The Gorseddau Tramway was a

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 ...

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

built in

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

in 1856 to link the slate quarries around

Gorseddau A gorsedd (, plural ''gorseddau'') is a community or meeting of modern-day bards. The word is of Welsh origin, meaning "throne". It is spelled gorsedh in Cornish and goursez in Breton. When the term is used without qualification, it usually r ...

with the

wharves A wharf, quay (, also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more berths (mooring location ...

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 Ffest ...

. It was an early forerunner of the

Gorseddau Junction and Portmadoc Railway The Gorseddau Junction and Portmadoc Railway is a defunct Welsh tramway. The ''GJ&PR'' was a narrow-gauge railway connecting the slate quarries of Cwm Pennant with the wharves at Porthmadog harbour. It was built in 1872, partly as a conver ...

and subsequently the

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 in ...

Tremadoc Tramway

The Tremadoc tramway (sometimes known as the ''Llidiartyspytty Railway'') was built by

William Madocks William Alexander Madocks (17 June 1773 – 15 September 1828) was a British politician and landowner who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for the borough of Boston in Lincolnshire from 1802 to 1820, and then for Chippenham in Wiltshire from ...

sometime before 1842, and possibly as early as the 1830s. It connected the

ironstone Ironstone is a sedimentary rock, either deposited directly as a ferruginous sediment or created by chemical replacement, that contains a substantial proportion of an iron ore compound from which iron (Fe) can be smelted commercially. Not to be con ...

mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging * Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun ...

at Llidiart Yspytty to Porthmadog harbour. Little is known about the operation of the railway, though it is believed to have been horse worked with similar track and rolling stock to the nearby

Nantlle Railway 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 to the harbour at Caernarfon for export by sea. The line provided a passenger service ...

. The ironstone mine was not successful, so the tramway was extended to serve a nearby slate quarry, which was owned by the ''Bangor & Portmadoc Slate & Slab Co. Ltd.'' In 1856, the Bangor & Portmadoc Slate & Slab company requested tenders to extend the line to the Gorseddau slate quarry (known at the time by its local Welsh name, Gorsedda), at Glan Bwll. The engineer was

James Brunlees Sir James Brunlees FRSE MICE (1816 – 1892) was a Scottish civil engineer. He was President of the Institution of Civil Engineers for 1882-3. He was born in Kelso in the Scottish Borders in 1816. Early life Brunlees was the son of John Brun ...

, who was based in Manchester. The extended railway, completed in 1857, was known as the Gorsedda Tramway.

Route and operation

From the wharves at Porthmadog harbor the line curved through the town and ran alongside the ''Y Cyt'' canal to

Tremadog Tremadog (formerly Tremadoc) is a village in the community of Porthmadog, in Gwynedd, north west Wales; about north of Porthmadog town-centre. It was a planned settlement, founded by William Madocks, who bought the land in 1798. The centre of ...

. From there a reversing neck marked the beginning of the extension towards Gorseddau. The route headed west through the village of Penmorfa where it passed under the main road in a short tunnel. Along this stretch gradients reached a maximum of 1 in 23. At Henefail the line turned north past Ynys-y-Pandy and on to Gorseddau where a short incline lead into the quarry. The line ran a total distance of just over 8 miles and rose 900 feet in that distance. Down loads were worked by gravity.Captain Henry Whatley Tyler; On the Festiniog Railway for Passengers: as a 2-feet gauge, with sharp curves, and worked by locomotive engines; Institution of Civil Engineers; 11 April 1865 - post-presentation discussion The line was horse operated using wagons and a passenger carriage supplied by the

Boston Lodge Boston Lodge is situated at Penrhyn Isa, Minffordd, Penrhyndeudraeth, on the A487 road about 1 mile SE across the Afon Glaslyn causeway from Porthmadog, Gwynedd in north-west Wales. It has a station on the Ffestiniog Railway and is the loc ...

works of the

Ffestiniog Railway The Ffestiniog Railway ( cy, Rheilffordd Ffestiniog) is a heritage railway based on narrow-gauge, located in Gwynedd, Wales. It is a major tourist attraction located mainly within the Snowdonia National Park. The railway is roughly long an ...

Takeover

In 1863 the

Croesor Tramway The Croesor Tramway was a Welsh, narrow gauge railway line built to carry slate from the Croesor slate mines to Porthmadog. It was built in 1864 without an Act of Parliament and was operated using horse power. The tramway was absorbed into the ...

was built, connecting the slate quarries of the Croesor valley with Porthmadog. This

tramway crossed the Gorseddau on the level on the edge of Porthmadog and served the same wharves. In 1871 notice was given by the owners of the Gorseddau Tramway that they intended to replace the tramway with a new railway between Gorseddau and Porthmadog of narrow gauge. This would allow common rolling stock to be used between the Croesor and Gorseddau tramways and the Ffestiniog railway, all of which delivered slate to Porthmadog harbour. 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 ...

was authorized on 25 July 1872 and the

was created, replacing the Gorseddau Tramway.

References

External links

Interactive Map at Live.com
{{Historical Welsh railway companies Welsh Highland Railway 3 ft gauge railways in Wales Industrial railways in Wales Railway lines opened in 1856 Railway companies disestablished in 1872 Rail transport in Gwynedd Horse-drawn railways Porthmadog Dolbenmaen 1856 establishments in Wales 1872 disestablishments in Wales

Tremadoc Tramway

Route and operation

Takeover

References

Further reading

External links