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The Carnarvon and Llanberis railway bill passed through Parliament in 1864.[1] The estimated cost of construction of the line 8 miles (13 km) long was £110,000 (equivalent to £13,661,426 in 2023).[2]
The railway opened on 1 July 1869[5] but was overshadowed by a nitro-glycerine explosion at a quarry near Cwm-y-Glo railway station which resulted in 5 deaths and 12 severe injuries.
The line from Llanberis to Caernarfon was built from Llanberis towards Caernarfon. For a while the railway terminated at Caernarvon (Morfa) railway station. When the "Caernarfon Town Line"[6] was built through a tunnel under the centre to join the various routes. Morfa station was closed on 5 July 1870, though it appears that formal paperwork was not concluded until the following January.[7]
In 1870 the London and North Western Railway took full ownership of the line, and the Carnarvon and Llanberis Railway Company was dissolved.[8]
The railway was initially built as a local link between villages, serving the local population. However tourist traffic increased hugely after the Snowdon Mountain Railway opened in 1897.[9][page needed]
Accidents
On 25 August 1872 the market train from Llanberis was approaching Carnarvon when it was run into by a ballast engine. A second class carriage received the full shock of the ballast engine and was knocked to pieces. The two passengers aboard were uninjured.[10]
Closure and traces of the railway
The station closed for regular passenger services in 1930 but was still used by summer excursion trains[11] until 7 September 1962 and freight services until 3 September 1964.[12][13]
The last fare-paying passenger service was an enthusiasts' special on 20 October 1964.[14][15] The line was lifted in 1965.[16]
Some evidence of the railbed still exists. The site of the track in Llanberis now carries the A4086 road where it by-passes the village along the lakeshore, and the former station is occupied by a craft centre. An area known locally as the Sidings on the shores of Llyn Padarn also shows some evidence of its past. The next section of railbed runs alongside the lake and is now the Lon Las Peris ("Peris Green Lane") cycle path., There is also evidence of the former railway on bridges and a tunnel near Cwm-y-glo, near Llwyncoed Farm - mentioned in the song Tylluanod ("Owls") by the local band Hogia'r Wyddfa ("Snowdon Lads") in 1969. The railbed then follows the line of the A4086 through Cwm-y-glo past Y Fricsan Inn, the site of Cwm-y-Glo railway station. It then follows the River Seiont downstream for the rest of its route to Caernarfon.
Rear, W.G. (1979). London Midland steam in North Wales. Truro: D Bradford Barton Ltd. ISBN0-85153-225-X.
Rear, W.G. (2012). Caernarvon & the Lines from Afonwen & Llanberis: 28: Scenes from the Past Railways of North Wales. Nottingham: Book Law Publications. ISBN9-781907-094781.
Shannon, Paul; Hillmer, John (1999). North Wales (British Railways Past & Present) Part 2. Kettering: Past & Present Publishing Ltd. ISBN1-85895-163-1. No 36.
