23rd January 2012
The sights and sounds of trains on the rural lines in Mid Wales and West Wales that closed many years ago have long since gone but visitors staying in Wales Holidays self-catering cottages and farmhouses will be able to trace these old lines.
Click on any of the following areas for further information of these old lines and details of nearby cottages.
In the Bala and Oswestry areas, the Bala Lake Railway is a narrow gauge line that runs on the former Ruabon to Barmouth line that closed in 1968; the headquarters of the Cambrian Railway were in Oswestry; the line from Gobowen to Oswestry still exists and on south to Llynclys Junction. The line used to continue south to a junction with the Shrewsbury to Machynlleth line at Buttington in the Welshpool area.
The Moat Lane Junction to Brecon line used to run from just south of Caersws to Llanidloes (also in this area is the former Van Railway and the Kerry and Bishop’s Castle branches) and then via Rhayader and Builth Wells to Brecon; passenger services ceased at the end of 1962 but freight to Llanidloes continued until 1967.
The Kington/New Radnor, Presteigne and Eardisley Branches - the main branch ran west from Leominster to Kington and on to New Radnor. Just before Kington, there were junctions for a branch to Presteigne to the north and another ran south to Eardisley.
The Brecon to Neath line formerly ran west of Brecon to Sennybridge where it turned SW to Colbren Junction and on to Neath. The Hereford to Brecon closed at the end of 1962; it used to run west from Hereford via Eardisley, Hay-on-Wye and to Three Cocks Junction where it joined the Mid Wales Brecon to Moat Lane Junction line.
A 19 mile long branch known as the Golden Valley Line ran from Pontrilas (a now closed station on the Hereford to Abergavenny line) to join the Hereford to Brecon route just to the north of Hay-on-Wye; it closed to passengers in 1941 and freight in 1957.
In the Dolgellau and Snowdonia area, the route from Bala Junction ran south-west to Dolgellau and on to Barmouth; this section is now The Mawddach Trail. Although now completely closed, the track of the Blaenau Ffestiniog to Bala line still exists from the town to near Trawsfynydd; it then used to run east to Bala. Built for slate traffic, a standard gauge branch ran from Cemmaes Road in the Machynlleth area to the village of Dinas Mawddwy.
Aberystwyth station was once the terminus for a line to Carmarthen; today the platform is used by the of Vale of Rheidol narrow gauge steam Railway. A section of the line to Carmarthen, which closed in 1964, now forms much of a 21 mile footpath/cycle route from Aberystwyth passing through Llanilar, Trawscoed, Ystrad Meurig (where the station was named after Strata Florida Abbey) and past Tregaron bog to the town itself.
