Slate Railway to Moel Fferna

Reprieve?

After so many years sleeping many of the residents had long forgotten their own little part of narrow gauge heritage in North Wales but with increasing interest in recycling and sustainability the housing boom of 1996 brought some unexpected but exciting news to the valley. A speculative extraction of some of the old slate waste from the slab quarry had shown it to be of excellent quality for re-use in aggregate for general construction in the building trade.

Moel-Fferna’s proximity to Cheshire made it an attractive proposition but getting the material out from the old quarry to the A5 would prove problematic and so as before the tramway provided the solution.

During 1996 new rails were laid from the roadside wharf above the A5 up to the slab quarry. This section, devoid of inclines was in reasonably good condition in terms of foundation and drainage, the trackbed was generally intact although a small bridge above Nant-y-Pandy was renewed with steel girders supporting the new rails. The gauge remained 18” and utilised a hired Alan Keef K40 locomotive and second hand ex-mining ‘skip’ wagons.

The fledgling operation limped on through 1997, although infrequently enough to allow weeds and rust to accumulate causing problems for descending loaded trains and limited them to just 3 wagons *3. A 20ft container was placed on the wharf with a simple kick back siding serving a single line laid into the newly formed ‘shed’.