Glyn Valley Tramway

Glyn Valley Tramway
Waiting room in Pontfadog
Route
Route length:	13.3 km
Gauge :	724 mm

The Glyn Valley Tramway was an 8¼ miles (13.3 km) long narrow gauge railway with a gauge of 2 feet 4½ inches (724 mm) that ran through the Ceiriog Valley in northeast Wales and Chirk with Glyn Ceiriog in Denbighshire (now Wrexham County Borough ) association. 6½ miles (10.5 km) of which were used by passenger trains, the rest was used for a large granite quarry and several smaller slate quarries.

history

The original route

A train at Glyn Ceiriog station , around 1875

The railway was to be built to connect the quarries at Glyn Ceiriog to the Shropshire Union Canal in Chirk . By law of August 6, 1866, the Ellesmere & Glyn Valley Railway was allowed to build and operate a standard gauge line from the Cambrian Railways at Ellesmere to the Great Western Railway at Chirk and from there along the Glyn Ceiriog Road to the quarries. However, construction was not started, after which a law of 1869 prohibited the construction of the line from Ellesmere to Chirk again. In 1870 the company was renamed the Glyn Valley Tramway by a law of parliament , which enabled the company to build a narrow-gauge railway from the canal at Chirk Bank to the Cambrian Slate Quarries . This 6½ mile (10.5 km) stretch of route opened in 1873 and was operated uphill by draft horses and downhill by gravity. Both passenger and freight traffic were carried out from 1873.

Reconstruction and expansion

In 1885, additional parliamentary powers were given to dismantle the Quinta Tramway between Pontfaen and Chirk Bank and replace it with a new line from Pontfaen to Chirk station on the Great Western Railway. A two-mile (3.2 km) extension from Glyn to the Pandy quarries has also been approved.

Steam locomotives borrowed from Snailbeach District Railways were used to rebuild the route. The new line was opened in 1888 for freight traffic and in 1891 for passenger traffic. The new line was operated by steam locomotives purchased from Beyer-Peacock in Manchester.

business

The two original locomotives, Sir Theodore and Dennis , were joined by a third, Glyn , in 1892 . These tram locomotives were used on the line until 1921 when a Beyer-Peacock locomotive of the former Navy was bought. The track width of the locomotive was (597 mm) from the original one foot 11½ inches umgespurt .

Decline and closure

After World War I, costs began to increase significantly while revenues did not increase. The financial return of the railroad steadily decreased in the 1920s. The railroad had to carry approximately 45,000 tons of traffic per year to break even. In 1929 it carried 64,857 tons, but in 1932 it was only 21,400 tons. The increase in road transport and changes in ownership of the remaining quarries were the cause of this decrease in traffic.

In 1932, bus services began in the valley, offering passengers a serious alternative to the tram for the first time. Passenger numbers fell sharply that year, and passenger traffic was abandoned in early 1933. Freight traffic continued to decline, and the losses in rail and service traffic did not end until July 1935 when the company was voluntarily liquidated. The locomotives were all scrapped in 1936.

conservation

A Glyn Valley car is still on the Talyllyn Railway received

In the 1930s, most of the railway and track material was scrapped. However, some wagon bodies were sold to local farmers. Two of these car bodies survived long enough to be rescued by the Talyllyn Railway, where they were restored to working order and used in regular traffic. Some of the Glyn Valley Railway's track found its way to Talyllyn.

The waiting rooms in Pontfadog and Dolywern have been preserved in their original locations to this day. In 1950 the local council used the waiting room in Pontfadog to collect donations, so the locals jokingly called it “Pontfadog Town Hall”. It was later bought by the operator of the local pub and used, among other things, as a craft store.

Part of the historic tram route called the “Little Bit of Heaven Railway” was to be revived by the Glyn Valley Tramway Trust, which was founded as a non-profit organization in 2007. This wants to recreate the state of the 1920s and provide a visitor center with workshops and educational facilities to show and interpret the history and development of the tram through artifacts and audiovisual media. However, unlike the original, the planned tram is to be operated with a gauge of 2 feet 6 inches (762 mm) and is therefore not viewed by some as a real museum railway. The Glyn Valley Tramway Trust initially conducted a design and evaluation study of the entire route from Chirk to Glyn Ceiriog and beyond. In the first phase, a 1 km long route as a steam train from the original Chirk station of the Glyn Valley Tramway next to the main Shrewsbury – Chester line to Baddy's Wood near Pontfaen was to be put back into operation.

Quarries along the way

Surname	product	opening	closure	Remarks
Hendre Quarry	granite	circa 1850	1935	A two-axle steam locomotive from the Lilleshall Company was used for internal shunting work
Upper Pandy Quarry	granite	1900	1908
Cae-Deicws Quarry	Porcelain clay	1885	1905
Lower Pandy Quarry	Porcelain clay	1885	1905
Pen-y-Graig Quarry	quartz	1911	1920
Coed-y-Glyn Mine	granite
Cambrian Quarry	slate	1873		Internally there was a narrow-gauge railway with a gauge of 610 mm and a 0-4-0 ST locomotive from WG Bagnall
Wynne Quarry	slate	1884
Quinta Colliery	coal

Individual evidence

1. ^ Glyn Valley Tramway Trust: The history of the Glyn Valley Tramway.
2. ^ ^{A b c} Glyn Valley Tramway - Historical Information.

Coordinates: 52 ° 56 '3.4 "  N , 3 ° 8" 26.4 "  W.