Conwy Valley Line

The Conwy Valley Line (also known as Conwy Valley Railway, Welsh: Dyffryn Conwy Rheilffordd ) is a railway line in the north of Wales. It runs from Llandudno via Llandudno Junction ( Welsh: Cyffordd Llandudno ) to Blaenau Ffestiniog and originally belonged to the London and North Western Railway ( LNWR ). The main purpose of 1863-1881 opened in stages track was the transportation of slate from the quarries in Ffestiniog to a specially built for the slate export by sea, the quay in Deganwy. The track was also used for the freight market town of Llanrwst and supplied via the extensive goods facilities in Betws -y -Coed on the trunk road from London to Holyhead many remote places in Snowdonia. She also served the emergence of tourism.

History

The first section of Llandudno Junction to Llanrwst (now referred to as North Llanrwst ) was built as Conway and Llanrwst Railway and opened in 1863. The LNWR took over the route in the same year and opened in 1868 the extension to Betws -y -Coed.

For the last part of the track according to Blaenau Ffestiniog the LNWR first suggested a narrow gauge railway through the steep Lledr Valley. After the start of construction, it was decided, however, to build the extension as a standard gauge railway, so as to enable an uninterrupted movement of trains. Between 1874 and 1879, the tunnel under the Moel Dyrnogydd was drilled, and in 1881 was the total distance in operation.

Originally, the Conwy Valley Line ended in a train station west of the center, who owned extensive loading areas for shale. In the center of Blaenau Ffestiniog, there was another station, terminus of the Great Western Railway ( GWR ) operated Bala and Festiniog Railway. This line was closed in 1961 and partially flooded by the reservoir Llyn Celyn. Because you needed a siding for the under construction nuclear power plant Trawsfynydd, next to the tracks of the narrow gauge Ffestiniog Railway, a short connecting route from the LNWR station was built for the aborted station GWR and connected the isolated piece of track the GWR back to the railway network.

With the reconstruction of the Ffestiog Railway a few years later was built in the city center at the site of the former GWR station, a new community station, where since 1982, forming the traits of the Conwy Valley Line. Beyond this station was the only route the freight after Trawsfynydd, although it occasionally also gave special trains for people. In 1991, the power plant was shut down, and today the former connecting line is interrupted just behind the Blaenau Ffestiniog railway station.

Traffic

Although the Conwy Valley Line is only 50 kilometers long, the trip from Llandudno to Blaenau Ffestiniog takes about 75 minutes. Most of the stations along the route are request stops.

From Llandudno to Llandudno Junction, the trains use the double-track branch line from the North Wales Coast Line. From Llandudno Junction to Blaenau Ffestiniog the route is single track and includes the longest single-track railway tunnel in the United Kingdom ( about four kilometers ). The only option there is in North Llanrwst railway station. Here, all trains must stop at the signal box to exchange the tokens for the two adjacent single-track sections.

The trains are operated by Arriva Trains Wales. They operate on weekdays (Monday to Saturday) every three hours; in total there are six trains daily in each direction. In the summer ( from the start of the summer schedule in May to early September) there is also a limited Sunday traffic with three trains in each direction.