Mysterious ‘lost' railway tracks rediscovered on the beach
THE Great Little of Trains of Wales have long been established as a keystone of the principality's tourist industry. Now a ‘lost' narrow gauge line has reappeared after several decades.
Shifting sands uncovered the double tracks on Barmouth's beach in October but the purpose of the line remains a mystery.
Local roofer Dicky Sharp, one of the first to see the newly-exposed tracks, joked that he had found the “railway to Cantre'r Gwaelod” – the legendary ancient sunken kingdom of Cardigan Bay.
Various theories were suggested in the wake of the emergence. One said that the tracks dated from 1930 when, two years after a great storm washed away part of the promenade, they were laid to carry materials during the building of a new sea wall. Another suggested they were used to bring fishing vessels ashore for repairs.
However, local historian Hugh Griffith Roberts disagreed, believing that the rails were part of a sewage disposal system's holding tank and discharge pipe built in 1890 – when Barmouth was taking off as a prime seaside resort and houses and hotels were being built and therefore a need to remove waste.