Vale of Rheidol Railway locomotive "Owain Glyndwr", on a train at Aberystwyth in the early 1950s
The Vale of Rheidol Railway is a 1 ft 11 3⁄4 in narrow gauge heritage railway that runs for 11 3⁄4 miles between Aberystwyth and Devil's Bridge in the county of Ceredigion, Wales. The original primary purpose of the line was to carry timber (for pit props in the South Wales valleys) and ore from the Rheidol Valley to the sea and the main line railway at Aberystwyth. Many lead mines in the valley were producing ore at the end of the 19th century. Following an Act of Parliament in 1897, it was not possible to raise finance as quickly as expected, and construction started in 1901. Rock was hand-hewn instead of being blasted, in order to save money. The chief engineer was Sir James Szlumper. By the time the railway was ready to open in 1902, lead mining in Ceredigion was in steep decline. However a significant growth in tourism was under way, and the carriage of passengers soon became the principal traffic of the railway. It opened for mineral traffic in August 1902 and for passengers on 22 December 1902, using two 2-6-2T locomotives built by Davies a Metcalfe and a 2-4-0T locomotive built by Bagnall. In 1922, it was grouped into the Great Western Railway (GWR).[5] A new station was opened next door to the town's main Great Western station. The GWR turned it into a service solely for tourists; the line to the harbour was closed; and freight services were withdrawn, and from 1931 trains only operated during the summer months. The entire line was closed for the duration of World War II, though maintenance continued. The railway re-opened in 1945. The Great Western Railway became part of the Western Region of British Railways on 1 January 1948 and the line continued to operate a tourist service. In 1968, the line was rerouted in Aberystwyth to run adjacent to the BR line into the former standard gauge Carmarthen line platforms of the main station which had been abandoned in 1964. This photograph, from a negative in my possession, probably dates from the early 1950s
Size: 3096px × 2001px
Location: Aberystwyth, Wales
Photo credit: © Digbydachshund / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: .7, aberystwyth, aberyswyth, bridge, devil, gauge, glyndwr, great, gwr, locomotive, narrow, owain, railway, rheidol, steam, train, vale, wales, welsh, western
