Welsh Slate Museum, Llanberis, image and link. Lynn Zelmer photo.

Wales has a number of delightful narrow gauge railways, with some of the most interesting being the slate railways near Caernarfon and Snowdonia. I visited the area in 2003 and rode/photographed what were at that time four separate railways as well as visiting the Welsh Slate Museum. This page has a selection of my visit photos.

Welsh Slate Museum Llanberis: A museum and workshops providing a glimpse of how slate was worked. One of the best working museums in the world (imho, as with the Ipswich Railway Workshops), and it's free.
URL: www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/slate
Photos: Slate work yard (image at right), 4 wheel yard wagon, 4 wheel slate wagons, loading hoist.

Llanberis Lake Railway: Situated in Snowdonia, this 2' gauge railway travels along a mountain lake as well as providing access to the Welsh Slate Museum. Operating on the right-of-way of a 4' gauge railway, it uses the Slate Quarry's internal 2' gauge.
URL: www.lake-railway.co.uk
Photos: 0-4-0T Elidir at station, in workshop, heading train near Museum; carriages at Llanberis.

Welsh Highland Railway, Caernarfon: Part of a Millenium Project with the Ffestiniog Railway, this line will eventually run from Caernarfon to Porthmadog along part of the long-abandoned Welsh Highland route. In 2003 it operated from Caernarfon to Waunfawr.
URL: www.festrail.co.uk
Photos: Passenger carriages at station, train departing Caernarfon; navvy wagons; Waunfawr 1, 2.

Ffestiniog Railway: Part of a Millenium Project this 23.5" (600mm) line will eventually run from Caernarfon to Porthmadog along part of the long-abandoned Welsh Highland route. The line is notable for its Fairlie-type locomotives and in 2003 ran from Porthmadog to Blaenau Ffestiniog.
URL: www.festrail.co.uk
Photos: Servicing loco 1, 2, likely at Porthmadog; carriages, likely at Blaenau Ffestiniog.

Welsh Highland Railway, Porthmadog: This .75 mile line of 23.5" (600mm) gauge track runs on the original right-of-way of the standard gauged Cambrian Railway at Porthmadog. Not to be confused with the more commercial Welsh Highland Railway Millenium project connected with the Ffestiniog Railway, this is a member-operated restoration and heritage group. Steam locos include Russell and Gelert.
URL: www.whr.co.uk
Photos: Ruston diesel loco; Simplex petrol loco; 4 wheel wagon; 4 wheel wagon on turntable, turntable mechanism.

Resources: Many of the small locomotives and wagons of the Welsh railways have been preserved in model form, especially in live steam. One of the best resources for modelling the slate railways is Gordon and Ann Hatherill's Slate Quarry Album from RCL Publications. While only 88 A4 pages, hard or soft cover, it's exceedingly well produced and is full of photographs, drawings and operating details.