Opened 20 May 1851 | Locale Wales | |
Track gauge 4 ft 8 ⁄2 in (1,435 mm) | ||
The Bangor and Carnarvon Railway was a railway connecting Caernarvon railway station (terminus of the Carnarvonshire Railway from Afon Wen) with Bangor in Caernarfonshire, Wales, on the Chester and Holyhead Railway (C&HR).
Contents
History
The railway was incorporated on 20 May 1851. The line opened on 1 March 1852 (for goods) included a branch to Port Dinorwic (now known as Y Felinheli). Passenger services commenced on 1 March 1852, with the C&HR leasing the line for 999 years later in 1852. This arrangement continued until the C&HR received powers to take over the line in 1854, although did not exercise these powers until 15 July 1867.
Connections to other lines
Later operations
For the ceremony of Investiture of the Prince of Wales in 1969, the Royal party arrived by the Royal train along the Bangor and Carnarvon Railway. They disembarked at a temporary platform put up at Griffith's Crossing, two miles north of Caernarfon.
The line closed entirely six months later on 5 January 1970. Following the Britannia Bridge fire in 1970, the Menai Bridge to Caernarvon line was temporarily reopened to handle container traffic for Holyhead. This traffic ceased and the line closed again in January 1972.
Current uses
The former Vaenol Tunnels are designated by planning consent for the growing of mushrooms. However, in December 2012, four men were jailed for conspiracy to supply cannabis, in what North Wales Police described as a sophisticated commercial scale production, under cover of the mushroom factory.