The work to reinstate the Welsh Highland Railway work has now "turned the corner" onto the route of the Croesor Tramway -
http://www.isengard.co.uk/ Here's a brief(ish) history of the tramway - all comments and corrections would be appreciated. I'll hopefully add a few pictures at some point if I get a nice day for a walk.
ConstructionThe route appears to have been based on a survey by Charles Easton Spooner made in early 1863 and was proposed by Hugh Beaver Roberts, a Bangor solicitor. Whilst the lower part of the line was built by means of a number of wayleaves, the upper part was built on land leased to the quarry owners, effectively making that part a private tramway.
By an odd quirk, the lower section - which was established by an Act of Parliament - should thus be referred to as the 'Croesor Tramway' whereas the upper (private) section would be the 'Croesor tramway'!
The tramway was planned for horse haulage only and was laid in 20lb/yard wrought iron rails on wooden sleepers: the majority of the route was easily built with the only major work required the Pont Croesor bridge over the Glaslyn which originally comprised 8 wooden spans of 25' on slate piers but had been replaced in 1922.
OperationIn 1865, the Croesor & Portmadoc Railway Act was passed, which incorporated the Croesor & Portmadoc Railway Co. (C&PR). The Tramway - the 4.5 miles section from Porthmadog to Carreg Hylldrem - was authorised to carry minerals, goods and passenger traffic. However, the tramway east of Carreg Hylldrem was not included and continued as a private enterprise.
The 1865 act also authorised the construction of a western extension to Borth-y-Gest - this was never built.
In 1869, Beaver Roberts proposed that the line be taken over by the Ffestiniog Railway, although this was rejected by the FR board and the line was subsequently mortgaged to a third party.
The 1870s saw a scheme to build a network of narrow gauge railways across north Wales, with Spooner as engineer. The 1872 North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways Act of 1872 authorised a number of lines including a new railway from the C&PR at what is now Croesor Junction to Betws-y-Coed: this would include the relaying of the track from Croesor Junction to Porthmadog at the expense of the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railway (NWNGR).
Whilst this scheme resulted to nothing initially, part of the NWNGR was built, from Dinas Junction to Snowdon Ranger and then on to Rhyd Ddu: however, the link to the Croesor Tramway was not achieved at this point.
In 1879, the C&PR was absorbed into the new Portmadoc, Croesor & Beddgelert Tram Railway Company (BC&BTR) by an Act of Parliament with the aim of building the link at Croesor Junction and extending to Beddgelert. However, this further plan failed to come to fruition and in 1882, the company was put into receivership.
In March 1901, the tramway was sold to the new Portmadoc, Beddgelert & South Snowdon Railway (PB&SSR) and in August of that year the company was incorporated by Act of Parliament. The private section to the east was unaffected by these transfers and continued to serve the quarries as before.
By now, the Croesor tramway had been extended up the valley to meet the new incline which served Rhosydd as well as Croesor. Working down the valley, the line also served Pant Mawr quarry (via two inclines), Parc (slab) and Parc quarries (both via small inclines).
The PB&SSR plan included the possible extension to Borth-y-gest, now to reach to Black Rock Sands. Furthermore, the line from Porthmadog to Beddgelert was to be electrified: during works to clear the trackbed for the WHR revival, some trace of posts was found, although these were more likely to have been for communication than electrification.
The work north was mostly completed by 1909 including the tunnels through the Aberglaslyn Pass: however, work came to a halt as the powers to construct lapsed.
The First World War interrupted work and the railway was not opened to passenger traffic until the summer of 1923. Considerable reconstruction was undertaken in 1922, including the Pont Croesor bridge: part of the impetus for completing the railway was that it provided a means of providing employment after the hostilities.
By 1927, the Welsh Highland Railway had slipped into receivership, although it continued to operate for another decade.
ClosureIt seems that the tramway was completely out of use by 1937: by 1931, traffic from Croesor had ceased and the remaining production was sent by road. The lower section by then had WHR trains using it and although closure was first mooted in 1933, the Ffestioiog Railway leased the line for 42 years: however, the FR only ran the line for 3 years and the board did not open the line for the 1937 season.
The previous year, 1936, the 'private' section of the tramway had been offered for sale by auction, but failed to attract a buyer.
The WHR rails north of Croesor Junction had been lifted in 1941, but the route between Porthmadog and the quarries was left intact in case the quarries be reopened after the war. The majority of the rails along the Croesor Tramway were lifted in 1948/9, albeit that some lasted until the 1950s in the Croesor valley, where some re-use of the line was made to ferry provisions up and down to farms - with wagons being hauled by tractors.
RevivalIn 1961, the Welsh Highland Railway Society was established with the aim of reviving the lower part of the Croesor tramway and the line north to Beddgelert. The Society acquired land in the 1970s (including the old exchange sidings in Porthmadog), culminating in new passenger services from 1980.
This (comparably) short length of track continues to run as a stub until it will be joined up to the revived Welsh Highland Railway (Caernarfon) which is now advancing down the Tramway route.
The recent work to Pont Croesor has seen the original (long-gone) wooden spans replaced by a steel bridge built by Brunswick Ironworks of Caernarfon. The new bridge is the longest on the WHR with an overall length of 65.25m.
According to the 1922 plans for the railway bridge deck the spans would all have been 24' (7.31m), in fact they vary from 7.21m to 7.56m thus necessitating careful design of the new deck.
Another notable modification to the route has been the realignment of the line at Croesor Junction so that the railway takes a more gentle curve, presumably in order to increase line speed.
Some minor deviations have also been introduced on the 'true' tramway section within Porthmadog where buildings have blocked the original route.
The futureIn a few months, the WHR (Porthmadog) will be joined to the southbound WHR(C) track: 60 years after it was lifted, a large proportion of the route of the original Croesor Tramway will exist again - and next year passenger traffic will return again.
Hello again darkness, my old friend...