- About Us
- History of the Line
Grand Opening 1868
The current Bala Lake Railway is built on a section of the former standard-gauge GWR Ruabon - Barmouth Junction route. At the core of that route is the railway between Bala and Dolgellau, which was built by the Bala and Dolgelley Railway Company (they used the English spelling for the latter place), and opened in
August 1868.
The line joined the Corwen & Bala Railway at Bala Junction and with the Cambrian Railways at Dolgellau. The line was operated by the Great Western (GWR), which later absorbed it in 1877. In 1896 the GWR enlarged Llanuwchllyn station, with an extended building and a new signal box. A long passing loop and second platform were also added.
Standard-gauge closed 1968
Passenger services through Bala ceased on Monday 18th January 1965 and the line from Llangollen to Barmouth was closed.
Although originally earmarked for dieselisation by the Western Region of British Railways in the early 1960s, the Ruabon to Bala/Barmouth line was eventually included in the infamous Beeching Report in 1963.
From that time, the line was gradually run down, with the long distance holiday trains and through freight traffic being diverted to the Cambrian main line through Welshpool and other facilities rationalised. Goods traffic finally ceased running 1st January 1968, when the Pontcysyllte branch was closed. However, through rail services had effectively ceased December 1964 when the last Mail Train from Chester used the line.
Rebirth came in 1971 as Narrow-Gauge
A local engineer, George Barnes, saw the potential of the lakeside section for both local and tourist traffic. With the help of the late Tom Jones CBE, then Chairman of Merioneth County Council's Finance Committee.
The new company, Rheilffordd Llyn Tegid Ltd (Bala Lake Railway Ltd) became the first company to be registered in the Welsh language.
George and Tom with help from local ex-BR staff started to rebuild as a 2-ft gauge line.
The aim was to make use of the mass of equipment that had become available from numerous slate quarries in North Wales that had abandoned steam and railway operations in favour of machines and road transport.
The first train consisted of two specially made (in Wrexham) open carriages and a small industrial diesel. Over the first 2-3 years additional carriages and the diesel locomotive Merionnydd were built for the line.
International Steam
Two steam locomotives were used in the early narrow-gauge years, "Helen Kathryn" and "Dryw Bach".
"Helen Kathryn" was built by Henschel of Kassel, Germany in 1948 and given works no. 28035.
Initially she worked clearing bomb damage in various Eastern Germany cities and was later used on a forestry railway there. Imported to U.K. during 1970 and was used on Bala Lake Railway until 1975.
"Helen Kathryn" now resides at South Tynedale Railway, Cumbria.
"Dryw Bach" Kerr Stuart works no.3114 built in 1918, was rebuilt at Bala Lake Railway during 1980-1982.
The boiler was condemned 1985 and the loco went to the now closed Gloddfa Ganol museum on static display.
The current status of "Dryw Bach" is unknown, although in 2002 she appeared, fully restored, at the Amerton Railway in Staffordshire.
More Photographs
The Railway and its supporting society have gathered together extensive galleries of photographs, showing the line in all its phases and presenting a good visual overview of travel on the Bala Lake Railway. The railway company photo collections are here.