Ride On Railways

Welsh Slate Dec 04

RoR Narrow Gauge Index

National Slate Museum

Most of the Great Little Trains of Wales owe the existance to slate. Many of the engines that run on narrow gauge railways around the country once spent their lives high up in the mountains. Dinorwic (Dinorwig) was one of those slate quarries with numerous levels and miles and miles of track. The levels were serviced by inclines, where the loaded slate wagons pulled up the empty ones.

There are numerous websites related to this subject which cover it far better than I can. Below are a few pitures from our visit. see Links for better websites

Great Aerial shot of the Dinorwig quarry http://www.gtj.org.uk/en/blowup1/12261

	Being lazy we drove up to a carpark half way up the hill side. There you can walk straight through the middle of the old Dinorwic quarries on the level.
Right - the copper in the water has turned it green. In the background several incline remains can be seen.
	One of the old winch houses. This incline has been demolished to put a haul road through, presumably for the construction of the power station below.
A rock fall leaves a bit of track hanging in mid air. When I came here in 1987 there was still a cable and a bucket (Blodin - welsh name) hanging in the air. this has now been removed to the Padarn centre.
	A really good example of embankment building using waste slate.
Althought the track is fenced off access to the other levels is easy. I think the fence is more for liability than restricting those determined to go exploring. The group climbing the incline were talking about tunnels and ladders. Sounded brilliant but Clark had only been walking for a couple of months so not really suitable.
.	The remain of numerous levels and inclines. It is quite amazing that a please of such industrial action, employing thousands of men (over 3000 at its peak) now sits in silence. I would recommend further reading especially about the lives of some of the engines and there crews. All the Hunslets ont he upper levels were cabless so the drivers could see even in extremes of weather.
I have heard that for every 10 tones of usuable slate quarried there were 90 tons of waste. With the big up surge in gardening and reduced demand for slate currrent working slate quarries have no waste.


View looking down towards Llamberis. The white squares at the bottom is the nlet/outlet for the Dinorwic pump storage power station. Although the price of slate has made it economic to quarry slate, it is the power station carved out inthe hill side below that stops any chance of re opening the Dinoric quarries. If your party is all over 12 yrs then a visit to the Electric Mountain is well worth taking. The shear size of the man made cavers is awe inspiring.

National Slate Museum
	The Pardarn Centre onthe valley floor was the old workshops/foundary for the Dinorwic quarries. The centre is also home to the Llamberis lake railway although it wasn't running when we were there. Thelma sits in the shed.
Clark stands in one of the few surving slate wagons. These were used for dressed slate. From Dinorwic they were loaded two abreast on to wagons on the 3ft Padarn Railway where they were taken to Port Dinorwic.
	The work shops have remained pretty un touched since they closed in 1969
The lighting adds to the atmosphere of a working workshop.
	Originally the centre was powered by a water wheel. this was replaced by a small peddler wheel. While more economic, not as impressive.
Right - one of the Blodins from the quarry. This has been set up to demostrate how they were used. These had a terrible accident reputation but were essential for lifting slate up out of deep quarries.
	Left a restored incline. This incline used platforms.