There's a Fairlie at the bottom of the garden

In September 2022 we rented a delightful bungalow near Porthmadog that had an unexpected bonus - a grandstand view of the Ffestiniog Railway running past the back garden.

I soon learned when the two morning trains were due and amused myself waving to the passengers and seeing how many waved back. 

Our enthusiasm for the Ffestiniog Railway rekindled, we booked our place on a morning train for a trip to Blaenau Ffestiniog.  Unfortunately, we were obliged to return to Porthmadog on the same train, so wouldn't be able to hop off at one station, walk to the next one, then board a later train - a favourite pursuit of ours.  That was a pity, not least because the best way to photograph a train is not to be on it, and there's a nice footpath between Tan-y-Bwlch and Blaenau Ffestiniog that runs close to the line.

To make up for our disappointment, on another day we stopped off for coffee and cake at Tan-y-Bwlch, and also spent some time sampling the cuisine at Porthmadog Station. 

Our morning train arriving at Porthmadog Station. On the left, the 'WHR' engine is getting ready to travel the Welsh Highland line, which runs via Beddgelert to Caernarfon. I would love to have travelled on the WHR but the only train running the full length of the line during our week in North Wales was fully booked. 

Despite the wording on the third coach, this little engine was about to haul The Woodland Wanderer on the Ffestiniog Railway to Tan-y-Bwlch.

As you may know, Porthmadog used to be called Portmadoc, for the very good reason that its port was developed by a guy called Madocks.  It was he who had The Cob built across Traeth Mawr to exclude the tides and create much valuable farmland. It also gave a route for his railway to cross the estuary. Here's the view from the train, looking towards the hills of Snowdonia.

The most picturesque station on the line is surely Tan-y-Bwlch. Here, The Woodland Wanderer has offloaded its passengers into the station cafe. Now it awaits the passing of the Blaenau Ffestiniog train before heading back to Porthmadog. 

Blanche's engineman and fireman are deep in conversation. "Do you think they'll miss us in Porthmadog if we stay here, Dewi?" "Nah, Rhys, Blanche knows her way home without us!"

Coincidentally, here's Blanche again at Tan-y-Bwlch, this time when I saw her during my honeymoon in 1970.  Fifty two years later the love affair continues - with North Wales, with steam railways and (of course) with each other.

And here comes the afternoon train to Blaenau, hauled by one of the line's strange Fairlie double-ended locomotives - precursors of modern double-ended diesel locos, I suppose. 

Back in 1970 the Ffestiniog Railway terminated here, at Ddaullt Station. The old route from Ddaullt to Blaenau Ffestiniog had been lost when the Central Electricity Generating Board flooded part of the track bed for their new reservoir at Tanygrisiau. It took the Ffestiniog Railway's volunteers 14 years of hard work to carve out a new route, which included a tunnel and a spiral at Ddaullt so that the line could pass high above the power station.  I took this photo as our train passed over the line from Tan-y-Bwlch.

Rounding the tight curve above Ddaullt on our way back from Blaenau Ffestiniog.

The cause of the deviation: Tanygrisiau reservoir and its 'pumped storage' power station. During off-peak hours water is pumped from Tanygrisiau up 350 metres to Llyn Stwlan.  When demand for electricity rises, the water is released back down the mountain to drive turbines and produce electricity.

Finally, a couple of photos of Blaenau Ffestiniog station; not the most beautiful of places, but a necessary objective for an ambitious little railway called The Ffestiniog.

Newent's canal that became a railway and will be a canal again

Once upon a time the Hereford & Gloucestershire canal ran past the little town of Newent.  The canal had opened between Gloucester and Ledbury in 1798, at the height of 'canal mania', was extended to Hereford in 1845 and then, having cost far more that its enthusiastic promotors expected, immediately tried to sell itself to a railway company. 

In 1881 the Great Western Railway took over the moribund operation and made plans to convert the Gloucester-Newent section to a railway – the Gloucester & Ledbury – that opened in 1885. 79 years later it too closed, a victim of the infamous Beeching Axe.

In 1983 a society was formed with the aim of restoring the old canal. Since a large length had been obliterated by the railway and the rest had descended into an extreme state of disrepair, this was going to be a huge undertaking that would take decades to accomplish.  Many a doubting Thomas would surely have dismissed the society's plans as an over-ambitious pipe dream, but preservation societies like this one clearly don't understand the meaning of 'impossible'.  Moreover, they have the backing of the Canal & River Trust, who are responsible for maintaining our existing network and have seen over 200 miles of derelict canals returned to use in the last two decades. 

I'd heard that the preservation society had been active around Newent, so went to investigate. First, I walked along the Geopark Way, hoping to get to the mouth of Oxenhall Tunnel (near Holder's Farm on the map above). I have a fascination for tunnels and this one had the bonus of an arched structure nearby called "Leggers' Rest" where, according to the society's website, a gang of men, retained to assist boats through the tunnel, would await their next job. 

The first part of the Geopark Way was easy walking.  I saw a restored aqueduct and plenty of evidence of the canal channel having been dredged.  The highlight, however, was the restored House Lock (top left on my first two maps) and its lovely lockkeeper's cottage.  In a hundred years' time I'd love to come back, live in that cottage and sell ice creams to passing canal boaters!

Beyond House Lock there's a lovely stretch of path beside a large lake – Furnace Pond – but after this the path deteriorates, with muddy stretches and rampant undergrowth.

By the time I reached Cold Harbour Lane Bridge I was battling 10ft high undergrowth. Would I ever make it to the tunnel?

NO. A sign just beyond the bridge declared that there was no public access beyond that point, so my exploration of Legger's Rest will have to wait for the hard-working preservation society volunteers to clear a way.

I made my way back towards Newent, partly by road to avoid the mud and weeds, then set off to find the old railway station.  This is what it looked like in its heyday...

Photo: Wikipedia

... and this is what it looks like in 2024, though only after preservation society members had expended an enormous amount of effort to remove 50 years' worth of rubbish and undergrowth.

Here the canal restorers have a bit of a problem as the old canal lies buried about 6 feet beneath the track bed. In order to cross the B4125, west of the station, canal boats will have to be raised to track level, then higher again, before being lowered at the other side.  I imagine that three locks would do the job, but it seems that the associated earthworks would be rather too intrusive. According to Wikipedia —

In 2019 they therefore proposed the use of an inclined plane, using a cradle running on rails to raise boats from the canal level up to the station, with a level section between the platforms, followed by another incline to reach the height required to cross the road and another incline to return boats to the level of the canal on the other side.

Now that should be impressive!  Though I doubt that I'll live to see it.

 

Hereforedshire & Gloucestershire Canal Trust