beachcomber beachcombing
station
History and Origins
It would be easy to dismiss this railway, built in 1970-71 as a modern tourist railway with no historical perspective but a look at the history of the area shows that it would also be quite inaccurate.
Any traveller through the spectacular pass of Llanberis inevitably notices the contrast between the rugged natural landscape on the west of the road and the odd, blue grey, terraced mountains on the Dinorwic side of the valley. As most would guess the eastern side of the pass is a man made landscape of awesome scale, all the more so when it is remembered that the vast majority of the slate quarrying which produced it predated modern machinery and was produced using hand tools and gun powder.
Commercial Quarrying of slate began at Dinorwic in the early 1800s with the product being shipped around Wales and England by sea. Of course Dinorwic is many miles from the sea and the first part of the journey was by packhorse. In common with other quarries railways came into use and eventually two systems were used by the Quarry company. 2' gauge railways were laid in each level of the quarry and connected by rope worked inclines between the levels, these railways were worked by dozens of small steam locomotives, mainly saddle tanks supplied by Hunslet of Leeds. To transport the slate from Dinorwic to the sea a 4' gauge railway was built running from the quarry to Y Felinheli, the harbour here is still known as Port Dinorwic to the confusion of the less historically aware visitor to the area.
An unusual, but not unique, feature of the system was the avoidance of double transhipment of slate between 2' and 4' gauge vehicles the laden 2' gauge trucks were loaded, four to a wagon, onto special transporter wagons for transport over 4' gauge metals. As a matter of interest on the now long gone Leek and Manifold Light Railway standard gauge wagons were carried on narrow gauge transporter wagons.
Hunslet Locos in Dinorwic Quarry Transporter wagons at Padarn
When the quarry closed in 1969 Llanberis was already a thriving tourist town and in an effort to assist the changeover of the Llanberis economy from slate driven to tourist driven the idea of a tourist railway was pursued. In a neatly symmetrical arrangement men who had lost there livelihood in the quarry were employed to dismantle much of the (now unneeded) 2' gauge equipment in the quarries and transport it to the (now disused) 4' railway track bed by the shores of the lake and there to build the Lake Railway, more or less as it exists today.
Although the railway is not a preserved railway in the sense that it is not the right gauge or type of equipment for its location (or not in the right place) it does commemorate both the 2' gauge tracks in the quarries and the 4' railway to the sea. The railway and the other exhibits of Padarn Country Park (which includes the National Slate Museum) make a worthwhile monument to the 3000 men who once worked the quarries, albeit one that can never rival the spectacle of the quarry workings laying open the side of the Elidir mountain just to the south.
station
History and Origins
It would be easy to dismiss this railway, built in 1970-71 as a modern tourist railway with no historical perspective but a look at the history of the area shows that it would also be quite inaccurate.
Any traveller through the spectacular pass of Llanberis inevitably notices the contrast between the rugged natural landscape on the west of the road and the odd, blue grey, terraced mountains on the Dinorwic side of the valley. As most would guess the eastern side of the pass is a man made landscape of awesome scale, all the more so when it is remembered that the vast majority of the slate quarrying which produced it predated modern machinery and was produced using hand tools and gun powder.
Commercial Quarrying of slate began at Dinorwic in the early 1800s with the product being shipped around Wales and England by sea. Of course Dinorwic is many miles from the sea and the first part of the journey was by packhorse. In common with other quarries railways came into use and eventually two systems were used by the Quarry company. 2' gauge railways were laid in each level of the quarry and connected by rope worked inclines between the levels, these railways were worked by dozens of small steam locomotives, mainly saddle tanks supplied by Hunslet of Leeds. To transport the slate from Dinorwic to the sea a 4' gauge railway was built running from the quarry to Y Felinheli, the harbour here is still known as Port Dinorwic to the confusion of the less historically aware visitor to the area.
An unusual, but not unique, feature of the system was the avoidance of double transhipment of slate between 2' and 4' gauge vehicles the laden 2' gauge trucks were loaded, four to a wagon, onto special transporter wagons for transport over 4' gauge metals. As a matter of interest on the now long gone Leek and Manifold Light Railway standard gauge wagons were carried on narrow gauge transporter wagons.
Hunslet Locos in Dinorwic Quarry Transporter wagons at Padarn
When the quarry closed in 1969 Llanberis was already a thriving tourist town and in an effort to assist the changeover of the Llanberis economy from slate driven to tourist driven the idea of a tourist railway was pursued. In a neatly symmetrical arrangement men who had lost there livelihood in the quarry were employed to dismantle much of the (now unneeded) 2' gauge equipment in the quarries and transport it to the (now disused) 4' railway track bed by the shores of the lake and there to build the Lake Railway, more or less as it exists today.
Although the railway is not a preserved railway in the sense that it is not the right gauge or type of equipment for its location (or not in the right place) it does commemorate both the 2' gauge tracks in the quarries and the 4' railway to the sea. The railway and the other exhibits of Padarn Country Park (which includes the National Slate Museum) make a worthwhile monument to the 3000 men who once worked the quarries, albeit one that can never rival the spectacle of the quarry workings laying open the side of the Elidir mountain just to the south.