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Rhyd Ddu railway station
Rhyd Ddu is a station on the narrow gauge Welsh Highland Railway, which was built in 1881 as the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways Moel Tryfan Undertaking to carry dressed slate to Dinas Junction on the LNWR. It has also previously been named both "Snowdon" and "South Snowdon".
"Rhyd Ddu" is Welsh for "Black Ford".
In the late 1880s, the construction of a railway up Snowdon from Llanberis was being seriously discussed. The NWNGR company renamed the station "Snowdon" as part of an effort to promote tourist traffic on their railway, especially amongst those who wanted to climb Wales' highest mountain. Some in Llanberis thought this misleading, but as contemporary literature pointed out -
"Visitors should bear in mind that in climbing Snowdon by this line (ours), they are conveyed by the "Toy" railway to a height of nearly 900 feet above sea level, so that they have quite two miles less to traverse from Snowdon station, compared to the Llanberis distance and about 800 feet less to reach the summit."
Visitors were by now alighting at this halt in droves, and nearby Beddgelert consequently received many more visitors. Horse-drawn road vehicles provided the link to Beddgelert, the connections being included in the railway's timetable. It was largely as a consequence of this that in 1893 a deputation of interested parties from Llanberis went to see landowner Mr Assheton-Smith, of the Vaenol Estate, who had previously been opposed to any railway up Snowdon, to try to convince him that Beddgelert was fast displacing Llanberis as the main centre for ascending the mountain. Assheton-Smith was ultimately convinced, and The Snowdon Mountain Tramroad and Hotels Co. Ltd. was established in November the following year.
Prior to the line's subsequent take-over by the Welsh Highland Railway, a report by Major Spring, commissioned by the Festiniog Railway, referred to "Rhyddu [sic] or Snowdon Station". After take-over, the line was extended southwards to Beddgelert and Porthmadog in 1923. The station name was first renamed to "South Snowdon"[when?] and renamed again in 1934 to Rhyd-Ddu.
Passenger services ceased to the old station site on 26 September 1936.
Following reconstruction, the section from Waunfawr to Rhyd Ddu was formally reopened by the Prince of Wales on 30 July 2003. Prince Charles travelled from Waunfawr to Snowdon Ranger in the replica of a North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways coach, and from there to Rhyd Ddu on the footplate of the Ffestiniog Railway locomotive "Prince", built in 1863, which hauled the special train.
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Rhyd Ddu railway station
Rhyd Ddu is a station on the narrow gauge Welsh Highland Railway, which was built in 1881 as the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways Moel Tryfan Undertaking to carry dressed slate to Dinas Junction on the LNWR. It has also previously been named both "Snowdon" and "South Snowdon".
"Rhyd Ddu" is Welsh for "Black Ford".
In the late 1880s, the construction of a railway up Snowdon from Llanberis was being seriously discussed. The NWNGR company renamed the station "Snowdon" as part of an effort to promote tourist traffic on their railway, especially amongst those who wanted to climb Wales' highest mountain. Some in Llanberis thought this misleading, but as contemporary literature pointed out -
"Visitors should bear in mind that in climbing Snowdon by this line (ours), they are conveyed by the "Toy" railway to a height of nearly 900 feet above sea level, so that they have quite two miles less to traverse from Snowdon station, compared to the Llanberis distance and about 800 feet less to reach the summit."
Visitors were by now alighting at this halt in droves, and nearby Beddgelert consequently received many more visitors. Horse-drawn road vehicles provided the link to Beddgelert, the connections being included in the railway's timetable. It was largely as a consequence of this that in 1893 a deputation of interested parties from Llanberis went to see landowner Mr Assheton-Smith, of the Vaenol Estate, who had previously been opposed to any railway up Snowdon, to try to convince him that Beddgelert was fast displacing Llanberis as the main centre for ascending the mountain. Assheton-Smith was ultimately convinced, and The Snowdon Mountain Tramroad and Hotels Co. Ltd. was established in November the following year.
Prior to the line's subsequent take-over by the Welsh Highland Railway, a report by Major Spring, commissioned by the Festiniog Railway, referred to "Rhyddu [sic] or Snowdon Station". After take-over, the line was extended southwards to Beddgelert and Porthmadog in 1923. The station name was first renamed to "South Snowdon"[when?] and renamed again in 1934 to Rhyd-Ddu.
Passenger services ceased to the old station site on 26 September 1936.
Following reconstruction, the section from Waunfawr to Rhyd Ddu was formally reopened by the Prince of Wales on 30 July 2003. Prince Charles travelled from Waunfawr to Snowdon Ranger in the replica of a North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways coach, and from there to Rhyd Ddu on the footplate of the Ffestiniog Railway locomotive "Prince", built in 1863, which hauled the special train.