Bala Lake Railway (Rheilffordd Llyn Tegid)

Location

Last Visited: 2018 View Google Map, Geocoding, Google Earth pushpin, what3words, etc.

Generally I am not a fan of narrow gauge railways such as the Bala Lake Railway (Rheilffordd Llyn Tegid) that have been built along the trackbeds of an old standard gauge lines. They can so easily end up feeling like toy trains or large garden railways.

In this case, two things go part way redeem things.

Firstly the restored station at Llanuwchllyn, home of the main buildings, workshops and railway offices.

Secondly its collection of historic narrow-gauge quarry locomotives built by the Hunslet Engine Company for the Dinorwic and Penrhyn slate quarries in North Wales. These were clearly built to haul proper trains of slate waggons and nobody could think of them as toys. At the time of my visit they were supplemented by a number of visiting locos.

For timetables, ticket prices and much more, please see the official site detailed below.

The track runs for 4½ miles (7.2 km) along the southern shore of Lake Bala (Llyn Tegid) on a section of the former GWR standard-gauge Ruabon-Barmouth route, which closed in 1965. Another section of this line is used by the Llangollen Railway.

Currently (2018) the track runs from Llanuwchllyn to the site of the former GWR Bala Lake Halt now renamed Bala (Penybont). The latter is about three quarters of a mile (1.25 km) from Bala town centre. The town is pleasant enough but has little to repay the effort of walking there.

However, the railway has plans to extend the line into Bala under their Red Dragon Project, and in March 2017 announced that they had acquired the land required for a new railway terminus in the town. For further information or to donate please see the Railway Trust's web site.