The Welsh Highland Railway (WHR) is a 25-mile (40.2 km) long restored narrow gauge heritage railway in North Wales, operating from Caernarfon to Porthmadog, and passing through a number of popular tourist destinations including Beddgelert and the Aberglaslyn Pass. At Porthmadog it connects with the Ffestiniog Railway and to the short Welsh Highland Heritage Railway. In Porthmadog it uses the United Kingdom's only mixed gauge flat rail crossing.
The restoration, which was mainly performed by volunteers, received a number of awards. Originally running from Dinas near Caernarfon to Porthmadog, the current line includes an additional section from Dinas to Caernarfon. The original line also had a branch to Bryngwyn and the slate quarries at Moel Tryfan, which has not been restored. (This branch forms a footpath 'rail trail', the lower section of which has been resurfaced and supplied with heritage notice-boards).
There is also the 0.75-mile (1.2 km) long Welsh Highland Heritage Railway which runs from Porthmadog along the trackbed of the former Cambrian Railway exchange siding and connects to the WHR main line at Pen-y-Mount junction.
Read more about Welsh Highland Railway: History, The Present Day WHR, The Welsh Highland Heritage Railway, Welsh Titles, Operation, Stations
Famous quotes containing the words welsh, highland and/or railway:
“God defend me from that Welsh fairy,
Lest he transform me to a piece of cheese!”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“If you would feel the full force of a tempest, take up your residence on the top of Mount Washington, or at the Highland Light, in Truro.”
—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)