Highlight of the trip had to be the daily Cambrian Coast Express, i've never seen a loco being run as well and as spectacularly as 76079 was on these runs, a real pleasure to watch and in some great scenery too!
video of the Train, near Tywyn
http://youtube.com/watch?v=UIbwbkvbvPI
Also a couple of pictures of a quaint old station/turned craft centre, Erwood, in mid wales
And two of the dear old Talyllyn railway, which i've been visiting every year almost since the year i was born!
Finally, although not strictly a railway, the old quarries of Dinorwic in North Wales were once home to a large and complicated range of narrow guage railways and tramways, be warned there are over 100 pictures following, i found the Quarries especially fascinating and unfortunatly th number of pictures reflects this!
(i must stress that old quarries are very dangerous places, the upper workings may be very popular haunts for climbers and walkers alike, but you never have to look far to see things that could very easily turn bad if care is not exercised, as with all such things,if you choose to go there, be VERY CAREFUL)
anyway,
These are the tips at the northen end of the quarry, up to 90% of excavated slate is waste and had to be removed from the workings.
an overview of the quarry system from the far side on lyn peris, you can clearly see the levels upon which the railways used to run.
The welsh slate museum, the former quarry workshops lies at the northen bottom end.
These inclines were used to haul wagons of slate down to the railway at the bottom of the mountain, and empty wagons back up by way of cable winding drums.
old quarryman's footpath up to the workings crosses the incline here,
near the top of this row of inclines is a row of quarrymen's barracks.
this is one of the flooded pit workings in the quarry and a fave with the climbing brigade.
the water here is crystal clear, and from the higher galleries you can see a building at the bottom of the pit, despite the water being at leat 60 feet deep
An old steam loco shed stands on the mountainside here, visible from the offical quarry path
alongside the path is this tunnel and pit working, which seems to be at least 150 feet deep
the shed like structure to the right of this picture is a blast shelter where steam loco's would be put into when blasting was taking place, to keep them out of harms way. the large excavation above the shed in the distance extends right to the top of the mountainside and goes right down to nearly lake level, which at nigh on 2000 feet deep from the high side, makes this one of the most awsome sights i have ever seen
this incline embankment is one of many examples of the amazing dry stone structures in the area, the picture dosnt do justice to the scale and complexity of it.
Lyn Padarn from near the bottom-mid levels.
small fortification accross on th far side of the lake
one of the towers that formally supported the arial cableways in the quarry
to give a measure of how unstable some parts of the quarry are, this is a long length of railway track suspended in midair following a rock fall
the abandoned loco shed seen earlier from below
this window holds back waste from an immense tip right beside the shed
shows how unstable ground affects the buildings here
Further out along the tramway from the shed towards the northen tips
a very rough old incline
one of the transporter tables, balenced where it came to rest
closer look at that table
a look at its partner that apppears to have run away down the slope and crashed into the loading bay
winding house for the above
machinery in the grass,
tunnel leading from near the previous incline into the really huge pit working
another tunnel leading to a level inside the big pit, this time with rails still laid inside
This pic just dosn't convey how huge this pit is, above are the levels going right to the top of the mountain and to the right over the wall, a sheer drop hundreds of feet to the bottom of the pit. also, to the left you can see the great slide, a massive rockfall that has obliterated the galleries below it.
a look back over at the official path and to the right, one of the large dressing mills, (remains of)
a view over the lake with the loco blast shelter and a winding house below
aerial ropeway that once carried wagons out of and down into the big pit.
another incline in a bad way
machinery dismantled very destructivly
general veiw
inside the old canteen/mess
old coats and boots left by quarrymen when the place closed in the 60's, there are a few genuine signitures amongst the visitor's
various old machinery around the edge of the big pit,
a very steep lift incline at the bottom of the big pit, debris from the great fall has filled the bottom of it in.
winding house in poor condition
a wagon lays where they came to rest having fallen from an incline
weighing equipment rusts quietly
looking up at 'Australia' level as it was known, 1700 feet above the lakes below, site of the highest dressing mill
water storage tank on level below australia
what i took to be a steam engine driving a generator, was actually a huge electric motor driving an air compresser for the air drills and tools around the quarry.
made in new york no less!
a more modern compressor in the next shed
a blacksmiths area between the compresser sheds
a well preserved incline above australia level, one in the final chain taking galleries above 2000 feet.
the mill on australia level,
the building, much equipment, inclines and railway are all pretty intact here, it was simply too remote for the scrapmen to get to.
possibly the scariest sight i ever saw!, i couldnt get any closer for safety's sake, its a camera on a stick picture as it is! but the drop into the pit working in front of me was a pretty vertical one of at least 400 feet, and as you can see the wall to the right is already starting to fall in!
more incline stuff
another view of the abandoned mill and steam loco shed
the line shafting which once drove the sawbenches inside by way of big belts
the abandoned saws and machinery inside the mill
here slates would have been cut to size and loaded onto wagons for lowering down the mountain,
and the waste rock would be trundled off behind a steam loco to the southern tips,
lyn peris from australia level, 1700feet
the start of a long journey down inclines to the bottom.
very old graffiti on winding house, over 110 years!
lyn padarn from australia, destination of the slates, before their journey by rail to a port on the north coast
top of the next incline up, note the completness,
about as far as we got, not much to see further up and ground looked unstable so stayed away
the winding drum for this incline is underground, the timber covering had rotten away leaving this nasty trap, at least one sheep skeleton lay at the bottom!
a last look down on the compresser houses and water tank, before the steep decent home
