Preserved Railways in North Wales (English subtitles)
Today we carry you away to the west coast of Britain to Wales Two things have great importance there firstly, the nurturing of Celtic traditions secondly the care of old steam locomotives and museum lines you could almost say that for the friends of old railway lines, Wales is a paradise Croeso i Cymru - Welcome to Wales the mecca of railway enthusiasts where nowhere else in the world will you find so much natural beauty and so many museum lines together in so small a country within an area of 20 000 square km operate five museum lines and each has its own character, consistent with the variety of landscapes The small Celtic country lies in the west of Britain between the Irish Sea and England our visit is to the north of Wales, about a half of which is classed as National Park we ride with the Llangollen Railway through the Dee Valley and with the Snowdon Mountain railway on the highest peak in Wales in Porthmadog, we visit the Ffestiniog Railway; and in Caernarfon the Welsh Highland Railway both of which were built in the time of Queen Victoria's time for the transportation of slate our first Welsh experience awaits us on the standard gauge Llangollen Railway The goods locomotive 3802 once ran on the Great Western Railway at the end, it landed up in a scrapyard discovered by railway enthusiasts and restored, it is now the jewel of the society and well loved by hobby enthusiast Simon, for example and the engine driver has also been infected by the same virus, for ages I have been working on steam engines for 38 years it's great to be paid for something I love doing so much looking out from the station - the regal view of Llangollen and the Dee the Bishop Trevor bridge from the 14th century and the Victorian architecture in early August a musical and literary festival is staged here - and then the streets are packed otherwise, it is rather tranquil Llangollen, a holiday escape from a hurly-burly life for Britons from Wales and England Dinas Bran is the name of the legend-surrounded ruin fortress for a Welsh prince, over the town and the valley and over the station of the Llangollen Railway Llangollen station was built in 1862, on a line that connected England with the Welsh coast this line was closed in 1964 and lifted then in the 1970s, a wave of museum lines began to roll through Britain and a society was founded in Llangollen which built a new line financed by donations It took twenty years before to put about 13 km into service engines and wagons came, in the main, from scrapyards today the railway offers popular nostalgic trips along the idyllic valley of the Dee technical operations and the services on board are carried out mainly by volunteers this young man, for example, comes from Shrewsbury in England during the school holidays, he has an active career on the railway The 12 year old appears very capable already a good half an hour is required for the journey to the terminus at Carrog it was built in the 19th century, when the Great Western Railway was still operating here The old Welsh word 'Carrog' is a reference to the River Dee it means : water that ripples over the pebbles There are certainly no pebbles in this place - but a great quantity of algae and ducks the flow in the Llangollen Canal is slow with the beginning of industrialisation, canals were built throughout Britain to transport wares and raw material on so-called narrow boats (about 2.2 m wide and pulled by horses) came, for example, coal from Wales to England a horse had to pull up to 20 tonnes on these boats today, a feeling of leisure reigns, and they are considerably lighter meanwhile engine 3802 has started on its return journey Llangollen- bound, the train has the tender in front Glyndyfrdwy station the signalman accepts the token before electrical signals, the token ensured safe running on single tracked railways a train comes in from the opposite direction its crew grabs the hanging token and thereby gains permission to take their train into the next section for our train that means the way is now clear - so it can go off in its own direction engine driver Mike receives a new token for this but handed over by the signalman personally nothing more stands in the way of the return journey the young man with the tie is the trainee an attraction of the British canal system, and UNESCO heritage site is the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct from the year 1805 It is at least 40m from the trough down to the valley of the Dee certainly there is no more exciting experience in the Llangollen area than to sail over the highest steel aqueduct in the world and without a boat steering licence in a motorised narrowboat that you have rented for a few days not so high is the Dee Bridge of the Llangollen Railway but this set is interesting - with two so-called autocoaches This push-pull train was introduced on short stretches by the GWR to avoid using locomotives in termini where they required a lot of space to handle The train is controlled from the leading wagon the power comes from the locomotive Eryri, the home of eagles, the heart of the Snowdonia National Park in a dramatic landscape are displayed the misty summits of several 1000m-high and slightly lower peaks a few undaunted ramblers and sheep little other activity is to be found on this bleak autumn day this curving pass leads down to Llanberis the start of the Snowdon Mountain Railway it is the most spectacular railway in the entire British Isles everything starts quite harmlessly at 7 in the morning, the personnel train to the top of Mount Snowdon, the highest mountain in Wales 1085m high The narrow-gauge rack railway was considered a masterwork of Victorian engineering It was built at the end of the 19th century as a purely tourist railway even at that time, Snowdon was a popular tourist attraction irrespective of the weather before the railway, people would ride on horses to the top on the top there were small huts, a sort of mountain hotel the railway was opened in1896 people used to travel in open wagons horrible, when you look at this weather the Victorians were obviously more hardy than us our diesel holds out boldly on the mountain of the abyss, nothing can be seen on the left or right (thank God, according to some passengers no doubt) because of the mist, the summit restaurant cannot be seen but after an almost hour's journey into the unknown the climb is at an end Welcome to Snowdonia National Park, on the summit of Snowdon or as it sounds in the native language and the tourists roll in - a fully occupied train every half an hour this time it is a steam engine that has climbed the mountain 1000m height achieved in a stretch of only 7.5 km a proud achievement the locomotives of the Snowdon Mountain Railway were all built in Switzerland equipped with the famous toothed rack system of the engineer Roman Abt two engines are from 1922 three stem from the beginnings, i.e. 1896
naturally they could do the journey in their sleep, even in the deepest mist even in mist, you know where you are where mist is common, blossom myths and legends such as that of the Giant Knight 15m above the station is the actual summit of Snowdon it offers a breathtaking view over one of the most beautiful landscapes in Europe this is how it looks in clear weather Annually thousands of climbers visit the bare mountains of Snowdonia and especially the rugged rocky slopes of Mount Snowdon Himalaya expedition teams, including that of Edmund Hillary, have trained here The railway in the clouds According to statistics, Snowdon's summit can only be seen once in every 10 days Adjacent to the national park, right in the north of Wales on the Menai Straits, lies Caernarfon with Caernarfon Castle the town is a stronghold of the Welsh nationalist movement on the other hand, the castle from the 13th century is symbol of English dominance The Welsh dragon on its ramparts appears very self-confident Near to Caernarfon, in Dinas is to be found the locomotive shed of the Welsh Highland Railway two Garretts are being prepared for the journey Garretts are the largest narrow-gauge locomotives, and come from South Africa Number 87 had to be extensively restored and received a so-called 'photo livery' whose color is better for black-and-white photography the Welsh Highland Railway is run by the Ffestiniog Railway 60 employees and about 1000 volunteers work on the two railways the boss of the whole concern has a small problem ....we have to continually clean it .....the media often mentioned the color meanwhile, the black Garrett has been brought up to top condition It is now going to Caernarfon, before making its journey along the entire stretch when the British slate industry collapsed in the 40s the original Welsh Highland Railway was not only shut down but also its entire track was lifted a trust made it possible to buy old locomotives and wagons, and to restore them and to relay the tracks since 1997 it has been re-opened section by section if wished, you can take a break at a few stations; for example in Rhyd Ddu a fine village with a fine tearoom the current owners, a Dutchman and English lady, had earlier travel widely in the world and they wanted somewhere to call home a small Bed and Breakfast with tea room, maybe with a homely atmosphere and a few tasty items on offer on the slopes of Mount Snowdon, they have found their dream Rhyd Ddu, a remote location in the highlands of Wales everything here used to belong to the slate quarries even 30 years ago, many more people lived here there were more businesses, and a few more pubs but as the quarries closed, many moved away the guests of Emma and Manny however are happy to stay for a bit longer Meanwhile the 'funny grey one' is on the go we accompany it as it goes through the Aberglaslyn Pass on the other side of the hills The route follows a wild gorge through a row of tunnels at the time of filming in autumn 2009, the railway terminated a few miles from the coast since then the railway has been completed and runs from Caernarfon as far as Porthmadog Harbour - a reason to celebrate but before the celebrations comes practice the Penrhyn Male Voice Choir of Bethesda was formed by miners in 1880 and are known throughout Britain and cultivate the Welsh language and Welsh songs well and then resounds from 50 Welsh throats a hymn to their beautiful land the last railway on our journey through North Wales, we have already mentioned it, is at home in the harbor town of Porthmadog it is run, and the Welsh are proud of it, by the oldest private railway company in the world the Ffestiniog Railway, founded in 1832 since time immemorial, a special type of locomotive has been used here the Double Fairlie named after the Scottish railway engineer Robert Francis Fairlie these articulated engines possess two chimneys, two smokeboxes and a double firebox in the middle for a time, there were both single Fairlies and double Fairlies throughout the world but only on the Ffestniog were they continually, and still remain, in service Mr Fairlie had bequeathed his patent to the railway they were the first articulated locomotives - our first one came here in 1869 today we have five more The double Fairlie Earl of Merioneth takes on one of the most beautiful narrow gauge railways worldwide from Porthmadog Harbour station, we travel first over an embankment to the left the hills of Snowdonia; to the right the of bay of Porthmadog the passengers enjoy the panoramic view - and that is not just in First Class the other side of the embankment, the train passes Boston Lodge, the railway's workshop the success of the Ffestiniog was also strongly linked with slate the line was closed in 1946 but 9 years later, the rebuilding began with volunteers from all parts of Britain I organised the volunteers from London enthusiasm grew, and we came here every fortnight today the railway has many volunteers, even from the other side of the Channel section by section, the railway was restored. Engines and wagons partly built from new and everything in their free time driven by an enthusiasm that is eternal we started on the coast, we finish by climbing with the double Fairlie into the uplands through loops, spirals and many, many curves On 20th April 2011, a link was officially opened between the line from Porthmadog and the line from Caernarfon thereby the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railways, with their combined length of 60 km, became the longest narrow-gauge railway in Britain we have travelled through the most beautiful parts of North Wales and yet only seen a fraction of what Wales has to offer but with the railway, we have chosen the best way to get to know it
2021-09-04 13:28
