The route section of the site includes detailed illustrated descriptions - Rhyd Ddu to Beddgelert and Beddgelert to Porthmadog.
Note for visitors - vehicular access
This section runs from the southern boundary of the Forest campsite to the underbridge at the top end of Beddgelert Station. It comprises a reasonably straight section, adjacent to the northern end of the abortive PB&SSR works, and then the second and more spectacular of the S-bends, which sees the railway double back on itself twice across largely open countryside above the northern end of Beddgelert village, in the process crossing both a bridleway and the Afon Cwmcloch three times. The works required involve the usual mixture of trackbed clearance, consolidation and drainage, plus renewal of various missing small underbridges.
The work was divided into two contracts.
The James Contract Section, UB156 - LC82
G.H. James Cyf moved onto site at the start of July 2006 (for a contract start date of July 10th), establishing a work base at the southern end of the first contract section, uphill from Cwm Cloch Isaf. An area of hard standing was created west of and immediately above LC82, the first crossing of the private road and public bridleway which leaves the A4085 at Pont Alun, which was being used for site access.
Close to the north end of the first contract section, the line crosses the Afon Glochig on UB156. Renewal of this stream bridge was moved into the second contract, as it is the only structure of this type on the upper section and there are similar ones on the lower section.
By mid-August the trackbed had been scraped down to the original ballast along this section and drainage works were in hand. The steel girder structure of UB156 had been removed. Access along the trackbed from the south was needed until the replacement bridge deck was in place, so completion to ballasted condition from UB156 to LC82 had to await this. UB156 and its approach from the South are seen below on September 16th.
UB156 was finished in late October. A tipper is seen below arriving at the upper Cwm Cloch work base on October 27th.
Ballasting was done in the third week of November down from UB156 to a point just uphill of the compound, where a final culvert was being completed.
Ballasting was in the middle of being completed down to LC82 when seen below on January 21st 2007.
The original beams of UB156 spent some months dumped alongside the trackbed adjacent to the site compound. By mid-January 2007 the assembly had been moved to a temporary position alongside the lane, and James had moved out of the site compound.
Ballast was complete to both sides of LC82 by January 28th 2007, and the crossing was ready for track.
Tracklaying entered this contract section over the weekend of January 27-8th 2007; the Rest of the World Gang, supported by members of the Imperial College Railway Society and Newcastle University Railway Society, laid eleven lengths taking the Head of Steel to approximately CH20700.
The work seen above also brought the track alongside the PB&SSR formation in its partly overgrown cutting, seen below to the left. The difference in levels, quite close to where the routes converge, illustrates the impractical steepness of the abortive earlier route.
A little further on, the PB&SSR cutting is still evident on the left in this picture taken on February 17th 2007, showing pre-curved rails laid out ready for delivery to be laid in the lower S-bend.
The North Wales Gang are seen below in the middle of the section on February 4th 2007; eleven lengths were laid over the weekend, reaching CH20931.
The Rest of the World Gang were entering the curve just short of the end of the section at LC82 when seen below on February 11th 2007.
The gates at LC82 were installed in mid-June 2007; there is a separate set of pedestrian gates on the southern side. Note the background in the first picture, which shows the former site compound greening over rapidly, having been seeded with grass.
The following panoramic view shows LC82 right of centre.
The Hughes Contract Section, LC82 - UB165
The second contract proper starts at LC82 and the adjacent UB158, the first crossing of the Afon Nant Cwmcloch. A new deck was required here.
The line now describes the first loop of the S-bend, bending round to the left by rather more than 180 degrees before easing to the right. The bend starts in a deep rock cutting, and then continues on a substantial embankment (the one that can be seen from above Beddgelert Station).
The line then makes its second crossing of the Afon Nant Cwmcloch and the bridleway (LC86), heading the opposite way from before. The stream bridge UB164 still had its original deck, but the bridge required renewal.
The contract for the S-bend section was let to Anglesey-based contractor William Hughes Civil Engineering Ltd. They moved on to site in early August 2006.
UB158
At the upper end of the contract the felled tree was removed from UB158 and rapidly replaced by formwork for its new deck.
Progress is seen below a week later, with the formwork looking complete, and reinforcing mesh partly assembled ahead of the concrete pour.
The deck and upstands had been cast but not yet revealed when seen below on August 26th. The second picture also shows minor preparatory repairs which had been carried out on the abutments.
The bridge is seen below on September 3rd.
In December 2006 a decision was implemented to excavate the drystone retaining wall on the downstream side of UB158 immediately up chainage of the bridge's abutment, and to provide a firmer replacement at this stage. The excavated area is seen below on December 3rd 2006.
Two weeks later the first section of a new reinforced concrete wing wall (to be clad in stone later) was in place, with shuttering ready for pouring a second section.
The completed core of the wing wall is seen below on December 21st 2006, with back filling already in hand.
In January 2007 similar but shorter wing walls were being added on the other side of the bridge; when seen below on the 14th one had been cast and shuttering was in place for casting the other one.
A week later the bridge was structurally complete and the formation had been re-established across it.
In early February walkways had been fitted across the span, with installation of handrails also under way; the right-hand picture shows them complete.
The North Wales Gang reached and crossed LC82 and UB158 over the weekend of February 17-18th 2007. In the last picture, note the switch to South African sleepers for the next section; these have been used for the alignment-critical section leading to and through the cutting, as their screwed clips give enhanced rigidity for this location.
The Rest of the World Gang returned to LC82 on March 22nd 2008, to rectify a dip in the rail on the lower side, caused by heavy vehicles passing on the lane. The crossing timbers were dismantled (and put back in several times for vehicles to pass), the track was jacked and packed with Kango hammers before the crossing was reassembled. The last picture shows track between LC81 and LC82 the next day, with re-worked rail joints.
The Upper Lower S-Bend, UB158 to UB164
Hughes created a work base adjacent to the trackbed close to UB164. As their work included renewing the deck of this bridge, site access was via a temporary pipe bridge installed across the stream a short distance downhill of UB164. The last picture below shows overhead warning protection in place where overhead cables cross the trackbed.
By August 20th rapid progress had been made with scraping the trackbed down chainage from this base towards the rock cutting, and creating a replacement farm track on the downhill side (visible on the left); this then runs around the outer base of the embankment to accommodation crossing LC83. Rapid subsequent progress was made with consolidation of the trackbed; Plant is seen at LC83 on September 1st in the centre and right-hand pictures.
When seen below in early September, the section uphill from the work base appeared ready for ballasting.
Ballasting had begun by September 16th, starting from a point up chainage from LC83.
By the 23rd ballast had been laid down to just short of UB164, and bundles of sleepers had been laid out, completing the contractor's work on this section.
With access available across UB158, Hughes made rapid progress with the trackbed from there towards the cutting in early September. At the same time subcontractors Colin Jones (Rock Engineering) Ltd of Porthmadog had started work on the cutting itself, with a cherry-picker platform on site. Loose material was brought down at an early stage of the stabilisation works.
This work made clear the vertical difference between the trackbed at the uphill and downhill ends of the bend - both are visible in the left-hand picture below, and the right-hand one shows the view down from the upper section.
Scaling of the cutting rock faces was completed in the first week of October, and clearances were checked using one of the structure gauges usually carried on the railway's tool van, mounted on a dumper truck. Towards the end of the month drainage in the cutting was being completed, using channel sections.
With drainage complete, the contractors proceeded with ballasting uphill through the cutting (leaving a short length at the up chainage end where mitigation works were being completed) and then on the sinuous stretch from there to UB158. The picture below taken from the lane near LC82 looking towards the cutting, and shows the limit of ballast on November 26th 2006, with sleeper bundles laid out on the ballast as usual. Completion of this to LC82 and the short length at the far end of the cutting will complete the contractor's work on the upper part of the lower S-bend.
The ballasting was continued almost all the way to UB158 in the following week.
In January and early February 2007 rails were sent away to Wolverhampton to be pre-curved for laying on the tightest parts of the S-bend, following the success of this technique on the upper S-bend in the forest; the last batch are seen being loaded up at Dinas on February 8th.
The Rest of the World Gang took track on from the UB158 area into the approach to the cutting over the weekend of February 24-5th 2007, through the clearly visible transition to South African sleepers.
The ROTW Gang are seen below on March 10th 2007; by the end of the next day they had reached CH21360, towards the far end of the cutting. The last pictures illustrate the sharpness of the curve exiting the cutting; this is considered one of the tightest spots for clearance on Phase 4.
The following views were taken on March 17th and 18th 2007, and further illustrate the dramatic aspects of the cutting. The weekend's tracklaying took the Head of Steel out of the cutting and onto the start of the curved embankment beyond.
The process of unloading rails - a mix of straight and pre-curved - from the transporter is seen below on March 22nd 2007.
In addition to getting visits from the special trains held on Sponsors Day, the volunteers working over the weekend of March 24-5th 2007 took the track virtually to the end of the 60m radius curve on the high embankment, after which the track runs north to UB164.
Helen Williams Ellis (responsible for previous documentaries on Phases 1-3) is seen below interviewing John Owen, owner of Cwm Cloch, on March 23rd 2007.
The working party on March 31st - April 1st brought the Head of Steel within sight of the end of this section. Top ballasting was already taking place in the cutting and on the curve up chainage of it.
UB164
At the lower end of this part of the S-bend, the old UB164 had been completely demolished at the start of September 2006, including the abutments rather than just the deck.
By the 10th work was in hand on the abutments for the new bridge and also an invert between them; while this was being constructed the flow of the stream was being pumped round the site through pipes.
A week later the invert was in place, and rapid progress was being made with the abutments.
When seen below on the 23rd the abutments were complete, together with formwork for casting the deck once reinforcing mesh for it had been put in place.
The deck and upstands had been cast by September 30th, completing the main structure of the bridge.
The bridge is seen below on October 7th, with the shuttering removed from the upstands.
And a week later, the scaffolding was gone, revealing the complete basic structure, whose appearance will be changed by stone cladding in due course. Reinforcement of the bank was in evidence on the downstream side.
By the end of October UB164 was in use for site access, and the temporary pipe bridge was partly dismantled, with work in hand to create a permanent replacement bridge for farm access, replacing the former access using the trackbed.
Erosion of the northern stream bank immediately upstream of UB164 had been made good by stone reinforcement in the same style as on the opposite bank when seen below on November 18th 2006.
The pipe bridge had been completely dismantled by November 5th 2006, with the stream routed around a rough coffer dam to allow work to progress on the new farm bridge, whose southern abutment was now complete (left-hand picture); the pictures below show progress on this structure at roughly weekly intervals.
UB164 and the farm bridge were fitted with handrails in early February 2007.
A gap had been left in the ballast bed down chainage of UB164; this was completed in the first week of April 2007, together with ballast across UB164 and crossing timbers across LC86, just ahead of tracklaying.
After a pause in tracklaying over Easter, the Black Hand Gang laid track across UB164 and LC86 over the weekend of April 14-15th 2007.
A rolling programme is in hand to replace the elastic rail clips originally supplied for Phase 4, which proved not to be as durable as intended; the manufacturer has provided replacements. With enough labour, changing the clips is quite a quick job, as was demonstrated by the Rest of the World Gang, supported by a contingent from the Imperial College Railway Society, over the weekend of June 16-17th 2007. Having started from the Head of Steel near Bryn y Felin, they reached a point above UB164 by the end of the weekend.
This work was continued by the Black Hand Gang on June 23rd-24th 2007, with support from the Army; this was part of a ten-day working visit to the FR and WHR by a total of about thirty members (working in smaller groups) of 79 Railway Squadron, part of the Royal Logistics Corps. The elastic clips were replaced from the point seen above up to eleven panels north of LC82. This section includes some South African sleepers with screwed clips on transitions, mainly between LC85 and the straight in Cutting Mawr; these clips were tightened. In addition vegetation was cut back between Cwm Cloch and UB150 (beyond the north end of the campsite), and further north still, the pipe at the culvert close to the track at Canal Curve was concreted in.
The Lower Lower S-Bend, LC86 to UB165
Almost immediately up chainage from the work base and LC86, initial clearance was done in the cutting forming the first part of the final reverse curve in August 2006.
The pile of crushed slate waste visible above had been rolled to form an area of hard standing up chainage from the level crossing by August 20th, allowing a better view of the part-cleared cutting. The floor appeared damp and in need of drainage works, but to a much lesser extent than in other cuttings.
Basic clearance had reached the bottom extremity of the S-bend by September 10th, as seen below looking down chainage across UB165.
Trackbed preparation and drainage was in hand along this section in the following week, as was consolidation of the sides of the cutting on the approach to LC86. Work was also done to reinforce the embankment sides further up chainage, as required at places on either side.
By October 7th drainage and culvert works on this section were essentially complete, and the trackbed had been rolled ready for ballasting, except for the immediate approach to LC86.
The trackbed was rolled to immediately short of LC86 in the second week of October. There is a noticeable change of level here between the roadway and the trackbed just up chainage from it, presumably to be resolved through ballasting and making of the crossing itself.
The section from LC86 to the south end of the contract immediately short of UB165 was not ballasted at this stage, as it provided access for plant to reach the intact northern abutment of UB165 for remedial works there.
From left to right, the pictures below show (i) drainage channels across farm crossing LC87 in the middle of the bend on March 28th 2007, (ii) the view up chainage across LC86 on April 2nd following regrading of the crossing in preparation for tracklaying; and (iii) freshly laid ballast up chainage of LC86 the next day; the contractor had laid ballast and deposited sleeper bundles in the usual manner onwards to immediately short of UB165.
The following pictures were taken on April 4th 2007 following ballasting, all facing down chainage. LC87 (second and third pictures) is adjacent to the underbridge on the PB&SSR formation, which is climbing away to the right of the WHR formation at this point.
LC87 is seen below (left) on May 23rd 2007, with timbering in progress and grills installed on the drainage channels. The middle and right-hand pictures show the curve either side of LC87 from the PB&SSR formation two days later.
Tracklaying around the bend began on April 21st 2007, at the start of a week-long tracklaying push into Beddgelert.
The next day the Head of Steel reached the end of the section covered by this page, reaching UB165 when seen below at the end of the weekend's work.
The Rest of the World Gang paid a return visit to the section above Beddgelert over the weekend of June 14-15th 2008, bringing a works train up from Hafod y Llyn to recover unused rails for use elsewhere.
Track Fettling
During the track week at the start of December 2008, GrantRail provided nine graduates to work under the supervision of members of the Rest of the World Gang, fettling rail joints and installing stronger fishplates. Working uphill from Beddgelert, they reached a point in the middle of the lower S-bend between the two Cwm Cloch level crossings, despite having been diverted to work on the FR on one day when it was too cold to use a Jim Crow on the rail ends.
The Rest of the World Gang are seen pressing ahead with this work on December 29th 2008, with the gang divided into two groups working towards meeting up in the area between the upper apex of the lower S-bend and Cutting Mawr.
On January 10th 2009 part of the Rest of the World Gang worked uphill from Beddgelert with the mini-trolley on spot replacement of broken rail clips; having run out of new clips just north of the campsite, they pushed the trolley up to where the rest of the gang was working on fencing at Pont Cae'r Gors, to collect more clips from the works train and then work back downhill towards Weirglodd Isaf. By the end of the day about 80 clips remained to be replaced between Weirglodd Isaf and the campsite halt.
On January 29th 2009 the Rest of the World Gang were at work moving rails and changing fishplates a short distance uphill from LC82.
The Rest of the World Gang split into two teams on February 8th 2009, doing spot tamping with Kango hammers. Teams worked from Ty'n y Coed and Beddgelert station, tamping around sleepers repositioned two days earlier, where new fishplates had been fitted. The two groups met up at Cutting Mawr and then proceeded back up to Ty'n y Coed (last picture), where they jacked and packed the two panels of track to the south of the crossing, to correct a slight dip.
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