Nantlle Railway
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The Nantlle Railway (or Nantlle Tramway) was a Welsh narrow gauge railway. It was built to carry slate from several slate quarries across the
Nantlle Valley The Nantlle Valley ( cy, Dyffryn Nantlle, ) is an area in Gwynedd, North Wales, characterised by its numerous small settlements. The area is also historically important geologically, and featured in one of the most contentious disputes of the ...
to the harbour at
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 ...
for export by sea. The line provided a passenger service between
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 ...
and
Talysarn Tal-y-sarn () is a village in the slate quarrying Nantlle Valley in Gwynedd, Wales, next to Penygroes. It is part of the community of Llanllyfni and includes some of Llandwrog. The ward had a population of 1,930 at the 2011 census, the built ...
from 1856 to 1865. It was the first public railway to be operated in North Wales. A tramway linking the Nantlle slate quarries to Caernarfon was proposed in the 1810s. The Nantlle Railway was authorised by an
Act of Parliament Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the Legislature, legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of ...
in May 1825, and the company began construction of the railway. The line was designed and constructed by
George Stephenson George Stephenson (9 June 1781 – 12 August 1848) was a British civil engineer and mechanical engineer. Renowned as the "Father of Railways", Stephenson was considered by the Victorians In the history of the United Kingdom and the ...
and his son,
Robert The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...
. The line opened in 1828 and was operated using horses. [George Stephenson and his BROTHER Robert, not his son Robert; viz. letters from Robert snr. to his brother in Liverpool quoted by Boyd (N.Caerns Vol.I p.15>). These letters in the Phillimore collection and the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.] During the 1860s and 1870s, a portion of the line was replaced by the standard gauge branch of the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) which acquired the line in the late 1860s. The Nantlle Railway was closed in 1963 by British Railways (BR), when it was the last line to be operated by BR using horse traction. Much of the route has been overlaid with roads or obliterated by other developments, but several railway structures remain. Two miles of the northern section of the original Nantlle Railway trackbed, between and the Coed Helen Lane tunnel, are part of the reopened
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 ...
, although much is off line as was the Carnarvonshire Railway route on which the restored WHR was constructed.


History


Background

The first proposals for a railway in the Nantlle Valley were made during 1813. Slate quarries had developed to north and west of Nantlle, and the slate was transported to wharves at Caernarfon by
pack horse Pack or packs may refer to: Places * Pack, Austria, a municipality in Styria, Austria * Pack, Missouri * Chefornak Airport, Alaska, by ICAO airport code Groups of animals or people * Pack (canine), family structure of wild animals of the b ...
. A more efficient system was required to enable the quarries to compete with Dinorwic and
Penrhyn Penryn is a Cornish word meaning 'headland' that may refer to: *Penryn, Cornwall, United Kingdom, a town of about 7,000 on the Penryn River **Penryn railway station, a station on the Maritime Line between Truro and Falmouth Docks, and serves the t ...
. A route for the line was surveyed, running westwards from tramways linked to the quarries, towards
Talysarn Tal-y-sarn () is a village in the slate quarrying Nantlle Valley in Gwynedd, Wales, next to Penygroes. It is part of the community of Llanllyfni and includes some of Llandwrog. The ward had a population of 1,930 at the 2011 census, the built ...
and Penygroes. The line then turned northwards, passing through
Groeslon Groeslon (; Welsh: ''Y Groeslon'', "the crossroads") is a small village in the community of Llandwrog in the Welsh traditional county of Caernarfonshire. Groeslon is administered by Gwynedd Council. The population was 880 at the 2011 census ...
, Llanwnda, Dinas and Bontnewydd. The line was also carried
copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...
from the mine at Drws-y-coed, to the east of Nantlle. The
Act of Parliament Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the Legislature, legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of ...
for the Nantlle Railway was passed on 20 May 1825. The Nantlle Railway Company was incorporated in June 1825 to construct and operate the railway, and in August 1825 it advertised for a sub-contractor to build the line. The company raised a working capital of £20,000 by issuing shares at £100 each. Most of the shareholders were owners of the quarries served by the line. The chief engineer was the railway pioneer
George Stephenson George Stephenson (9 June 1781 – 12 August 1848) was a British civil engineer and mechanical engineer. Renowned as the "Father of Railways", Stephenson was considered by the Victorians In the history of the United Kingdom and the ...
, and construction was overseen by his son Robert, who was assisted by John Gillespie. The line was run as a
toll road A toll road, also known as a turnpike or tollway, is a public or private road (almost always a controlled-access highway in the present day) for which a fee (or ''Toll (fee), toll'') is assessed for passage. It is a form of road pricing typically ...
with customers charged a fee for their goods to be hauled to their destination.


Construction

On 21 March 1827, a second Act was passed, authorising an additional £70,000 of shares to finance construction. The act mortgaged the railway's infrastructure, and restricted the fees it could charge until all debts were paid. On 23 May 1828, in response to slower than expected progress, a third Act was passed extending by five years the time available for construction. Robert Williams of Bangor was appointed the resident engineer and William Owen of Gwaenfynydd,
Anglesey Anglesey (; cy, (Ynys) Môn ) is an island off the north-west coast of Wales. It forms a principal area known as the Isle of Anglesey, that includes Holy Island across the narrow Cymyran Strait and some islets and skerries. Anglesey island ...
was contracted to construct the railway. The railway required significant
civil engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewa ...
work, including a long
embankment Embankment may refer to: Geology and geography * A levee, an artificial bank raised above the immediately surrounding land to redirect or prevent flooding by a river, lake or sea * Embankment (earthworks), a raised bank to carry a road, railwa ...
and culvert to the west of Bontnewydd, two
tunnel A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube cons ...
s, and a bridge. The short Coed Helen Tunnel carried the line underneath a road on a gentle gradient, rising from north to south. Its walls and roof were built of coursed blocks up to long. The line crossed under the driveway of Plas Dinas house in the long Plas Dinas Tunnel. It was wide and had a semi-circular arched roof, high, made of three rings of brick, supported on walls of stone rubble. The Plas Dinas Tunnel is approached by a pair of deep
cutting Cutting is the separation or opening of a physical object, into two or more portions, through the application of an acutely directed force. Implements commonly used for wikt:cut, cutting are the knife and saw, or in medicine and science the scal ...
s. The Afon Gwyrfai Bridge is long with a single arch that carried the railway over the Afon Gwyrfai to the west of Bontnewydd. It is wide at its base, narrowing towards the crown and above water level. It is built from rusticated stone blocks. In September 1999, the Afon Gwyrfai Bridge was listed as a Grade II structure. The track was laid with lightweight
wrought iron Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.08%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4%). It is a semi-fused mass of iron with fibrous slag inclusions (up to 2% by weight), which give it a wood-like "grain" ...
fish-bellied rails to , significantly wider than the gauge found on contemporary quarry railways, and narrower than the which became the standard gauge. The Nantlle Railway was single track throughout, with 22
passing loop A passing loop (UK usage) or passing siding (North America) (also called a crossing loop, crossing place, refuge loop or, colloquially, a hole) is a place on a single line railway or tramway, often located at or near a station, where trains or ...
s but without any
signals In signal processing, a signal is a function that conveys information about a phenomenon. Any quantity that can vary over space or time can be used as a signal to share messages between observers. The ''IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing'' ...
. Trains ran from one passing place to the next using
line of sight The line of sight, also known as visual axis or sightline (also sight line), is an imaginary line between a viewer/observer/ spectator's eye(s) and a subject of interest, or their relative direction. The subject may be any definable object taken ...
to ensure safe working. This led to disputes when trains met between passing loops. Trains typically consisted of four or five wagons, pulled by a single horse travelling at walking pace of around .


Ownership changes and later use

The Nantlle Railway was acquired by the
Carnarvonshire Railway The Carnarvonshire Railway was a railway connecting Caernarvon railway station (terminus of the Bangor and Caernarvon Railway line from Bangor) with Afon Wen. History The Carnarvonshire Railway was absorbed into the LNWR in 1869. At the gro ...
. On 25 July 1867, the line from Pant on the southern edge of Caernarfon at Coed Helen, to Tyddyn Bengam, north of Penygroes, was replaced by a single-track standard-gauge line. The Carnarvonshire Railway ran trains from to . In July 1870, the Carnarvonshire Railway and the remaining narrow-gauge section of the Nantlle Railway was acquired by the London and North Western Railway (LNWR). This left gauge sections at the north and south ends of the line, with of standard gauge in the middle. Slates were loaded onto narrow gauge wagons near the quarries and drawn by horses to Tyddyn Bengam, where the narrow gauge wagons and their contents were loaded onto standard-gauge
transporter wagon A transporter wagon, in railway terminology, is a wagon ( UIC) or railroad car (US) designed to carry other railway equipment. Normally, it is used to transport equipment of a different rail gauge. In most cases, a transporter wagon is a n ...
s, three at a time. North of Pant, the narrow gauge wagons were unloaded onto the narrow-gauge tracks and hauled by horses along the last to the quayside at Caernarfon Harbour. This process was slow, costly. In 1870, the LNWR extended the standard gauge line north from Pant to Caernarfon Station where it met a branch built from Bangor in 1852. In December 1871, the standard gauge tracks were extended onto the quayside, removing the need for
transhipment Transshipment, trans-shipment or transhipment is the shipment of goods or containers to an intermediate destination, then to another destination. One possible reason for transshipment is to change the means of transport during the journey (e.g. ...
and the isolated Caernarfon section of the Nantlle was abandoned. That same year, the LNWR built a short branch from to a new station at Talysarn, named . This was built partly on a new alignment and partly over the narrow gauge tracks. Extensive transshipment yards were laid out at 'Nantlle' where slate arriving on the narrow-gauge was loaded into standard-gauge wagons. The remaining approximately of gauge horse-drawn tramway linked Nantlle with the quarries to the west and north. It was operated by the LNWR until 1923 when it was absorbed into the
London Midland and Scottish Railway The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with LNER, GWR and SR. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway's corporate image used LMS, and this is what is generally ...
(LMS). From 1948, the line was owned and operated by British Railways (BR). In its final years, the line attracted enthusiasts'
railtour A railtour is a special train which is run in order to allow people to experience rail travel which is not normally available using timetabled passenger services. The 'unusual' aspect may be the route of the train, the destination, the occasion, ...
s. When the Ffestiniog Railway celebrated its Centenary of Steam on 22 May 1963, a Nantlle horse and handler hauled a demonstration train at Porthmadog. The railway was closed in 1963, when the branch to which it was connected was shut. The last recorded use of horses by BR was on the Nantlle railway.


Rolling stock

The narrow gauge line was a
wagonway Wagonways (also spelt Waggonways), also known as horse-drawn railways and horse-drawn railroad consisted of the horses, equipment and tracks used for hauling wagons, which preceded steam-powered railways. The terms plateway, tramway, dramway ...
constructed to a gauge of 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) and equipped with four wheeled wagons fitted with double-flanged wheels, which were loose on fixed axles. For many of their later years many wagons had extended axles which protruded beyond the wheels. Some wagons had eyes bolted to the tops of their sides to enable them to be lifted bodily by the Blondins used in some of the quarries. The wagons were owned by the tramway, rather than the quarries and the many that survived into BR ownership had narrow steel plate bodies, which were mounted between the wheels and bolted to the axles. Their shape and structure appears to have changed little from the railway's earliest years.


Modern times

Two miles of the northern section of the original Nantlle Railway trackbed, between and the Afon Seiont, now is part of the reopened
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 ...
. Much of the route has been built over, but in 2016 the remains of three significant Nantlle Railway structures could still be found: * a tunnel at Coed Helen, just visible from passing
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 ...
trains * a bridge near * a tunnel at Plas Dinas


See also

*
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 ...
*
British industrial narrow gauge railways British industrial narrow-gauge railways are narrow-gauge railways in the United Kingdom and the Isle of Man that were primarily built to serve one or more industries. Some offered passenger services for employees or workmen, but they did not run p ...


References


Sources

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Further reading

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External links

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * {{Historical Welsh railway companies Welsh Highland Railway Early Welsh railway companies Slate industry in Wales Industrial railways in Wales 3 ft 6 in gauge railways in Wales Railway companies established in 1825 Railway lines opened in 1828 Railway companies disestablished in 1865 Horse-drawn railways British companies established in 1825 1925 establishments in Wales Railway inclines in Wales