Overview | |
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Headquarters | Llanberis |
Locale | Wales |
Dates of operation | 1971–present |
Technical | |
Track gauge | 1 ft 11+1⁄2 in (597 mm) [1] |
Length | 2.5 miles (4 km) |
Llanberis Lake Railway | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Llanberis Lake Railway (Welsh : Rheilffordd Llyn Padarn) is a 1 ft 11+1⁄2 in (597 mm) narrow gauge heritage railway that runs for 2.5 miles (4 km) along the northern shore of Llyn Padarn in north Wales in the Snowdonia National Park. The starting point is the village of Llanberis at the eastern end of the lake ( 53°07′03″N4°07′09″W / 53.1175°N 4.1193°W ), with the western terminus at Pen Llyn in the Padarn Country Park ( 53°08′13″N4°08′58″W / 53.1370°N 4.1495°W ). [2] The return journey takes around 60 minutes. The railway is one of the Great Little Trains of Wales.
The Llanberis Lake Railway runs along part of the trackbed of the defunct Padarn Railway, a 4 ft (1,219 mm) gauge line which connected the quarry with Y Felinheli (Port Dinorwic) on the Menai Strait. The Padarn Railway closed in October 1961 and was lifted between 16 May 1962 and February 1963. Following the closure of the Padarn Railway, various plans were made to open a 2 ft (610 mm) gauge tourist railway on the trackbed. The first serious attempt was made by G. Ward, a local resident, who proposed a railway that would circle Llyn Padarn using the trackbeds of the British Rail Llanberis branch and the Padarn Railway. This plan would have utilized track and locomotives from the Dinorwic slate quarry, but the company did not pursue the proposal. [3]
In July 1966, A. Lowry Porter of Southend-on-Sea proposed a shorter railway running from the quarry company's workshops at Gilfach Ddu near Llanberis to Penllyn, along the easternmost three miles of Padarn Railway trackbed. Negotiations were progressing with the company, when in July 1969 the quarry closed at short notice. [3] The quarry's workshops at Gilfach Ddu were purchased by the Gwynedd County Council with the intention of creating a Country Park. [1]
The quarry's land and equipment were put up for auction, and Lowry Porter's fledgling railway company purchased three steam locomotives and one diesel locomotive for use on the planned lake railway. In June 1970 the County Council purchased the trackbed of the Padarn Railway and agreed to allow its use for the lake railway. [3]
The Ruston diesel locomotive was quickly put into service laying track. Meanwhile, the first steam locomotive, Dolbadarn, was restored to working order. The new railway was built to 1 ft 11+1⁄2 in (597 mm) narrow gauge instead of the more unusual 1 ft 10+3⁄4 in (578 mm) narrow gauge used in the quarries. This required all the rolling stock to be regauged, including the locomotives. Tracklaying progressed during 1970 using track recovered from several sources, including some originally used on the Lynton and Barnstaple Railway. [3]
New carriages were built using the chassis of bogie wagons. These initial efforts at creating passenger stock proved unsatisfactory – they had a tendency to derail due to their very rigid construction. This caused a delay in opening, and a subsequent rapid redesign of the carriages. [3]
The railway officially opened on 28 May 1971 [1] but because of the need to redesign the carriage stock, the first public trains did not run until 19 July 1971. [3] By the end of the first season, more than 30,000 passengers had been carried. In the winter of 1971 the railway was extended to its current terminus at Penllyn. For the beginning of the 1972 season, a second steam locomotive Red Damsel was returned to service with a new name: Elidir. The locomotive roster was expanded that year to include Maid Marian (now operating on the Bala Lake Railway) and an 0-4-0 tank locomotive built by Jung in Germany. [3]
In June 2003 the railway was extended to the town of Llanberis, with a new station close to the start of the Snowdon Mountain Railway. The original terminus at Gilfach Ddu is now a through station serving both the National Slate Museum and the nearby Dolbadarn Castle. On the return journey from Pen Llyn, passengers may alight at Cei Llydan station, where a picnic site is available with views of the Snowdonian mountains above Llanberis Pass. [4]
The railway uses three steam locomotives ("Elidir", "Dolbadarn" and "Thomas Bach") all of which ran on the internal 1 ft 10+3⁄4 in (578 mm) gauge lines of the Dinorwic Quarry. There are also several diesel locomotives which are used for works trains and when the steam locomotives are unavailable for passenger trains.
When the Quarry closed down in 1969 the lakeside section of the trackbed was utilised for the current Llanberis Lake Railway, originally running from the National Slate Museum at Gilfach Ddu to Pen Llyn. Gilfach Ddu was the main engineering workshop of the Dinorwic Quarry and provided repair facilities for all of the steam locomotives of the quarry system.
Number | Name | Builder | Type | Works number | Date | Notes | Image |
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1 | Elidir | Hunslet | 0-4-0 ST | 493 | 1889 | Built for the Dinorwic quarry; originally named Enid then later renamed Red Damsel Operational | |
2 | Thomas Bach | Hunslet | 0-4-0 ST | 894 | 1904 | Built for the Dinorwic quarry; originally named Wild Aster Operational (overhauled 2020) | |
3 | Dolbadarn | Hunslet | 0-4-0 ST | 1430 | 1922 | Built for the Dinorwic quarry Operational | |
7 | Topsy | Ruston Hornsby | 4w DM | 441427 | 1961 | Built for Bestwood Colliery. Initially named Coed Gorau when it arrived at Llanberis. [5] | |
8 | Twll Coed | Ruston Hornsby | 4w DM | 268878 | 1952 | Worked at the Lodge Hill and Upnor Railway | |
11 | Garrett | Ruston Hornsby | 4w DM | 198286 | 1939 | ||
19 | Llanelli | Ruston Hornsby | 4w DM | 451901 | 1961 |
These are locomotives that ran on the Llanberis Lake Railway in the past, but have now moved to other locations.
Name | Builder | Type | Works number | Date | Notes | Image |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Maid Marian | Hunslet | 0-4-0 ST | 822 | 1903 | Built for the Dinorwic quarry. Based on the Llanberis Lake Railway from 1972 to 1975. Subsequently, operating on the Bala Lake Railway | |
Cyclops [6] | Jung | 0-4-0 T | 7509 | 1937 | Based on the Llanberis Lake Railway from December 1971 to February 1980. Now renamed "Ginette Marie" and in storage at Strumpshaw Hall Steam Museum | |
Helen Kathryn [6] | Henschel | 0-4-0 T | 28035 | 1948 | Arrived at the Llanberis Lake Railway in 1975 from the Bala Lake Railway. [7] It stayed until 1991, when it moved to the South Tynedale Railway | |
No. 8 [8] | O&K | 0-4-0 WT | 12722 | 1936 | Used at various construction sites in northern Germany until 1957. Moved to the UK in 1970, where it ran on the Llanberis Lake Railway and then the Brecon Mountain Railway. Acquired by the Bredgar and Wormshill Light Railway in 1999. | |
Charelfawr [9] | Ruston Hornsby | 4w DM | 277265 | 1949 | Purchased new for Dinorwic Quarry, it was purchased at the 1969 auction and assisted in the construction of the lake railway. In the 1971 (first) season it was used to shunt release passenger trains due to the lack of a run round loop at Gilfach Ddu. It was exchanged in 1975 for a 60HP Simplex from Alan Keef. |
These are locomotives that were stored at the Llanberis Lake Railway in the past, that have now moved to other locations. They did not run on the LLR during their stay.
Name | Builder | Type | Works number | Date | Notes | Image |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Diana | Kerr Stuart | 0-4-0 T | 1158 | 1917 | First ran on the Kerry Tramway, then moved to the Oakeley Quarry, then the Pen-yr-Orsedd Quarry. Stored in derelict condition on the Llanberis Lake Railway in the 1970s. Moved to the Brecon Mountain Railway in 1972. [10] Restored to working condition in 2015, and in 2018 is based at the Amerton Railway |
The Bala Lake Railway is a narrow-gauge railway along the southern shore of Bala Lake in Gwynedd, North Wales. The line, which is 4+1⁄2 miles (7.2 km) long, is built on a section of the former standard-gauge Ruabon–Barmouth GWR route that closed in 1965. Another section of the former permanent way is used by the Llangollen Railway. The Bala Lake Railway, which runs on 600 mm -gauge preserved rolling stock, is a member of the Great Little Trains of Wales.
The Brecon Mountain Railway is a 1 ft 11+3⁄4 in narrow gauge tourist railway on the south side of the Brecon Beacons in Wales. It climbs northwards from Pant along the full length of the Pontsticill Reservoir and continues past the adjoining Pentwyn Reservoir to Torpantau railway station. The railway's starting point at Pant is located two miles (3 km) north of the town centre of Merthyr Tydfil, Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, South-East Wales.
The National Slate Museum is located at Gilfach Ddu, the 19th-century workshops of the now disused Dinorwic quarry, within the Padarn Country Park, Llanberis, Gwynedd. The museum is dedicated to the preservation and display of relicts of the Slate industry in Wales.
The Padarn Railway was a narrow-gauge railway in North Wales, built to the unusual gauge of 4 ft. It carried slate seven miles (11 km) from Dinorwic Quarry to Port Dinorwic. The line opened on 3 March 1843, replacing the Dinorwic Railway. It initially used horses, but was converted to steam haulage on 23 November 1848. The railway was formally titled the Dinorwic Quarries Railway or Dinorwic Quarry Railway, but informally "Padarn Railway" was widely used.
The Llanberis Pass in Snowdonia carries the main road (A4086) from the south-east to Llanberis, over Pen-y-Pass, between the mountain ranges of the Glyderau and the Snowdon massif. At the bottom of the pass is the small village of Nant Peris.
Llyn Peris is a lake in Snowdonia, Wales, approximately 1.8 km long and situated close to the villages of Llanberis and Nant Peris, and the smaller twin of Llyn Padarn. The lake was formed glacially and is an example of a moraine-dammed lake. Llyn Peris is named after Saint Peris, an early Christian saint of whom little is known. The lake is flanked on one side by the mountain Elidir Fawr and the former slate quarry of Dinorwig. Above the opposite bank are the hills of Derlwyn and Clogwyn Mawr and a rock formation known as the Lady of Snowdon, due to its resemblance to a human face. The ruins of Dolbadarn Castle are also located on a mound above the lake.
The Dinorwic Railway was an early 2 ft narrow gauge industrial railway connecting the slate quarry at Dinorwic in Caernarvonshire with the coastal port at Y Felinheli. The line is sometimes referred to as the Dinorwic Tramroad or the Dinorwic Tramway.
Dinorwic quarry is a large former slate quarry, now home to the Welsh National Slate Museum, located between the villages of Llanberis and Dinorwig in Wales. At its height at the start of the 20th century, it was the second largest slate quarry in Wales, after the neighbouring Penrhyn quarry near Bethesda. Dinorwic covered 700 acres (283 ha) consisting of two main quarry sections with 20 galleries in each. Extensive internal tramway systems connected the quarries using inclines to transport slate between galleries. Since its closure in 1969, the quarry has become the site of the National Slate Museum, a regular film location, and an extreme rock climbing destination.
The Eigiau Tramway might refer to the Eigiau Quarry Tramway or to the Eigiau Reservoir Tramway.
The Cowlyd Tramway was a 2 ft narrow gauge railway line used to convey men and materials to Llyn Cowlyd Reservoir, near Trefriw in northern Wales during the enlargement of the dam, and thereafter for maintenance purposes.
The Cedryn Quarry Tramway was an industrial narrow gauge railway that connected the slate quarries at Cedryn and Cwm Eigiau to the quays at Dolgarrog in the Conwy valley.
Fire Queen is an early steam locomotive built by A. Horlock and Co in 1848 for the Padarn Railway. It is the only surviving locomotive from that railway, and it is preserved at the Vale of Rheidol Railway.
The Dinorwic Alice Class is a class of eleven narrow-gauge 0-4-0ST steam locomotives built specifically for the Dinorwic quarry. These locomotives were built by the Hunslet Engine Company between 1886 and 1904, and were designed and supplied specifically to work the many galleries of the quarry at Llanberis, North Wales.
Maid Marian is a preserved narrow-gauge steam locomotive built in 1903, currently based at the Bala Lake Railway in North Wales.
Llanberis (LLR) railway station is the southern terminus of the Llanberis Lake Railway (LLR), located in Llanberis, Gwynedd, Wales. The line and station primarily serve tourists and railway enthusiasts.
Gilfach Ddu (LLR) railway station is an intermediate station on the Llanberis Lake Railway (LLR), located in Llanberis, Gwynedd, Wales.
Cei Llydan is an intermediate railway station on the Llanberis Lake Railway (LLR), located in Llanberis, Gwynedd, Wales.
Penllyn (LLR) railway station is the northern terminus of the Llanberis Lake Railway (LLR), located near Llanberis, Gwynedd, Wales. The station has no platform, but passengers are allowed to alight.
Diana is a narrow gauge 0-4-0T steam locomotive. It was built by Kerr, Stuart and Company in 1909, and was delivered to the Kerry Tramway in Mid Wales, in 1917. After varied service in the Welsh slate industry, Diana was purchased by railway enthusiast Graham Mullis in 1964. After many years at a variety of location, Diana was purchased by a Talyllyn Railway volunteer in 2014, and restored to working order in 2015.
Gilfach Ddu are a series of well-preserved Grade I listed industrial buildings built to serve the Dinorwic slate quarry near Llanberis in Caernarfonshire, North Wales. The workshops compreise a complex of repair and maintenance buildings, that were built in 1870 to build and maintain the machinery used in the quarry. The complex includes saw sheds, patternmaking shops, a foundry with cupola, blacksmiths shops, fitting shops, stores, engine sheds, a canteen, the chief engineer's house, a hand operated crane and two waterwheels which provided the site with its power. Since 1972, the buildings have housed the National Slate Museum.
Cei Llydan station is now passed, where there is a good picnic site on the side of the lake – the train will stop here on the homeward run.