The Rhiwbach Tramway passing to the left and below the main Maen Offeren mill level
Overview
Headquarters
Blaenau Ffestiniog
Locale
Wales
Dates of operation
1861–1961
Successor
Abandoned
Technical
Track gauge
1 ft 11+1⁄2 in (597 mm)
Length
3 miles (4.8 km)
The head of the No. 3 incline of the Rhiwbach Tramway in 2007
The Rhiwbach Tramway was a Welsh industrial, 1 ft 11+1⁄2 in (597 mm) narrow gauge railway connecting the remote slate quarries east of Blaenau Ffestiniog with the Ffestiniog Railway. It was in use by 1862, and remained so until progressively closed between 1956 and 1976. The route included three inclines, one of which became the last operational gravity incline in the North Wales slate industry. The tramway was worked by horses and gravity for much of its existence, but a diesel locomotive was used to haul wagons on the top section between 1953 and its closure in 1961.
The RhiwbachTramway was a Welsh industrial, 1 ft 11+1⁄2 in (597 mm) narrow gauge railway connecting the remote slate quarries east of Blaenau Ffestiniog...
was connected to the Ffestiniog Railway at Duffws Station via the RhiwbachTramway. Cwt y Bugail means "Shepherd's Hut", and was probably the only notable...
Ffestiniog. It was the connected to the Ffestiniog Railway by the RhiwbachTramway. Commercial operation began around 1812, and it finally closed in 1952...
the quarry by road, although the internal quarry tramways including stretches of the Rhiwbachtramway continued in use until at least the 1980s. The quarry...
in the United Kingdom: the Corris Railway and the Plynlimon and Hafan Tramway both a few miles from the Talyllyn, and the Campbeltown and Machrihanish...
was connected to the Ffestiniog Railway at Duffws Station via the RhiwbachTramway. Blaen y Cwm and the nearby Cwt y Bugail quarry are both situated on...
The Glyn Valley Tramway was a narrow-gauge railway that ran through the Ceiriog Valley in north-east Wales, connecting Chirk with Glyn Ceiriog in Denbighshire...
in 1877 when trials were undertaken with one of Henry Hughes's patent tramway locomotives, aptly named Pioneer. These were adjudged to be a success,...
Montgomeryshire (now Powys) in Mid-Wales. The line opened in 1859 as a horse tramway, running originally from quays on the River Dyfi at Morben and Derwenlas...
opening in 1895 as a 2 ft (610 mm) narrow gauge horse-drawn construction tramway. It was converted in 1916 to 15 in (381 mm) gauge, and again to its present...
to be used similar to the nearby Plynlimon and Hafan Tramway. Following closure of this tramway, the gauge was changed to 1 ft 11+3⁄4 in (603 mm) instead...
The line over the bridge also connected with the Gorseddau and Croesor Tramways and was later used by Welsh Highland Railway passenger trains from 1923...
Caernarvonshire: Volume Three: The Dinorwic Quarry and Railways, The Great Orme Tramway and other rail systems (Second ed.). The Oakwood Press. Gwyn, David (2015)...
settlement. Higher up the valley was the Rhiwbach slate quarry, which was formerly linked by the RhiwbachTramway to the Ffestiniog Railway at Blaenau Ffestiniog...
fellow writer George Orwell. The remaining quarries served by the RhiwbachTramway closed in the 1950s and 1960s. Oakeley closed in 1970, with the loss...
The Morda Tramway refers to two industrial railways south of Oswestry, on the border between England and Wales. They connected the coal pits around Morda...
Highland Railway (WHR) owed its existence to the narrow gauge railways and tramways built to serve commercial slate traffic from slate quarries and other mineral...
and Conwy valleys to Trefriw, until the RhiwbachTramway opened in 1863, when all the slate from the Rhiwbach quarry was transported to Blaenau Ffestiniog...
mile (1.6 km) long 2 ft 1⁄2 in (622 mm) gauge Llandegai Tramway, built in 1798. The tramway connected the Penlan Mill at Llandegai with Port Penrhyn...
the quarry with the pier. There had been horse-worked internal quarry tramways as early as 1865. In 1873 steam locomotives were introduced to work in...
Tanygrisiau The remains of Diphwys Casson mill above the Votty & Bowydd pit The Rhiwbach engine house The cliffs of Nyth-y-Gigfran James I. C. Boyd (1975). The...
Machynlleth Hendre-Ddu Tramway, at Aberangell Festiniog Railway, at Minffordd Kerry Tramway, at Kerry Plynlimon and Hafan Tramway, at Llanfihangel (later...
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