The history of the Welsh Highland Railway is rather complicated. From the original railway companies which were absorbed into or involved with the original railway, to the various organisations with an interest in reviving the WHR, a proliferation of company and society names have come and gone. Confused? You have a point! Hopefully this page may help; skip it if you want to get straight on to news about the Project rather than the historical nitty-gritty.
You can also read the text of Alun Turner's History of the Welsh Highland (at the WHR [Porthmadog] site) as an alternative to the summary of organisations presented here for quick reference.
This company was incorporated to maintain the Croesor Tramway (opened, without parliamentary authority, in 1864), which ran from Portmadoc to slate quarries in the hills above the village of Croesor. The first few miles of the tramway would be upgraded almost 60 years later as the southern end of the Welsh Highland.
Took over the powers of the Croesor & Port Madoc Railway Company, with added authorisation to extend the line into the mountains as far as Beddgelert. However no work was done towards this goal, and the company went into receivership in 1882.
Formed with apparent but illusory ambitions to construct a major network of narrow gauge railways through the North Wales mountains, the NWNGR ultimately built only the line from Dinas Junction to South Snowdon [Rhyd Ddu] plus a branch to quarries above Bryngwyn, to the south of Caernarfon. These lines opened in stages between 1877 and 1881. A receiver was appointed as early as 1877. The Bryngwyn line closed to passengers in 1913, followed by the South Snowdon line in 1916; goods traffic was carried as required until 1922. The NWNGR lines later formed the northern end of the Welsh Highland.
The PBSSR was intended to connect the southern terminus of the NWNGR with Beddgelert and Portmadoc, and took over the Portmadoc, Croesor & Beddgelert Tram Railway Company; the latter controlled the Croesor Tramway, part of which was to be upgraded to form a part of the new route. The PBSSR built substantial parts of the formation needed for the new line to Beddgelert, notably through the Aberglaslyn Pass, and ordered a series of electric locomotives; commercial interests based on hydro-electric power played a significant part in the enterprise. However the line was not completed, and the PBSSR's last legal powers lapsed in 1913; its locomotives are thought to have been scrapped by the manufacturers. The PBSSR undertaking passed to the NWNGR in 1914, with little if any concrete prospect of completing the railway.
This company acquired the moribund NWNGR and the by now phantom PBSSR on formation in 1922. It reopened the northern NWNGR section and completed the unfinished line to Portmadoc in 1923. The money to do this came in part from local authorities, but the enterprise was driven by the controlling interest of the North Wales Power and Traction Co., which had also taken control of the Festiniog Railway; the two railways, now connected at Portmadoc, were operated in close association. However the WHR had varied commercial fortunes, and a receiver was appointed in 1927. The WHR(LR) Co. operated the line until the end of 1933, and a High Court winding-up order was passed in 1944, by which time most of the line had been lifted. The remaining assets passed to a Liquidator, and to the Official Receiver upon his death. Thus the company still technically exists, a fact which was a long standing obstacle to the reopening of the WHR. Through a mixture of donations and purchase of debenture stock, the Festiniog Railway Company (below) and its subsidiaries now control the entire issued capital of the 1922 Company.
The Festiniog Railway Company took out a 99-year lease on the Welsh Highland, and operated summer passenger trains in the 1934, 1935 and 1936 seasons, with goods trains continuing until mid-1937. Bright prospects for combined tours over the FR, WHR and connecting mainline railways were not enough to support the combined enterprise; the Festiniog commmitment to the WHR lease is regarded as a factor contributing to the closure of the FR in 1946. The FR was only allowed to relinquish the lease on the WHR in 1942, on the grounds that the scrap merchants had already done most of their work, and the WHR was thus no longer the railway that had originally been leased. The FR Co. is now the operator of train services on WHR (Caernarfon).
The first serious bid to rebuild the WHR started with an advertisement in the Model Engineer magazine, which led to the formation of a society aiming to secure and reopen at least part of the line. Negotiations were opened with the liquidator of the WHR, a depot was set up at Kinnerley in Shropshire (on the site of the old Shropshire & Montgomeryshire Railway), and working parties visited the WHR trackbed.
In 1964 the Welsh Highland Railway Society was incorporated as a company, and continued to pursue its aims. Highlight acheivements included the painstaking restoration of surviving WHR locomotive Russell, the 1973 acquisition of the former standard gauge Beddgelert Siding site at Portmadoc, together with the adjacent Gelert's Farm premises, and the operation of a public railway on this site since 1980.
In mid-1996 the 1964 Company underwent a formal change of title to become the WHR Ltd.
[translation: "Beddgelert Railway Company Ltd."] This is a trading subsidiary of the WHR Ltd, carrying out commercial operations without affecting the charitable status of the owning company.
Not, in the event, a part of the revival. This was a family-owned firm (note "Railway" in the singular, as opposed to plural for the original NWNGR) which made a bid in February 1980 to build a miniature railway on the WHR trackbed between Waunfawr and Rhyd Ddu, but failed to gain access. This development would have used the promoters' 12.25" gauge equipment built for the very short-lived Réseau Guerlédan in Brittany, which they later brought to Wales for their redevelopment of the Fairbourne Railway in the mid-1980s. The Fairbourne has since passed to new owners but retains two half-size representations of NWNGR/WHR locomotives Beddgelert (built for Guerlédan but never taken to France) and Russell (a Fairbourne rebuild of the handsome Leek & Manifold-style 2-6-4T Elaine built for Guerlédan, also never taken to France).
TCL was formed by two serving directors of the 1964 Company, to hold the interest in a number of shares of the original Welsh Highland Company, with the aim of preserving the integrity of the trackbed as a basis for restoration of the entire line. Differences of policy with other members of the 1964 Company Board led to their agreement to resign as directors; together with three other members, they were subsequently suspended from membership of the 1964 Company. TCL later entered into negotiation with the Ffestiniog Railway, creating the basis for the rebuilding now being undertaken. The WHR Ltd. (ex-1964 Company) lifted the suspension of the TCL directors in late 1996. TCL was wound up in October 2004.
The current WHRS was set up to act as the supporters' body for the Ffestiniog-led restoration of the WHR, a role that was officially confirmed in 1994. The WHRS exists both as an incorporated Guarantee Company and as an unincorporated society, the latter being maintained for junior members (the Festiniog Railway Society has long operated on a similar basis). Initially led mainly by TCL directors, the WHRS now also draws on a wider pool of talent. Click here to visit the official WHRS homepage it is this site (this is a bit circular as this is the website that hosts these WHR Project pages). Upon later registration as a Registered Charity the society's formal title changed to Cymdeithas Rheilffordd Eryri but the English title also continues in common use.
This is a company within the Ffestiniog group (a subsidiary of FR [Holdings]), which took responsibility for the rebuilding of the line from Caernarfon to Rhyd Ddu, i.e. the phases of the project part-funded by the Millennium Commission.
Another subsidiary of WHR Ltd, carrying out engineering contracting work.
A group independent of either FR or WHR Ltd organisations, but including members of both, dedicated to the recording and preservation of artefacts from the NWNGR and the old WHR.
Agreed commercial titles for the operating railways at the two extremities of the WHR route. In Welsh, WHR(P) has used the title Rheilffordd Ucheldir Cymru and WHR(C) uses Rheilffordd Eryri.
Like its predecessor WHLR Ltd, this is a wholly-owned member of the FR group of companies. Its purpose is to lead and coordinate Phase 4 reconstruction between Rhyd Ddu and Porthmadog Harbour.
This is a non-hierarchical umbrella group of existing independent organisations, which provides a forum for representatives of those bodies to discuss and promote their common interests. The founding members are Welsh Highland Railway Ltd, Cymdeithas Rheilffordd Eryri/Welsh Highland Railway Society, and the Welsh Highland Railway Heritage Group.
Trading name of WHR Ltd, replacing "WHR (Porthmadog)".
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