NARROW GAUGE NEWS
Project to reopen long-closed slate quarry branch starts by securing the trackbed.
Ffestiniog starts Dinas extension
Work on the Ffestiniog Railway’s planned reinstatement of the Dinas branch at Blaenau Ffestiniog has begun, nearly 150 years after the station there closed.
Dinas was the FR’s original terminus until 1870, when passenger services instead terminated at the new Duffws station, opened four years earlier, closer to the centre of Blaenau Ffestiniog itself. The Dinas branch remained open however, serving the nearby quarries until slate traffic ceased in 1946. Current plans to reopen part of this branch, to connect with the tourist attractions at the neighbouring
Llechwedd slate quarry, were mooted last summer (SR494), and FR volunteers have already begun investigating the condition of what remains of the line, as well as clearing the undergrowth from the site of the original Dinas terminus.
Writing in Ffestiniog Railway magazine, FR volunteer Stephen Murfitt said: “There are several options for the branch, including the reconnection of the FR from Blaenau Ffestiniog to Llechwedd quarry, perhaps using shuttle trains consisting of traditional quarrymen’s coaches. This would be a significant contribution to the interpretation of the slate industry’s heritage and an important insight for the interested tourist.
“Land ownership is a consideration, but the FR company owns the existing branch from Glan-y-Pwll as far as the old Holland incline.
“From an operational point of view, to avoid reversing movements, the preferred option would be for the branch to be reinstated on the 1880 curve [which peeled away north from the FR main line at Glan-y-Pwll]. The present owner of Oakeley quarry, Breedon Aggregates Ltd, has indicated a willingness to grant the FR company a lease of the land that would form part of the entry curve. This would enable a train to run from Blaenau Ffestiniog to Dinas without joining the present FR main line, and without a reversing operation.
“Llechwedd quarry is also prepared to grant the FR company a lease in relation to the land from the Holland incline to the terminus. Passengers would pass under the A470 via an existing tunnel and reach the quarry by a means yet to be finalised.”
F&WHR general manager Paul Lewin was keen to stress that reinstatement of the Dinas branch was “a long-term ambition” and that the current work was “all about securing the trackbed for the future.”
However, further working parties on the branch are being arranged later in the year to continue trackbed clearance.