About the (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway
The real Welsh Highland Railway opened in 1923, a 2' gauge line combining the existing North Wales Narrow Gauge Railway, the partly constructed Porthmadog, Beddgelert and South Snowdon Railway, parts of the old Croesor Tramway and newly constructed sections to link Porthmadog (and the Ffestiniog Railway) with Dinas Junction on the London North Western route to Caernarfon. The new line was intended to carry slate and tourists but found both in short supply - despite the efforts of legendary light railway manager Colonel Stephens, and eventual lease by the Ffestiniog, the railway closed after a life of just 13 years. The rails were lifted for scrap during the Second World War and the line was left to slumber...
Attempts to restore the line began in 1961, resulting in the mile long line on the edge of Porthmadog - now the Welsh Highland Heritage Railway - opening in 1980,the restoration of original locomotive "Russell" and a number of heritage carriages, and an excellent museum. Complex and controversial legal battles eventually saw the Ffestiniog Railway win the right to restore the route, and the completed line is now operated by them with comfortable modern trains hauled by powerful Garratt locomotives re-imported from South Africa. The two lines now enjoy a cordial relationship after years of conflict, and both are well worth a visit - links to their websites may be found on the links page.
It was the revival schemes that drew my attention to the Welsh Highland, but it was the line's past that really captured my imagination, those years when "Russell", "Moel Tryfan" and the poor unloved "590" battled against a lack of passengers, money and maintenance, against the steep hills and wild Welsh weather, and against the dawn of the internal combustion age.
It's something of the atmosphere of that era that I'm attempting to recreate in our small back garden. Space, time and money are all tight, and progress is slow, but perhaps - just for a moment - 1:19 scale visitors to our little corner of South Bristol taking a ride along my imaginary Clarach Branch might wonder if they've somehow travelled back to 1920s Snowdonia...
It's something of the atmosphere of that era that I'm attempting to recreate in our small back garden. Space, time and money are all tight, and progress is slow, but perhaps - just for a moment - 1:19 scale visitors to our little corner of South Bristol taking a ride along my imaginary Clarach Branch might wonder if they've somehow travelled back to 1920s Snowdonia...
The (WH)WHR is a reincarnation of my old West Kent Light Railway, a happy little outfit whose trains trundled round the back garden for 5 years or so before a large part of its trackbed was demolished to make way for a house extension in 2010. That line itself had its origins in a previous version of the WKLR in South London, and - ultimately - in the Mamod starter set I purchased with the proceeds of a paper round way back in 1988. The WKLR's locomotives, including that early Mamod, and much of its rolling stock live on, and some are regular performers on the (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland.
