Welsh Highland Railway Restoration - Obstruction and Objections

Obstruction and Objections

A number of local residents protested against the rebuilding of the Welsh Highland Railway. They argued that the railway would damage the sensitive landscape and environment of the Snowdonia National Park, one of Wales's most scenic areas. It has not, in the event, done so.

Some residents in the village of Beddgelert objected to the railway because they feared it would bring increased road traffic to the tourist village. For this reason, the Snowdonia National Park Authority stipulated that trains should not terminate in the National Park except at Rhyd Ddu, until the railway was finished. Further, the railway company is not to provide a car park at Beddgelert station and there will be no direct road access to the station. Access is by public footpaths - one with steps and a longer one with ramps for wheelchairs - from the central car park. So far, there is little evidence of increased railway-linked car traffic.

Relations with some of the community in Beddgelert were difficult for a time, mainly because of the company's plans for the station there. The railway sought powers to construct a building 70 ft x 40 ft, sufficient to hold 300 people - two trainloads - in the rain, but some residents expressed concern that it would be intrusive and too close to their homes. Planning permission for a slightly modified building was subsequently granted, though with a condition that the railway company should not have a café on the site. The railway appealed against this decision and was successful, but no building work has yet begun on the permanent building, other than the casting of a foundation slab; a wooden building in the usual RhE style has been set up. The arrival of many thousands of railway tourists in the village - without their cars - worked a wonderful change on local opinion.

The WHR rebuilding has also been the subject of more direct action in the past. One local resident near Plas-y-Nant, upon hearing that the construction of the railway was to go ahead, tipped a large mound of manure onto the original alignment. When the railway station at Rhyd Ddu was being completed, the station notice board was stolen, vandals used spray paint in various places to spell out "Dim WHR" (No WHR). This included signs, rocks and the container holding the small construction diesel "Dolgarrog". However, these graffiti were relatively small in scale and were quickly removed.

The day before the visit of HRH Prince Charles to Rhyd Ddu, when a test train was being run to ensure smooth operation the next day, a football-sized rock was found placed on the track. This was spotted, the train stopped and the rock removed. The perpetrator is said to have had a heavy visit from the Special Branch.

Some objectors in Porthmadog were reported to have made a clumsy attempt to fake a bicycle accident on the rails at Britannia Bridge, but a First Aider who ran to help said that by the time she had covered a hundred yards,'they'd legged it'!

The site of the Porthmadog terminus has also been a source of some debate in the town, as some locals suggested that WHR trains should terminate at the WHR Ltd station to avoid excessive train movements across Porthmadog High Street and the consequent delay to traffic. The FR however preferred to have the trains arrive at the Harbour Station to afford a connection to their main line to Blaenau Ffestiniog. The traffic jams in Porthmadog were so frightful already that the level crossing made little difference; the issue was resolved by the opening of the new Porthmadog by-pass (A487) in September 2011. An extension to the Cob, to widen the Harbour Station formation, was built in early 2012.