An Act for making a Railway from Festiniog in the county of Merioneth to the railway of the Cambrian Railways Company, in the parish of Llandecwyn in the same county; and for other purposes.
The Merionethshire Railway (MR) was a proposed 1 ft 11+3⁄4 in (603 mm) and 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) dual gauge railway in south Caernarfonshire (now part of Gwynedd) North Wales, United Kingdom. It was incorporated by an act of Parliament (34 & 35 Vict. c. lxxii) on 29 June 1871. Powers to build the line lapsed in 1885[2] and were abandoned on 12 July 1887. Work to build the line never started, though parliamentary extensions of time to do so were obtained in 1876 (39 & 40 Vict. c. lxxvii), 1879,[3] and 1882.[1]
Route
The line was to start at an end-on junction with the Festiniog and Blaenau Railway (F&BR) at Llan Ffestiniog and head southwest to make a triangular junction with the Cambrian Railways just north of Talsarnau,[4] though the clearest published map of the route shows a triangular junction at both ends of the line.[5]
Gauges
The junction with the F&BR meant the MR would use the same gauge, which was formally 1 ft 11+3⁄4 in (603 mm),[6] though the Act cited "2-foot gauge". While the bill was before Parliament, the 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gaugeBala and Festiniog Railway (a proxy for the GWR) obtained an Act authorising it to build from Bala Junction to Blaenau Ffestiniog where it aimed to tap the town's prolific slate output. This proposed line was to meet the narrow gauge F&BR at Llan Ffestiniog, so the MR's Act was updated to allow mixed gauge by laying a third rail.
Purposes
By proposing the line its backers sought to threaten the Festiniog Railway into reducing charges and raising service levels.[7]
Actions
The Bala and Festiniog Railway (B&FR) reached Llan Ffestiniog in 1882 and converted the F&BR to standard gauge in 1883. This long, mountainous route of the B&FR posed little threat to the FR. Most of the slate traffic it did carry was taken to the FR at Blaenau Ffestiniog.
The northern end of the MR's planned route would have followed the course of the Bala and Festiniog line from Festiniog south to near Trawsfynydd Lake Halt. It then ran westerly, descending along the south side of the valley of the Afon Dwyryd running parallel to the course of the FR on the northern side of the valley. It would have ended at interchange facilities with the Cambrian near Talsarnau directly competing with the FR's facilities at Minffordd.
Boyd, James I.C. (1975) [1959]. The Festiniog Railway 1800 - 1974; Vol. 1 - History and Route. The British Narrow Gauge Railway. Blandford: The Oakwood Press. ISBN978-0-85361-167-7. OCLC2074549. B1A.
Southern, D. W. (1995). Bala Junction to Blaenau Ffestiniog. Railways of North Wales. Stockport: Foxline Publishing. ISBN978-1-870119-34-4. Scenes from the Past No.25.
Further material
Baughan, Peter E. (1991). A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain: North and Mid Wales. Regional railway history series (2nd ed.). Nairn: David St John Thomas Publisher. ISBN978-0-946537-59-4. OL11571058M. Vol 11.
