Horse-drawn slate wagon used on the Tramway, now preserved at the Welsh Slate Museum, Llanberis
Overview
Headquarters
Penygroes
Locale
Wales
Dates of operation
1828–1865
Successor
Carnarvonshire Railway
Technical
Track gauge
3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) and 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
v
t
e
Nantlle Railway
Legend
Caernarfon Castle
Carnarvon Harbour
Carnarvon Castle
Afon Seiont
Coed Helen Tunnel
Bontnewydd
Afon Gwyrfai
Plas Dinas Tunnel
Pwllheli Road
Groeslon
Penygroes
Nantlle
to quarries
The Nantlle Railway (or Nantlle Tramway) was a Welsh narrow gauge railway. It was built to carry slate from several slate quarries across the Nantlle Valley to the harbour at Caernarfon for export by sea. The line provided a passenger service between Caernarfon and Talysarn from 1856 to 1865. It was the first public railway to be operated in North Wales.[1]
A tramway linking the Nantlle slate quarries to Caernarfon was proposed in the 1810s. The Nantlle Railway was authorised by an Act of Parliament in May 1825, and the company began construction of the railway. The line was designed and constructed by George Stephenson and his brother, Robert.[2] The line opened in 1828 and was operated using horses.
During the 1860s and 1870s, a portion of the line was replaced by the standard gauge branch of the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) which acquired the line in the late 1860s. The Nantlle Railway was closed in 1963 by British Railways (BR), when it was the last line to be operated by BR using horse traction. Much of the route has been overlaid with roads or obliterated by other developments, but several railway structures remain. Two miles of the northern section of the original Nantlle Railway trackbed, between Dinas and the Coed Helen Lane tunnel, are part of the reopened Welsh Highland Railway, although much is off line as was the Carnarvonshire Railway route on which the restored WHR was constructed.
^Richards, Alun John (2001). The Slate Railways of Wales. Gwasg Carreg Gwalch.
The NantlleRailway (or Nantlle Tramway) was a Welsh narrow gauge railway. It was built to carry slate from several slate quarries across the Nantlle Valley...
Nantlle was a railway station located in Talysarn, a neighbouring village to Nantlle, in Gwynedd, Wales. From 1828 the narrow gauge, horse-drawn Nantlle...
The Nantlle Valley (Welsh: Dyffryn Nantlle, IPA: [ˈdəfrɨn ˈnantɬɛ]) is an area in Gwynedd, North Wales, characterised by its numerous small settlements...
Carnarvon and Llanberis Railway and the other from Penygroes to Nantlle. The latter originally formed part of the narrow gauge NantlleRailway, which between Penygroes...
exporting slate from the Dyffryn Nantlle quarries. This traffic was facilitated from 1828 by the NantlleRailway which predated far more widely known...
Carnarvon Castle railway station was opened in 1856 by the narrow gauge NantlleRailway near the foot of what is today the Allt Y Castell which slopes...
Pendleton Colliery and NantlleRailway, while his uncle George Stephenson and cousin Robert Stephenson were prolific railway engineers. He was educated...
The Slate Industry in the Nantlle Valley was the major industry of the area. The Nantlle Valley is the site of oldest slate quarry in Wales at Cilgwyn...
Groeslon railway station served the village of Groeslon, Gwynedd, Wales. It operated first as part of the Nantlle Tramway and afterwards as a railway under...
services are operated by the Festiniog Railway Company. A halt existed here on the horse-drawn NantlleRailway from 1856 to 12 June 1865. From the outset...
Llanwnda railway station served the village of Llanwnda, Gwynedd, Wales. A halt named Pwllheli Road existed here on the horse-drawn NantlleRailway from 1856...
Penygroes railway station was located in Penygroes, Gwynedd, Wales. The narrow gauge, horse-drawn NantlleRailway had a station near the site from 1856...
Dolgellau railway station (Welsh pronunciation: [dɔlˈɡɛɬaɨ]) in Gwynedd, North Wales, was a station on the Ruabon to Barmouth line, originally the terminus...
Penrhyn Quarry near Bethesda, the Dinorwic Quarry near Llanberis, the Nantlle Valley quarries, and Blaenau Ffestiniog, where the slate was mined rather...
gauge railways Heritage railway 2 ft and 600 mm gauge railways in the United Kingdom 2 ft 6 in gauge railways in the United Kingdom 3 ft gauge railways in...
the course of a narrow gauge line, the NantlleRailway built at 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) gauge and running from Nantlle to Caernarfon Slate Quay from 1828 to...
The Talyllyn Railway (Welsh: Rheilffordd Talyllyn) is a narrow-gauge railway in Wales running for 7+1⁄4 miles (12 km) from Tywyn on the Mid-Wales coast...
The Ffestiniog Railway (Welsh: Rheilffordd Ffestiniog) is a heritage railway based on 1 ft 11+1⁄2 in (597 mm) narrow-gauge, located in Gwynedd, Wales...
Welsh Highland Railway led to an upper plateau from where quarry owned lines radiated to several slate quarries in the Moel Tryfan and Nantlle area. Although...
Caernarvon railway station was a station on the former Bangor and Carnarvon Railway between Caernarfon, Gwynedd and Menai Suspension Bridge near Bangor...
Bala Junction railway station was on the Ruabon to Barmouth line in southern Gwynedd, Wales. It closed to passengers on Monday 18 January 1965. Bala Junction...
ISBN 0-905466-19-5 Quick, M. E. (2002). Railway passenger stations in England, Scotland and Wales – a chronology. Richmond: Railway and Canal Historical Society...
The Vale of Rheidol Railway (Welsh: Rheilffordd Cwm Rheidol) is a 1 ft 11+3⁄4 in (603 mm) narrow gauge heritage railway in Ceredigion, Wales, between...
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