and in 2010
Pheonix once again had the honours! as Britomart was out of action being prepared for scrap!
Christmas Eve was always the day where the last day of traffic for the year happens, and everyone comes out to enjoy the last Santa Specials and also for the Sherry and Christmas Puddings, while the railway busily gets everything ready for the New Year. As I was in the area, I decided to go for a walk up the old line, and started at Dolwyddelan, a place normally bustling with the sound of stone and slate being unloaded, workers helping out watering the loco while shunting is done to prepare the next passenger train up the line
Today, I found this:
Platforms quiet, no standard gauge train waiting in the siding, just the lonely rolling stock, and H.G.Butler
However, as the loco there was half way though overhaul, the chassis was missing, and was no where to be found, not even in the sheds where many a loco has been repaired or overhauled, which was rather disconcerning, as that loco is the next to travel over to York! However, I begun to walk up the old trackbed, and it wasn't long until the temporary tracks stopped, and only the gravel was left. The next part of the line, Dolmur Goch Bank, the steepest part of the line, where many trains have failed to reach the top
This part of the line put any loco to the test, in all weather conditions, and the loco's could be heard for miles along the valley as they climbed up here. Today, all that could be heard was the cold wind blowing across the valley, and the sight of the odd rail or sleeper that has been left behind
Some parts of the trackbed are still very intact however
the next "landmark" of the railway, is Prince Llewellyn Quarries, the midpoint of the line and also another quarry which started up after the line opened, this place has had many a photo taken
This was another bustling place, where waggons were prepared to be taken to Dolwyddelan with slate, today, all that was left, was the platform, and some sleepers
But one thing that I noticed, is that the sleepers looked new, and very in tact, and the contracters who took the railway apart wouldn't have left good sleepers behind, but I carried on up to Sarn Helen Embankment, made famous through this
but today, it looked like this
a cold pile, of again, some rather new sleepers, and not long after this, I found the quarries, the heart of the railway, where the entire work fleet ended up, and where the main workshops and everything else moved to, silent
I found Prince & Princess of Wales, with the Prince in the dirt
From the looks of things, the rails couldn't hold the weight
It seems everything has been dumped in the smallest area so that as much track as possible could be reclaimed
I then found the chassis of H.G.Butler....
It looked like the contractors forgot to take the chassis with them
One of the replica waggons from the old railway, with the ongoing mod to help them work with Narrow Gauge couplings better
I then found some old parts of Britomart lying around the place
and then I found the photo that made the day personally
As nature slowly reclaims the railway, to be lost forever.....but as it was bitterly cold and with a strong with blowing I made my way back to Dolwyddelan, still with no sight of anyone else around, but the odd stray sheep on the old trackbed. I then came across someelse walking up the line nearer Dolwyddelan and asked about the railway. He did recognise me as the old manager of the railway, but went on to say that there are plans by locals to help re-build the railway for preservation! with proper narrow gauge track!
Not all may not be lost! 
Before I leave you here, I will add that all the photos above are staged and the mamods aren't left outside on a permanent basis!
Enjoy! [/quote]
