Cwmorthin Tramway
| Locale | Wales |
|---|---|
| Dates of operation | 1850–1939 |
| Track gauge | 1 ft 11 1⁄2 in (597 mm) |
| Length | 1.8 miles (2.9 km) |
The Cwmorthin Tramway was a 1 ft 11 1⁄2 in (597 mm) industrial tramway in North Wales, which connected the Ffestiniog Railway to the Cwmorthin Quarry and later the Conglog Slate Quarry. It was built in the 1840s or 1850s, rising through two inclined planes to reach the main Cwmorthin Quarry mill and its internal incline which rose from floor 1 to floor 8. In 1874, it was extended, rising up through a third incline to the Cwmorthin Lake level and continuing along the valley floor to reach the Conglog Quarry. The tracks to Conglog were abandoned in the 1920s and the rest of the tramway ceased to be used from the onset of the Second World War.
Quarrying of slate in the Cwmorthin Valley, to the west of Blaenau Ffestiniog, began around 1810 but was not particularly successful, in part due to the difficulties of transporting the finished product away from the quarry. After a lull of some ten years, work began again in 1840, and in 1861 the Cwmorthin Slate Company was incorporated. The company bought the freehold to the land on which quarrying took place. At some point, a tramway was built to connect the mill to the Ffestiniog Railway near to the site of Tanygrisiau station. Boyd suggests that a survey for the line was prepared in the mid-1840s, and that the cost was estimated to be £1,407 and 19 shillings. The line was completed by 1850, when it was mentioned in Cliffe's The Book of North Wales. However, Richards and Isherwood maintain that the tramway was constructed under the auspices of the 1861 Company, soon after it was established.
The connection to the Ffestiniog Railway was never very satisfactory. A point left the main line, and immediately split into three tracks. Two were used for wagon storage, while the third passed through a gate, beyond which the twin tracks of the first incline began. Empty wagons were delivered to the sidings by the shunting engine from Blaenau Ffestiniog, but to get them up to the quarry, they were shunted by hand back onto the main line, and then onto one of the incline tracks. Loaded wagons followed the reverse procedure, so that they were marshalled in the sidings for collection by the Ffestiniog. Because this process involved moving wagons onto the main line, it could only be done when the single line staff for the track section above Tan y Grisiau was withdrawn from the token machine by the Tan y Grisiau stationmaster. He then supervised the operation of a small ground frame which controlled the points. A Board of Trade inspector visiting the site in 1864 objected to the arrangement, because there were no trap points to protect the main line, and ruled that distant signals must be fitted by the Ffestiniog Railway, that there should be a telegraph installed between the station and the drumhouse at the top of the incline, and that no trains should use the main line while the incline was in operation.
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