Mawddwy Railway
| Mawddwy Railway | |
| Locale | Wales |
| Dates of operation | 1867 & 1911–1908 & 1951 |
| Successor | abandoned |
| Track Gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm Standard Gauge) |
| Length | 6+3⁄4 miles (10.9 km) |
| Headquarters | ? |
The Mawddwy Railway was a rural line in the Dovey Valley in mid-Wales that connected Cemmaes Road and the Cambrian Railway with Dinas Mawddwy. Despite being only 6 miles 63 chains (10.9 km) long, there were three intermediate stations at Cemmaes, Aberangell (where it linked to the Hendre-Ddu Tramway) and Mallwyd.
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By 1854, the slate quarries at Dinas Mawddwy were employing a significant number of people.] At the same time, a new Lord of the manor of Dinas Mawddwy was installed, Edmund Buckley. He sponsored the building of a railway to connect the slate quarries at Dinas Mawddwy with the recently opened Cambrian Railways main line, at Cemmaes Road. The construction of the railway was contracted to R.S. Francis, with the contract starting in 1866. The railway opened on 1 October 1867. The first locomotive to work trains was Mawddwy which had previously been owned by Francis and used during construction. This was joined in 1868 by a second Manning Wardle locomotive, named Disraeli. Slate traffic and agricultural produce made up the bulk of the traffic on the railway, but from the earliest days it was clear that the railway company was struggling financially. In 1892 the Maes-y-gamfa slate quarry opened, connected to the Mawddwy Railway’s Aberangell station via the Hendre-Ddu Tramway, bringing the promise of additional revenue. However, by this time, the infrastructure of the railway was considerably worn and there was no financial revival.
The slate industry continued to decline during the late 1890s and early 1900s, and the Mawddwy Railway continued to run down as revenues did not allow effective maintenance. Passenger services were suspended “pending repairs” around 1900. A single daily freight train continued to run until April 1908, at which point all services were abandoned due to the poor state of the track.]
The local community, led by David Davies, called a series of meetings with the aim of reviving the railway. A proposal to form a new light railway to take over and operate the Mawddwy Railway. In 1910 a Light Railway Order was granted, permitting the railway company to construct a “new” light railway on the disused trackbed. Reconstruction commenced immediately under the direction of G.C. MacDonald, the Engineer of the Cambrian Railways. The track was relaid in heavy rail and several bridges were rebuilt or strengthened. On 29 July 1911 the railway reopened under the chairmanship of David Davies, with trains operated by Cambrian Railways.
The advent of the First World War dealt a significant blow to the railway. Several local slate quarries closed and tourist traffic fell considerably, although timber and munitions traffic for the war effort offset this somewhat. After the war ended, the railway continued to struggle. In 1923 the Great Western Railway (GWR) took control of the Mawddwy Railway as part of the grouping of British railways. The GWR introduced buses to the Dyfi valley, many operated by its subsidiary the Corris Railway. These competed with the passenger services of the railway, leading to the end of passenger services at the end of 1930.
Freight services continued through the Second World War, although the local slate industry continued to decline. The quarries served by the Hendre-Ddu Tramway closed in late 1939, though part of the tramway continued in use to bring timber from the forests west of Aberangell. After the war, the railway became part of British Railways at nationalisation. In September 1950 heavy flooding of the River Dyfi damaged the railway bridge north of Cemmaes Road station. The line was officially closed on 1 July 1952. The track was lifted early in 1952.
Locomotives
Chasewaterstuff's Railway & Canal Blog 
Excellent stuff. Although only 3/4 at the time, I can still remember the slate trains at Dinas Mawddwy on my dad’s fishing trips to the Dyfi when we stayed at the Buckley Arms. Last year I cycled from DM to Machynlleth on the road that runs along the north bank of the Dyfi and the old line can be followed virtually the whole way. The bridges have all gone but the abutments can still be seen as can the remnants of the platform walls of Cemmaes Station. I had always thought that this station and that at Aberangell were the only two ‘twixt DM and Cemmaes Road but there was another one near Mallwyd virtually next to the road bridge which crosses the Dyfi bringing traffic from that village. This is shown on the Cassini Historical 1:50,000 map 1919-26 although there is no trace of it today.
To digress, a superb railway walk can be followed up Cwm Prysor down to Lyn Celyn in almost its entirety. Happy wandering.
Reblogged this on sed30's Blog and commented:
For those of you who like models with grass between their tracks.