Porthmadog, Beddgelert and South Snowdon Railway

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Material taken from the entry on the FR HG Wiki

A Railway scheme that purchased one engine (Russell), constructed some mileage of permanent way and track, and never ran a single paying mile of railway.

There were several attempts by this company to promote lines between Portmadoc and Beddgelert with extensions at either end. The first was in 1901 and would have run from the western end of Black Rock sands via Morfa Bychan, Borth y gest, Portmadoc and, using part of the Croesor Tramway, to Beddgelert to link with the South Snowdon Quarries (hence the title) in the Gwynant Valley. There was no intention to connect with the North Wales Narrow Gauge system which, at that time, terminated at Snowdon (now called Rhyd ddu). It was to be electrically powered by a three phase system at about 630 volts. See Bruce Peebles Electric locomotives.

The electricity was to be produced at a hydro electric power station further up the Gwynant Valley and surplus power was to be available for local domestic & industrial use. This part of the scheme was actually built and the power station still operates.

No railway construction was started but by 1903 a revised scheme was being put forward to link up with the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways Beddgelert extension. This resulted in a further revised scheme being approved in 1904. It appears that there were legal problems with the powers given and in 1906 these were reapproved with amendments. Work started around this time and continued for a couple of years before being abandoned (certainly no work done after 1910). The line from Snowdon (Rhyd ddu) was virtually complete for well over a mile and was used for a while (mainly during WW1) to extract timber from Beddgelert forest. At the Beddgelert end a roughly laid track for horse drawn wagons was also used for timber.

The original intention to run to Black Rock had been forgotten and no mention was made of the line to South Snowdon quarries. However, in 1908 they did promote a further line up the Gwynant Valley and on to Betws y coed. No work was done on this line.

It was intended to electrify all the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways once the two lines were connected. In 1914 local councils got together to try to get the building restarted but failed due to the start of WW1. Another attempt was made after the war which resulted in the building of the Welsh Highland Railway following most of the same route but with changes made near Beddgelert to ease the gradients to allow the use of steam locos.

Further information can be found on Isengard's site here (external link)

References: Dolgellau Record office document Z/CD/162 (1901 scheme), National Archives documents MT6/972/8 (NWNGR Beddgelert extension 1897), MT6/1367/11 & MT 54/435 (1903), MT6/1721 (1906), MT58/317 (1908) plus others