THE NORTH STAR CHRONICLES – a newsletter primarily for the model railway fraternity Volume 2 no 5, May 2014 Editor: David Cairns e-mail:
[email protected] Website for back copies: https://sites.google.com/a/steamtrains.co.za/steam/garden-railways/the- north-star-chronicles Phone: +27 82 653 5642 Editorial This month the theme of ‘Training In Retirement’ is continued with a second article on Preservation, on this occasion featuring the 1’ 11½” Welsh Highland Railway. This line was chosen for a number of reasons: the sheer scale of the project – re-establishing 25 miles of railway line, the main part of which had been closed for some 60 years; the associated legal, financial, physical and indeed social challenges (a small number of opponents of the rebuilding of the line resorted to vandalism); and of course the WHR’s strong South African connections. Training In Retirement Part 4 – Preservation Part 2 The Welsh Highland Railway – a complicated story As is frequently the case with railways in Wales particularly narrow gauge ones, the history of the Welsh Highland Railway is closely associated with slate mining. Another interesting feature of the WHR is how its history is intertwined with that of its neighbour the Festiniog Railway. A third thread is the role of civic authorities in promoting/subsidising the line. 1 Route of the Welsh Highland Railway In 1922 two companies – the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways (NWNGR) and the Portmadoc, Beddgelert and South Snowdon Railway (PBSSR), successor to the Portmadoc, Croesor and Beddgelert Tram Railway merged to form the Welsh Highland Railway.