Description

One of the joys of the Welsh narrow gauge is its sheer variety and apparent antiquity. While many of the railways were designed from the outset as miniature mainlines, others were constructed on a shoestring. If the railways had anything in common, however, it was their individuality and uniqueness. Those concerns operating in the 1960s were very different organisations to the railways of the 1920s and 30s. The Festiniog and Talyllyn had avoided being absorbed by the Great Western or LMS in 1923 and had gone their own ways, while the Corris, Vale of Rheidol and Welshpool & Llanfair had all come under the umbrella of Swindon. The Snowdon Mountain Railway, the Fairbourne, Glyn Valley and Great Orme Tramway were left to plough their individual furrows in an increasingly road-orientated society. Thanks to the preservation societies, which have revived the fortunes of many of the railways joining forces in 1970 under the banner of 'The Great Little Trains of Wales'. Illustrated with over 200 photographs, Andrew Wilson takes the reader on a nostalgic journey through North Wales, revisiting the rich diversity and charm of the Welsh narrow gauge railways and showing how they have changed in the last half century.