WORLD HERITAGE SITE STATUS FOR WELSH QUARRY RAILWAYS?
UNESCO could give slate landscape the same status as the Taj Mahal.
The Ffestiniog and Talyllyn Railways could benefit from increased tourism if the UK Government’s nomination of Gwynedd’s slate landscape is accepted by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).
Rules permit one submission a year, and on October 23 heritage minister Michael Ellis announced that Gwynedd’s slate landscape would be nominated, saying that the area’s quarries and mines not only shaped the region’s countryside but also countless buildings around the world where Welsh slate was used.
If successful, Gwynedd’s slate landscape would be the fourth World Heritage Site in Wales. The UK has 31 designated sites.
Designation would not only raise awareness of the area’s beauty and history but act as a catalyst for investment and tourism. As railways built to transport slate, both the TR and FR will be well placed to benefit from it.
A decision is expected in 2021.
●● The creation of a beach, complete with sand and deck chairs, at Birmingham New Street station has won an award for the Great Little Trains of Wales joint marketing panel.
Along with the beach, the display was evocative of a small
railway halt with a backdrop of Barmouth Bridge. Funded by Welsh Government Rural Communities – Rural Development Programme 2014-2020 – itself funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the Welsh Government – the display coincided with Wales Tourism Week to raise the profile of the GLTW members. The display was in keeping with Visit Wales’ ‘Year of the Sea’ theme for 2018. Eleven railways provided staff for seven days.