page_title: North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways / History
caption_attribution_description: English: LNWR Dinas station with trains of LNWR and North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways. The narrow gauge engine is 1878 built Hunslet 0-6-4ST "Beddgelert". Publication info: BRITISH LIBRARY Title: "The Short and easy route to Snowdon, via the North Wales narrow gauge railway, etc. (A ... reprint of ... articles ... in the “Liverpool Courier.” 1883-4, on “Picturesque Wales.”) [With photographs.]" Author: THOMAS, Thomas Llewelyn - of Chester Shelfmark: "British Library HMNTS 10347.b.20.(7.)" Page: 13 Place of Publishing: Chester Date of Publishing: 1885 Publisher: T. Ll. Thomas Issuance: monographic Identifier: 003620497
context_page_description: The North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways was a railway company that planned to build a number of inter-connected 1 ft 11 ¹⁄₂ in narrow-gauge railways across North Wales. The first two of these lines - jointly known as the "Moel Tryfan Undertaking" - were authorised by Act of Parliament 1872 and were built and opened in the 1870s. The original main line ran from Dinas Junction to Bryngwyn and opened in 1877. The second line was a branch from Tryfan Junction to South Snowdon, though shortly after opening, the company designated the Tryfan Junction to Bryngwyn section as the branch, and the Dinas Junction to South Snowdon section as the main line.
context_section_description: The company was formed in 1871, and authorised by the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways Act of 1872, to build "certain railways in the counties of Carnarvon and Merioneth" and to raise £216,000 in capital. In 1871, the company appointed Charles Easton Spooner, as their chief engineer. Spooner was then the manager of the Festiniog Railway and had been instrumental in the design of their steam locomotives in the 1860s.
  By 1876, £66,000 had been raised in capital, the whole amount authorised to pay for the "Moeltryfan Undertaking", but the company needed further capital and applied to Parliament for a second act in April that year. This second Act allowed the company to abandon its "General Undertaking", which would have extended the line to Bettws-y-Coed and beyond. By December of that year, Spooner reported that all but 3 miles (4.8 km) of the line had been built and was "nearly ready to open to traffic" and that mineral traffic would commence immediately.
  The line from Dinas Junction to Tryfan Junction and on to Bryngwyn was opened in 1877. In 1878, a branch was built from Tryfan Junction to Snowdon Ranger and this was extended to South Snowdon (later renamed Rhyd Ddu) in 1881. In 1884, the company began the process of relaying the track, upgrading from iron rails weighing 35 lbs per yard, to steel rails weighing 41.5 lbs per yard. At the October 1887 board meeting of the company, a proposal to extend the line from Dinas Junction to Carnarvon was passed unanimously. This extension was never built.
  In 1900, the railway company was granted permission for an extension of the main line from South Snowdon to Beddgelert. This was the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways (Beddgelert Light Railway Extension) Order, which allowed the extension to be built under the Light Railways Act 1896. This extension was not built.
  In 1905, the Board of Trade granted permission for the whole railway to convert to a Light Railway under the 1896 Act. In 1906, Sir James Szlumper joined the board of directors, and by 1910 he had been elected Chairman of the board. The 1910 report showed that 6-month net revenues had fallen to £200 amidst a general depression in the country. The difficult financial situation caused the company caused to attempt to find a buyer. In 1910, they approached the London and North Western Railway - who owned the Carnarvon to Afon Wen branch - and negotiations proceeded far enough that the acquisition was announced, but it was not completed.
  In 1914, a combined committee of several local authorities applied for a Light Railway Order to combine the NWNGRs with the Portmadoc, Beddgelert & South Snowdon Railway which owned the Croesor Tramway. The accelerating conflict of the First World War stopped this effort. The NWNGRs shut down their passenger services in 1916, and from then on ran a shoestring goods service. In 1918, the application was revived by the owners of the Aluminium Corporation of Dolgarrog which had acquired the Portmadoc, Beddgelert & South Snowdon Railway and was seeking to acquire the NWNGRs. This effort eventually led to the acquisition of the NWNGRs by the Aluminium Corporation and its incorporation into the Welsh Highland Railway in 1922.
caption: Dinas station in 1883. A NWNGR train with Beddgelert and a LNWR train are waiting on the platforms.
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