Llanberis Lake Railway

The Llanberis Lake Railway ( Welsh: Llyn Padarn Rheilffordd ) is a narrow gauge heritage railway that runs for a distance of 4 km in length on the north shore of Llyn Padarn in Snowdonia National Park in Wales (United Kingdom). Your track width is 597 mm. The starting point is the place Llanberis at the eastern end of the lake ( Lage53.1175 - 4.1193055555556 ), western endpoint is Penllyn in the Padarn Country Park ( Lage53.137027777778 - 4.1495 ). The journey there and back takes about 45 minutes.

History

Early proposals

The Llanberis Lake Railway runs on part of the route of the disused Padarn Railway, a narrow gauge railway on 1219 mm gauge, connecting the Dinorwic quarry with Y Felinheli (Port Dinorwic ) on the Menai Strait. The Padarn Railway was closed in October 1961 and mined between 16 May 1962 to February 1963. Then there were various plans to use the route for a tourist train on 610 mm gauge. The first serious attempt was by G. Ward, a local resident, made, which provided a path around the Llyn Padarn using the lines of the former branch line from British Rail to Llanberis and the Padarn Railway. This plan would have used track material and locomotives from the Dinorwic quarry, but the company did not pursue the proposal.

Closure of the quarry and the founding of the railway company

In July 1966 A. Lowry Porter beat from Southend- on-Sea, a short railway line on the route of the Padarn Railway by the workshops of the quarry company in Gilfach Ddu near Llanberis to Penllyn after before. Even as the negotiations with the company lasted, the quarry was closed in July 1969 after a short notice. Gwynedd County Council bought part of the land order to set up a Country Park. In the former Gilfach Ddu workshops in is the National Slate Museum.

Premises and facilities of the quarry were auctioned, and Lowry Porter's nascent web company purchased three steam locomotives and a diesel locomotive for use on the intended route. In June 1970, the County Council bought the route of the Padarn Railway and allowed the new railway company of its use.

Soon the diesel locomotive for track construction could be used used. Simultaneously, the first steam locomotive, dolbadarn was resurfaced operational. The new route was built in the track width 597 mm and not in the rather unusual gauge of 578 mm, which was used in the quarry. This necessitated a re-gauging of the entire rolling stock, including locomotives required. During the year 1970, the track construction progressed, where used material was used from different sources.

On the substructure of existing bogie wagons new passenger cars were built. The first attempts proved unsatisfactory - the cars tended to base their very rigid design to derail. This led to a delay in the opening and required repeated modification.

Early years

The railway was officially opened on 28 May 1971 but because of the need to rebuild the cars again, wrong before July 19, 1971 no public trains. At the end of the first season, more than 30,000 people had been promoted. In the winter of 1971 the tracks were extended to the current endpoint in Penllyn. At the start of the 1972 season was a second steam locomotive, RED DAMSEL be taken under the new name Elidir again. In the same year MAID MARIAN was added and a further tender locomotive of Jung from Germany.

Extension to Llanberis

In June 2003 the line was extended to Llanberis, where a new station was built near the Talbahnhofs the Snowdon Mountain Railway. The original terminus at Gilfach Ddu is now a through station, from which the National Slate Museum can be reached easily. On the way back from Penllyn, passengers can break their journey at the breakpoint Cei Llydan to have a picnic and enjoy the spectacular view of the mountains of Snowdonia.

Locomotives

The railway company has three Dampflokomotivern ( Elidir, THOMAS BACH and dolbadarn ), all of which come from the Dinorwic Quarry and originally ran on a track width of 578 mm. Another steam locomotive, MAID MARIAN was delivered in 1975 at the Bala Lake Railway. In addition, there are four diesel locomotives which are used for work trains and passenger trains as a substitute before, if not enough locomotives available.

THOMAS BACH

Dolbadarn