Welsh Highland Railway

The Welsh Highland Railway (WHR) is a restored 25-mile long, 1 foot 11.5 inches narrow-gauge heritage railway operating from Caernarfon to Porthmadog. The line passes through several popular tourist destinations, including Beddgelert and the Aberglaslyn Pass. 

At Porthmadog it connects with the Ffestiniog Railway and is close to the Welsh Highland Heritage Railway – there is an actual rail connection between the two railways, but I don’t believe it’s used now. 

Originally running from Dinas, near Caernarfon, to Porthmadog Harbour, the current line includes an additional section from Dinas to Caernarfon. The original line also had a branch to Bryngwyn and the slate quarries around Moel Tryfan. This has become a footpath “rail trail”, the lower section of which was resurfaced and supplied with heritage notice boards.

The steam locomotive heads out of Porthmadog in a northerly direction, pulling eleven or twelve carriages. This first part of the journey takes place in and around Porthmadog and is officially called the Porthmadog cross town link. Then the route crosses Porthmadog High Street and the River Glaslyn across the Britannia Bridge, with road traffic stopped by lights when trains pass. The train trundles through some back streets before it crosses the standard gauge Cambrian Line on the level. This is the only mixed gauge flat rail crossing in the UK. The train continues along the track bed of the Welsh Highland Railway to the junction with the Welsh Highland Heritage Railway just north of Pen-y-Mount. After this, we were out in the countryside and heading to the first halt at Pont Croesor. My understanding is that a halt is a basic railway station. A halt usually has only a rail-level platform with a name board at either end. There is no yard, station building or staff provided at these halt stations.

The next halt is Nantmor and then comes an interesting part of the journey as the train goes through The Long Tunnel and then two sections of the Aberglaslyn Tunnel before crossing the Afon Glaslyn, going through the Goat Tunnel and arriving at Beddgelert Railway Station.

Beddgelert has a large, curved island platform, allowing for two trains to pass each other. There are two small shelters for passenger use. They installed a large water tower at the northwest end of the platform. An original locomotive siding on the west side of the station has been kept and lengthened. The original water tower from old WHR days, on the downside of the station, has been restored and is sometimes used for small locomotives. This is a proper station!

After Beddgelert, the train goes to another halt at Meillionen and then the station at Rhyd Ddu, first opened in 1881. This is where the railway maintains a 1:40 gradient for six miles, making it the steepest non-funicular track in Britain. 

The next station is the Snowdon Ranger Station, currently operated as an unmanned halt, and trains call only by request. Next is Plas-y-Nant, an unmanned halt. Up next is Waunfawr station, whose flower and shrub beds were laid out and maintained by the local community enterprise charity, Antur Waunfawr. The Snowdonia Park Hotel adjoins the station and was built originally as the stationmaster’s house. Entrance to and exit from the station platform is via the hotel car park. The station footbridge links with a car park and a caravan park. Snowdonia Sherpa Bus services call at the station.

Tryfan Junction, a request stop, comes next. At Dinas, workers built the new narrow-gauge platforms on the site of the former standard gauge platforms. Two buildings survive from the North Wales Narrow-gauge Railways era, namely the former goods shed and the original station building, which has been carefully restored. Dinas Station houses the Welsh Highland Railway offices and the carriage sheds and locomotive depot, plus extensive civil engineering works and sidings.

Bontnewydd is the last station, an unstaffed halt, before Caernarvon. The halt was opened on 31st May 1999 on the petition of the villagers of Bontnewydd. It is a request stop with no station buildings and a single low platform.

Caernarvon is the northern terminus of the railway. The present station, built during 2018 and 2019, is sited on the former standard gauge track bed next to St. Helen’s Road. The station buildings accommodate the booking office, a tourist shop, and passenger facilities. In the winter of 2005/06, engineers lengthened the passenger platform and run-around loop at Caernarfon to accommodate trains up to ten carriages long.

The trains of the Welsh Highland Railway leave from the Ffestiniog Railway Harbour Station, with its main signal box of plain white with red trim. On my journey, the steam locomotive, The Harbourmaster, pulled the carriages backwards to Caernarvon. The countryside on the higher parts of the trip is mainly scrubby grassland with some natural rocky outcrops and plenty of small slate waste tips. 

Of all the railways I travelled on, this is the one I will recommend to people if they only have time to go on one train journey. If they had a day, then I’d recommend they go on the WHR and the FR on the same day, as these two railways share a station in Porthmadog.

My new book is available here.

The book covers not only the Great Little Trains of Wales but also other methods of transport in the UK.

I was eight years old when my interest in steam trains began. My parents and I lived close to someone who worked at Doncaster train station. The Flying Scotsman was the most famous train of the time, and for some reason it was at Doncaster for a few days. I was asked whether I’d like to see the train and go on the footplate. Of course I did. What I remember most was the enormous size of the train and that the driver’s cab seemed as big as my bedroom. Everything about the train, the colours, the gleaming metal, the gorgeous carriages, the mountain of coal, made a lasting impression – I wanted to go to places, and I wanted to go on a train like this one.

My father wanted to travel, and the plan was for my parents to see the world when he retired. Cancer cut short his life and their plan died with him. Once I had the finances, I felt duty bound to travel to the places he wanted to go, and if possible, go by steam train. This book is what I found.