The Carnarvonshire Railway was a railway connecting Caernarvon railway station (terminus of the Bangor and Caernarvon Railway line from Bangor) with

Afon Wen Afon Wen is a small hamlet on the Llŷn peninsula in the Welsh principal area of Gwynedd. Location It is located at the mouth of the Afon Wen river, half a mile from the village of Chwilog and midway between Pwllheli and Cricieth. History ...

History

The Carnarvonshire Railway was absorbed into the

LNWR The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom. In 1923, it became a constituent of the L ...

in 1869. At the grouping of the railways in 1921 the LNWR became part of the LMS. At Afon Wen, a junction connected with the Cambrian Line ( GWR) to Pwllheli in one direction and to

Porthmadog Porthmadog (; ), originally Portmadoc until 1974 and locally as "Port", is a Welsh coastal town and community in the Eifionydd area of Gwynedd and the historic county of Caernarfonshire. It lies east of Criccieth, south-west of Blaenau Ff ...

in the other, with the LNWR (and later LMS) having running rights to both. The line had two branches, one from

Caernarfon Caernarfon (; ) is a royal town, community and port in Gwynedd, Wales, with a population of 9,852 (with Caeathro). It lies along the A487 road, on the eastern shore of the Menai Strait, opposite the Isle of Anglesey. The city of Bangor is ...

Llanberis (; ) is a village, community and electoral ward in Gwynedd, northwest Wales, on the southern bank of the lake and at the foot of Snowdon, the highest mountain in Wales. It is a centre for outdoor activities in Snowdonia, including walking ...

, which was built by the

Carnarvon and Llanberis Railway The Carnarvon and Llanberis Railway, built under the ''Caernarvon and Llanberis Railway Act 1864'', was an eight-mile branch line from the Carnarvonshire Railway running from to , via (for Llanrug), , and . History The Carnarvon and Llanberis ...

and the other from Penygroes to

Nantlle Nantlle () is a small village in the slate quarrying Nantlle Valley in Gwynedd, Wales. It lies on the north shore of Llyn Nantlle Uchaf and is part of the community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality su ...

. The latter originally formed part of the

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...

Nantlle Railway, which between Penygroes and Caernarvon had been incorporated into the Carnarvonshire Railway and converted to standard gauge.

Closure

Regular passenger service on the Llanberis branch ceased in the 1930 (but summer passenger excursions from Llandudno etc. ran from 1932 until 1939 and again from 1946 until 1962). Likewise the Nantlle branch passenger service also ceased in 1932. The remaining lines and services (Afon Wen to Caernarvon) were shut completely as part of the Beeching Axe in December 1964.

Trackbed re-use

A section of the line, from Caernarfon to Dinas, was incorporated into the reopened narrow gauge

Welsh Highland Railway The Welsh Highland Railway (WHR) or Rheilffordd Eryri is a long, restored narrow gauge heritage railway in the Welsh county of Gwynedd, operating from Caernarfon to Porthmadog, and passing through a number of popular tourist destinations ...

as the first phase of the line, in 1997. Several miles of the trackbed southwards from Dinas have been used to improve the

A487 The A487, officially the Fishguard to Bangor Trunk Road, is a trunk road in Wales that follows the coast from Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, in the south, to Bangor, Gwynedd, in the north. Route The road starts at a junction with the A40 i ...

road. Some original sections remain and have been used as part of

National Cycle Route 8 The route passes through the heart of Wales, and is also known by its Welsh name Lôn Las Cymru (''English: Wales' green lane''). It is largely north–south from Holyhead to Cardiff or Chepstow, and in total measures some in length. Some of ...

. The

cycle route Cycling infrastructure is all infrastructure cyclists are allowed to use. Bikeways include bike paths, bike lanes, cycle tracks, rail trails and, where permitted, sidewalks. Roads used by motorists are also cycling infrastructure, except w ...

(

Lôn Eifion Lôn Eifion is part of Lôn Las Cymru, the Welsh National Cycle Route, which is about long. Lôn Eifion is the section which runs for from Caernarfon to Bryncir along most of the former Caernarfon to Afon Wen line. This line was that of th ...

) and the narrow gauge railway share the old trackbed south of Caernarfon to Dinas. The tunnel under the centre of Caernarfon has been reopened, for road traffic.

References

Notes

Sources