Welsh Highland Heritage Railway
The original Welsh Highland Railway opened in 1922 as a 1 ft 11½ in narrow-gauge line linking Dinas (near Caernarfon) with Porthmadog, taking over and connecting earlier slate-quarrying lines including the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railway and the Portmadoc, Beddgelert and South Snowdon Railway. Its working life was short. The line never paid its way against road competition and was closed in 1937; the track was lifted during the Second World War for the war effort.
Preservation interest revived in the 1960s. The Welsh Highland Railway Society was formed in 1961 to campaign for the line's restoration. Faced with difficulty acquiring the trackbed (much of which had passed into other ownership) the Society concentrated on the eastern end at Porthmadog, where the original Beddgelert Sidings yard at Pen-y-Mount survived. The site was acquired from British Railways in December 1972 and construction of the heritage line began in 1973. The first passenger train ran on 2 August 1980, hauled by the Ruston and Hornsby diesel locomotive Kinnerley.
The line runs about a mile from a new station at Tremadog Road on the eastern edge of Porthmadog to a terminus at Pen-y-Mount. The Welsh Highland Heritage Railway focuses on recreating the atmosphere of the original 1922 railway, with period uniforms, restored and replica buildings, and a small museum at the Gelert's Farm Works site that the line visits on each return journey.
From the 1990s onward the Ffestiniog Railway company pursued a separate and much more ambitious project to rebuild the WHR from Caernarfon to Porthmadog along the original alignment. That project, completed in 2011, operates today as the Welsh Highland Railway (distinguished as the "WHR" rather than the "WHHR"). The two organisations remained separate operations despite running on adjacent and ultimately overlapping ground, and through-running between them required extended negotiations during the 2000s. The original WHHR at Tremadog Road continues to operate independently of the larger railway.
History
The Welsh Highland Heritage Railway traces its origins to the Welsh Highland Railway (1964) Limited, formed in 1961 to preserve the trackbed and assets of the original Welsh Highland Railway after the latter's closure in 1936–37. The 1964 company was one of several organisations that held competing claims to the WHR's assets through the lengthy legal disputes of the 1970s and 1980s, eventually resolved in favour of the Ffestiniog Railway Trust for the main Caernarfon–Porthmadog route. The WHHR retained the southern Porthmadog section and the locomotive Russell, which it has preserved and restored as the tangible connection to the original WHR's history.
Original line history
The original Welsh Highland Railway was assembled from several earlier narrow-gauge projects — the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railway and the Portmadoc, Beddgelert and South Snowdon Railway — and opened as a through route in 1923, running from Dinas Junction (near Caernarfon) south through Rhyd Ddu and Beddgelert to Porthmadog. The railway struggled financially throughout its existence, never achieving the tourist and slate traffic levels its promoters had hoped for, and closed in 1936. The line remained dormant for decades before the Ffestiniog Railway Trust's ambitious restoration project reopened the full route progressively between 1997 and 2011.
Stations and infrastructure
The WHHR's operational base is at Gelert's Farm Works in Porthmadog, where the locomotive collection including Russell is maintained and displayed. A short operational section allows passenger services within the Porthmadog area. The site is adjacent to the Ffestiniog Railway's Harbour station and the WHR's own Porthmadog station, all within the remarkable setting of the Glaslyn estuary.
Special events and operations
The WHHR holds regular steaming days and open weekends when Russell and other preserved vehicles operate. The railway's particular appeal lies in its historical focus on the original WHR era and the remarkable story of Russell's survival. Combined visits to the adjacent Ffestiniog Railway are straightforward given the shared Porthmadog location. Check the website for current steaming days and opening times.
Visitor information
The WHHR's Gelert's Farm Works is in Porthmadog, accessible from the A487. Porthmadog is served by the Cambrian Coast Line (Shrewsbury–Aberystwyth/Pwllheli) with stations at Porthmadog. The town is also the southern terminus of both the Ffestiniog Railway and the Welsh Highland Railway, making it the focal point for narrow-gauge railway visitors to north Wales. Parking is available in Porthmadog town. Check the website for current opening days and operating times.
