Welsh Highland Railway
Region North Wales Mid Wales South Wales National Network Route Sections Gazetteer of Stations About Wales	Location: 52 56N 4 08W; UK National Grid Ref: SH 568 393 Enquiries to: Welsh Highland Railway, Tremadog Road, PORTHMADOG. LL49 9DY Tel: +44 (0)1766 513402 or (0)1776 514040. Scroll to read the entire article, or select items to move directly to topics Opening times and fares ..... How to get there	Preserved: Standard gauge Narrow gauge WalesRails: The Grand Tour Official Websites What's New Back to Welcome page

The Welsh Highland Railway (Porthmadog) is one of the Great Little Trains of Wales.

Of 2ft gauge, it operates for three-quarters of a mile from Gelert's Farm to Pen-y-mount, and visitors have the opportunity of travelling in the restored coach used by prime minister William Gladstone during a visit in 1892.
Star locomotive of the Railway is Russell, a 2-6-2 tank built by Hunslet in 1906 - there are 100th birthday celebrations in July - d  and the sole survivor of the original line, which closed in 1937.
The aim of the WHR is to recreate the experience of rail travel in a bygone age, to 'a timeless world of old-fashioned courtesy and a forgotten way of life'. The station at Pen-y-mount is an exact replica of an original WHR station, and a visit includes a tour of the sheds where the historic locos can be seen in their natural environment. Although the present-day journey is a short one, ultimately the WHR is part of the ambitious scheme to reopen the Welsh Highland Railway through the spectacular scenery of Snowdonia, from Caernarfon to Porthmadog, a project being undertaken in conjunction with the Ffestiniog Railway.

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The WHR is open (all dates inclusive):
March 15th to 21st and 31st Diesel services; 22nd to 30th Steam services
April Daily from 1st to 30th. Diesel services
May 1st, 2nd and 6th to 23rd Diesel services. 3rd, 4th, 5th and 24th to 31st Steam services
June Diesel services except for Steam services on 1st
July 1st to 4th, 7th to 11th and 14th to18th Diesel services. Remaining dates Steam services
August Steam services every Day
September Diesel services Mondays to Fridays; Steam Saturdays and Sundays
October Daily except Mondays. Steam services 25t to 30th, otherwise Diesel services
November 1st and 2nd only. Steam services

Departure Times

Trains depart Porthmadog for the 40-minute round trip at 10.30am, 11.45am, 1.30pm, 2.30pm, 3.30pm and 4.30*pm
* The 4.30pm service does not run in February, September and October
There is a different service pattern on Special Event days
The 11:45 departure will be replaced with a 12:15 departure on the following peak-season dates: 30 July to 3 August, 6 - 10 August, 13 - 17 August, 20 - 24 August, 27 - 31 August. The return from Traeth Mawr will be at 12:40 on these dates. This timetable change is to allow passengers from the Cambrian Coast Express (see Special Events section) chance to transfer between stations in Porthmadog

Fares

On selected trains, adults can also gain a driver's eye view of the line with a footplate pass for a supplementary fare of £10.00 (Steam) or £6.00 (Diesel)

Special Events 2008 (Contact the WHR for details)

• March 23rd Easter Bunnies. Easter Bunny hunt in the Engine Shed and Rufus Rabbit on the train

• May 3rd to 5th Bank Holiday Gala. featuring Hunslet steam and diesel locomotives.

• May 31st and June 1st Teddy Bears' Picnic. Children and their teddy bear travel free and can try to Spot the Bears in the Big Engine shed.

• July 5th and 6th Welsh Dragons Treasure Hunt. Win a prize by keeping an eye open for the dragons as you go round the railway

• July 19th to August 31s Summer Steam Spectacular. Steam Trains every day

• July 28th to August 29th Steam on the Cambrian Coast Line. Steam trains will be running Mondays to Fridays on the main line through Porthmadog (some trains extend to Pwllheli), so show your ticket from the special and get a 10% discount for a trip on our line.

• Bank Holiday Weekend August 24th and 25th Jack the Station Cat. Children's activities with Jack the Station Cat on the train and book signings by author Alan Cliff

The railway is about 100 metres from Porthmadog station on the Cambrian coast line from Shrewsbury to Pwllheli, operated by Arriva Trains Wales.
There are regular bus services from Caernarfon, Pwllheli and Dolgellau, all of which stop within a few hundred metres of the WHR.
For details of connecting services, including travel planner and timetables, visit the Traveline Cymru website.

Select link for the WHR's official web pages.

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Copyright © 1997/8/9/2000/1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8 by Deryck Lewis. All rights reserved
Page created July 23 1997; Redesigned July 24 1999; Last update February 4 2008
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