme. Ultimately it is hoped the through journey to Blaenau Festiniog will again be possible, but in the meantime visitors will find ample satisfaction in the return trip through the scenery of the lower part of the original route, together with a reminder of some early railway history.

Further north again, there is of course the Snowdon Mountain Railway, much larger, and based on the pattern of the Swiss mountain rack railways. It carries enormous crowds of passengers from Llanberis up to the summit, some 3,560 ft. above sea level.

Here there is, on a fine day, a vast panorama of the whole of North Wales; southwards to Cader Idris, midway down Cardigan Bay; westwards to Portmadoc and the Mawddy estuary, and to Bardsey Island at the tip of the Lleyn promontory; northwards to the isle of Anglesea and Holyhead Mountain; and eastwards to the hills of Denbighshire.

The last of the little Welsh railways which I have explored is really a toy, but it is nevertheless a very fine toy at that: it runs round the Marine lake at Rhyl, and although some may find irksome the proximity to the pleasure park or fairground, it is beautifully maintained, and is capable of a very fine turn of speed.

Delightful Journeys

Anyone who sets out to explore these narrow gauge railways will find enjoyment in motoring through the hill and mountain country of Wales, and some delightful journeys through scenery which is in some cases quite inaccessible to a car: he will appreciate a glimpse of a means of transport which is all too nearly “ out of this world ” and may even come to value these railways as a means of organising expeditions on foot into the largely unspoilt hills and valleys through which they run.