THE 100th anniversary of the reopening of what had been the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railway between Dinas and Rhyd Ddu (then called South Snowdon), which was in the process of being rebuilt as the Welsh Highland Railway (WHR), was suitably marked over July 30/31.
Star of the show was Welsh Highland Heritage Railway’s (WHHR) Hunslet 2-6-2T Russell, the only surviving original Welsh Highland steam locomotive. It worked on the WHR between Waunfawr and Rhyd Ddu for the first time since 1937 – it ran between Dinas and Waunfawr during a 2000 visit when this section was officially reopened.
Russell hauled WHHR heritage carriages including the original WHR Buffet Car No. 10 and Gladstone Car No. 8 with services, based around a re-creation of the 1922 timetable, between Dinas and Rhyd Ddu, shared with Ffestiniog Railway’s England 0-4-0STT Palmerston, which worked on construction of this section of the line (then the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railway) in 1876 and again in 1922 (from Dinas) when the railway (becoming the WHR) was extended from Rhyd Ddu southwards to Porthmadog, also hauling heritage carriages.
steaming on what are now Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railway (Ff&WHR) metals was visited the Ff&WHR in 2019 to run between Porthmadog and Beddgelert it did so under a specific line possession – such a possession is no longer required.
