Llanberis Lake Railway

The Llanberis Lake Railway is a narrow gauge tourist line which runs the 2.5 mile distance along the northern shore of Llyn Padarn in north Wales in the Snowdonia National Park. The starting point is the town of Llanberis at the southern end of the lake with the northern terminus at Pen Llyn in the Padarn Country Park. The return journey takes around 45 minutes, not counting any stop for sight seeing.

Originally built in 1971, specifically for the tourist market, the railway uses three steam locomotives (“Elidir“, “Dolbadarn” and “Thomas Bach”) which served in the local Dinorwic slate quarries using the two foot gauge system, there is also a diesel loco “Twll Coed“, which is used when one of the steam engines breaks down. . The railway itself uses part of the line which connected the quarry with Y Felinheli (Port Dinorwic) on the Menai Strait and was used for transporting the slate to the sea to be shipped around the United Kingdom. This line used a four foot gauge system and when the quarry ceased production in 1969 (and a decision was made to create the Llanberis Lake Railway) the four foot gauge track was sold for scrap and replaced by the two foot gauge from the quarries thus enabling the quarry locomotives to haul the tourist line’s rolling stock.

In June 2003 the railway was extended to stop in Llanberis itself near to the start of the Snowdon Mountain Railway. The original terminus (Gilfach Ddu) at the south end of the lake had been just before the Welsh Slate Museum, now the railway passes the museum and Dolbadarn Castle to drop passengers near the tourist facilities in the heart of Llanberis. On the return journey from Pen Llyn to Gilfach Ddu, passengers may stop off at the Cei Llydan station for a picnic and a chance to enjoy the magnificent views of the Snowdon range of mountains and the Llanberis Pass.

Railway purists may dismiss the Llanberis Lake Railway as a false creation purely for the tourist market, saying that it uses the two foot gauge locos and track in the wrong setting. However it gives the chance for people to see the steam engines and rolling stock from the very historical Dinorwic Quarry which produced slate for over 150 years and employed more than 3000 men.