Welsh Highland Railway Gets Funding For Completion

It's difficult to report this without sounding like a railway geek, but the Welsh Highland Railway Project to re-build an old narrow-gauge steam railway through North Wales, has just been given 5 million pounds by the Welsh Assembly [press release no longer available] and EU to complete the route.

I used to go to Snowdonia, in North Wales, a lot when I was young on annual camping holidays. A common feature of these holidays was to go on trips on the great little steam trains. As well as appealing to the boy in me, the train journeys also offer great scenic views of one of the most beautiful areas in the UK.

The idea to restore the Welsh Highland Railway, to run from Caernarfon to Porthmadog, has been around for ages, with various different groups trying to get it done. Over the last decade though, it was finally agreed that the Ffestiniog Railway would be able to lead the project and get the railway rebuilt. The first half of the route, from Caernarfon to Rhyd Ddu, has already been built, with money from the Millennium Commission. I took the journey last year with my family when we went back to North Wales, as these pictures show:

The next half will be even more beautiful though, as the route travels right through the Aberglaslyn Path, near Beddgelert - a valley featuring stunning views with a stream flowing down below. Once completed, the railway is meant to offer an alternative means of transport for both locals and tourists, with diesel trains being used to make for more frequent journeys. They still need to raise additional funding, but the EU/Welsh Assembly money means that work can start next year, with the railway due to open in 2009.