Padarn Railway

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Padarn Railway
Locale	Wales
Dates of operation	1842–1961
Successor line	Llanberis Lake Railway
Track gauge	4 ft (1,219 mm)
Headquarters	Llanberis

The Padarn Railway locomotive shed at Penscoins in 2005

Map of the Padarn Railway

The Padarn Railway was a narrow gauge railway line in Wales, built to the unusual gauge of 4 ft (1,219 mm) ^[1]. It was built to carry slate from the Dinorwic Quarry to Port Dinorwic. It opened in 1842^[1], replacing the previous Dinorwic Railway. The Padarn Railway closed in 1961 ^[1].

An unusual feature of the railway were the transporter waggons. These 4 ft (1,219 mm) gauge vehicles were flat wagons with two parallel 1 ft 10¾ in (578 mm) gauge tracks on them. Loaded slate wagons of 1 ft 10¾ in (578 mm) gauge - the gauge used on the extensive internal system at the quarry - were wheeled onto the transporter wagons and carried four at a time down to their destination at Port Dinorwic where they were unloaded via a two foot gauge incline which led to the quayside.

Since closure, part of its route has been reopened as the 1 ft 11½ in (597 mm)^[1] gauge Llanberis Lake Railway.

[edit] Locomotives

Name	Builder	Type	Date	Works number	Notes
Fire Queen	Horlock and Company	0-4-0 tender	1848		Withdrawn 1886, now preserved at the Penrhyn Castle Railway Museum at Penrhyn Castle
Jenny Lind	Horlock and Company	0-4-0 tender	1848		Withdrawn 1880s, scrapped.
Dinorwic	Hunslet	0-6-0T	1882	302	Scrapped 1963
Pandora	Hunslet	0-6-0T	1886	410	Renamed Amalthea in 1909. Scrapped 1963
Velinheli	Hunslet	0-6-0T	1895	631	Scrapped 1963
Hardy	Hardy Motors Ltd.	4wPM	1925	954	Scrapped 1963

[edit] See also

British narrow gauge railways

[edit] References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Boyd, James I.C. (1986). Narrow Gauge Railways in North Caernarvonshire, Volume Three: The Dinorwic Quarry and Railways, The Great Orme Tramway and Other Rail Systems. The Oakwood Press.