European Railroad Discussion > Snowdonia weekend

Drove up to Porthmadog on Friday in preparation for yesterday's Snowdonian, 80 miles of 2' gauge steam. The two days, Friday and Saturday, could not have been more different.

Arriving in Porthmadog at about lunchtime on Friday I took a couple of pictures before deciding to ride the WHR to Rhyd Ddu and back, it was not a day for photography. This is Merddin Emrys leaving Porthmadog on the 13:35 to Blaenau. It had been like this for most of the drive up the A470 coast to coast road through the heart of the mountains, mist and general dankness. Very Welsh :-)

The journey up to Rhyd Ddu takes an hour and 20 minutes, even in the murk the climb up the 2.5% horseshoe curves above Beddgelert is pretty thrilling. I rode in one of the closed cars, with heating(!) but next door to the open mid train observation to get the best of both worlds. As we climbed higher the mist wasn't quite as thick, but you still couldn't really see any mountain tops. Returning to Porthmadog on the train the 14:15 crosses at Rhyd Ddu (14:20 ex Caernarfon) I found Funkey diesel Vale of Ffestiniog as station pilot.

The forecast for Saturday was better, here's hoping....

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Saturday dawned with a thin layer of cloud but the promise that it would break. I stayed in Criccieth overnight which is about 5 miles west of Porthmadog, I just made it to the Boston Lodge end of The Cob when the train swept by. The two ex-Penrhyn Quarry sisters, Linda and Blanche (Hunslet 1893) who are celebrating their 125th birthday were on the first leg to Blaenau and back.

From Boston Lodge I went up to Tanygrisiau from where i hiked towards the Moelwyn Tunnel. I shot some video which I posted on the Steam Railroading board so I won't post the still that I took

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?10,4530952

Back at Penrhyndeudraeth the two sisters cross the main road as they approach the station. By now the sun was out.

Off to the Welsh Highland now for the next stage but first the 10:00 ex Caernarfon approaching Pont Croesor where it crossed the Snowdonian.

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Three final pictures. The plan to use two Garratts on the Snowdonian suffered a setback when 138 developed a fault. So the first part of the journey was covered by 87 running by itself, here climbing away from Beddgelert, I also posted a video of this on the steam board too.

Once 138 was roadworthy again it was sent after the Snowdonian, catching it up at the lunch stop at Waunfawr. It was towing a water carrying wagon which it had brought down from Dinas on Friday, I think its purpose was to spread the load of two Garratts. Here it is descending from Snowdon Ranger.

And here is the reunited ensemble approaching Rhyd Ddu late yesterday afternoon, arrival in Porthmadog is at 18:15.

As you can see the promise of much better weather was realised.

Some more pictures https://nick86235.smugmug.com/Trains/2018/Two-days-in-Snowdonia/

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Excellent photos as usual. The scenery is great.
ALLEN

Wonderful photos, I have to get across the pond someday and see for myself. I curious about the Welsh mountains, they have no trees. I assume there is plenty of rainfall, is the soil on the mountains too thin to support trees?

UK mountains have no/very few indigenous coniferous trees on them due to the last ice age scouring them clean. So there are very few trees generally on the mountains apart from relatively small deciduous ones. The uplands in the uk are generally covered in grasses and heather. There would have been more deciduous tree cover in past times, on the lower slopes of the mountains, but human activity in the past has reduced these somewhat, though some are being replanted.
The soils are generally wet and acidic in these locations, not ideal for supporting large tree species.

Never trust a Welsh weather forecast. I've seen full blue sky, pouring rain, and blue sky all within a an hour or so. Whatever is forecast, the opposite typically happens.

Thank you for the info, I hope to be able to see it in person some day!

exhaustED Wrote:
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> UK mountains have no/very few indigenous
> coniferous trees on them due to the last ice age
> scouring them clean. So there are very few trees
> generally on the mountains apart from relatively
> small deciduous ones. The uplands in the uk are
> generally covered in grasses and heather. There
> would have been more deciduous tree cover in past
> times, on the lower slopes of the mountains, but
> human activity in the past has reduced these
> somewhat, though some are being replanted.
> The soils are generally wet and acidic in these
> locations, not ideal for supporting large tree
> species.

Funkey diesel looks a little class 58-ish :)

andersonb109 Wrote:
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> Never trust a Welsh weather forecast. I've seen
> full blue sky, pouring rain, and blue sky all
> within a an hour or so. Whatever is forecast, the
> opposite typically happens.

As they say in Swansea, if you can see Somerset it's going to rain. If you can't see Somerset it's already raining.

newtonville150 Wrote:
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> Funkey diesel looks a little class 58-ish :)

It was rebuilt into that form to be able to run over both railways. It originally looked like Castell Caernarfon with the centre cab.

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And the Welsh mountains are kept denuded of trees by the actions of Welsh Sheep, whose stocking numbers are now much higher than was the case historically. That said some of the treelessness is a reflection of trees being cut down a long time ago c 2000 years ago or more. Once the trees are removed they can have trouble growing back because the resulting ground can become a bog quite quickly, there’s certainly plenty of rain.

A very nice series of photos. I am glad to see these as I will be there in about 2 weeks. I will be checking it all out.

bluesman Wrote:
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> A very nice series of photos. I am glad to see
> these as I will be there in about 2 weeks. I will
> be checking it all out.

I shall be up there next weekend as the Ffestiniog is celebrating a very special birthday, Linda and Blanche's 125th!