Snowdon Ranger
| Snowdon Ranger | |
| Caernarfonshire | |
|---|---|
 138 'Mileniwm'/'Millennium' at Snowdon Ranger station | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SH564551 |
| Location: | 53°4’25"N, 4°8’36"W |
| Data | |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Gwynedd |
Snowdon Ranger is a hamlet in Caernarfonshire, barely more than a railway halt, the old station building, now a house and a farmhouse off the road. It stands on the A4085 road which cuts through the mountain pass west of Snowdon, and owes its existence, if it can be said to exist as a hamlet at all, to Snowden Ranger Station on the Welsh Highland Railway.
At the back of Snowdon ranger is the main lake of the pass, the broad water of Llyn Cwellyn, and behind it the Beddgelert Forest spreads along the shore and the lower slope of Mynydd Mawr. Rhyd Ddu is just to the south, up the pass; another station on the railway.
The narrow gauge Welsh Highland Railway comes up the pass parallel to the road. The line was built in 1878 as the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways Moel Tryfan Undertaking to carry dressed slate to Dinas Junction on the LNWR
From here, the Snowdon Ranger Path climbs up mighty Snowdon, which looms over the hamlet, but the path was not named from this hamlet; the place is named from its station and the station in turn is named from the path. The Snowdon Ranger Path is named after a particular mountain guide who led walks on the mountain, and who was known as “the Snowdon Ranger”.
Station history
The station was originally known as Quellyn Lake[1] after the lake behind it, now known more often as Llyn Cwellyn. The station was renamed after the path to the summit of Snowdon popularised by, and named after, the local mountain guide, "The Snowdon Ranger", who went by that name for many years.
Passenger services ceased on 26 September 1936 and the station was reopened in 2003 following the complete reconstruction of the railway from Waunfawr to Rhyd Ddu.The train services are operated by the Ffestiniog Railway Company's Welsh Highland Railway subsidiary. Snowdon Ranger is currently operated as an unmanned halt and trains call only by request.
Following reconstruction, the Section from Waunfawr to Rhyd Ddu was formally reopened by HRH the Prince of Wales on 30 July 2003. Prince Charles travelled by special train from Waunfawr to Snowdon Ranger station where, having donned overalls, he alighted from the carriage and travelled on the footplate to Rhyd Ddu. Public passenger services re-commenced on 18 August 2003.[2]
The former station building is now in private ownership,[1] and as such is one of the six original remaining NWNGR buildings, the others being the ruins of the former station buildings at Tryfan Junction and Bettws Garmon, the ruined quarry sidings office at nearby Glanrafon Sidings and the restored station building and goods shed at Dinas.
Outside links
- The Welsh Highland Railway Project - official reconstruction site
- Welsh Highland Railway
- Rebuilding The Welsh Highland Railway
- Welsh Highland Railway Timetables
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Alun Turner. "Welsh Highland Railway History: The Route Described". Welsh Highland Railway Ltd. http://www2.whr.co.uk/s/history/history3. Retrieved 2008-08-21.
- ↑ Ben Fisher. "Phase 3: Waunfawr to Rhyd Ddu, 2000-3 Opening Day, August 18th 2003". http://www.whrsoc.org.uk/WHRProject/phase3-opening.htm. Retrieved 2008-08-21.
