Description

At the grouping of the railways in 1923, the GWR inherited two narrow gauge railways, via the Cambrian Railways. One, the Welshpool and Llanfair served an agricultural district, the other, the Vale of Rheidol, climbed up into mountain foothills. This booklet was produced to help publicise the VOR, and two standard gauge GWR lines (Bala to Blaenau Festiniog and the Dinas Mawddwy branch) running through mountainous territory. Added to these were descriptions of the privately owned Festiniog, Talyllyn, Corris and recently opened Welsh Highland railways, all of which penetrated mountainous regions. A curiosity of this little book, is the way it manages to “air brush” the London Midland and Scottish Railway, with its spectacular line to Blaenau Festiniog, and connection to the Welsh Highland at Dinas out of the picture altogether. Indeed the description of the Welsh Highland, takes the tourist as far as Snowden Ranger station, and then implies retracing the journey back to the safe embrace of the GWR at Portmadoc! Even odder, there is no mention at all of the only line which the Swiss might recognize as a mountain railway – the Snowdon. Probably omitted because the only way of reaching it was via a branch line from Bangor to Llanberis … owned by the LMS! This is a very nostalgic and nicely produced item, still displaying traces of Art Nouveau in design and type face.

PREVIEW BELOW – MAY TAKE A WHILE TO LOAD.