Bala Lake Railway

The Bala Lake Railway (Welsh: Rheilffordd Llyn Tegid) is a preserved railway at Bala Lake, in Gwynedd, north Wales, which runs for a distance of 4+1⁄2 miles (7.2 km) using 2 ft (610 mm) gauge rolling stock.

It was built on a section of the former Ruabon - Barmouth GWR route which was closed in 1965. This section runs along the south-eastern shore of Bala Lake. Another section of the former trackbed is today used by the Llangollen Railway.

The railway runs from Llanuwchllyn railway station, where the main railway buildings, workshops and offices are located, to Bala (Llyn Tegid) near Bala. The station at Bala is outside the town, and there have been various plans to extend the railway into Bala itself, but none have been realised.

Most trains on the line as steam-hauled, using one of three locomotives currently in service. Steam locomotives currently in use or stored on the line are Maid Marian, works number 822 (in use), Holy War, works number 779 (in use), Alice, works number 780 (in use) and George B, works number 680. George B is currently undergoing a lengthy rebuild. In mid-2012, the slightly larger locomotive Winifred, works number 364, was repatriated to the UK from a warehouse at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the USA, to be permanently located on the Bala Lake Railway. At present it is on display, as the owner considers how to restore it. All the locos were built by the Hunslet Engine Company, for the Dinorwic Quarry and Penrhyn Quarry.

Until late 2011, Peckett 0-6-0st Triassic was stored on the Bala Lake Railway, but has since been relocated to the Statfold Barn Railway due to storage space issues.

Diesel locomotives on the railway include Meirionydd, a Bo-Bo diesel-hydrostatic locomotive built by Severn Lamb, of Stratford-upon-Avon in 1973. She is based on a Western class standard gauge locomotive outline design. Trigger (Bob Davies), a Baguley Drewery, works no. 780, is the railway's main standby diesel, used to haul out of season trains, for yard shunting and goods or works train haulage. The Baguley Drewery 0-4-0 loco was built as 2ft 6in gauge for the Royal Navy at Fishguard, purchased by Pete Briddon's Yorkshire Engine Company and regauged to 2ft Named 'Bob Davies' in honour of a remarkable railway man, the loco was ultimately sold to the Bala Lake Railway company. Chilmark, Ruston & Hornsby, works no. 194771, the oldest of the railways diesels is a 40DL diesel mechanical 3-speed built in 1939 for the Air Ministry. It was used by the Royal Air Force for hauling explosives and ammunition at RAF Chilmark, Wiltshire. 'Lady Madcap', a Ruston & Hornsby 20DL, sees only occasional use for light shunting and ballast ploughing.

A new addition to the fleet is a track maintenance trolley in the style of a standard gauge Whickham trolley.

The railway is a member of the Great Little Trains of Wales.

Famous quotes containing the words lake and/or railway:

    These beginnings of commerce on a lake in the wilderness are very interesting,—these larger white birds that come to keep company with the gulls.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    Her personality had an architectonic quality; I think of her when I see some of the great London railway termini, especially St. Pancras, with its soot and turrets, and she overshadowed her own daughters, whom she did not understand—my mother, who liked things to be nice; my dotty aunt. But my mother had not the strength to put even some physical distance between them, let alone keep the old monster at emotional arm’s length.
    Angela Carter (1940–1992)