The WHR Tunnels
From Festipedia, hosted by the FR Heritage Group
| The WHR Tunnels | |
| Previous Station | Rhyd-Ddu |
| Previous Location | Bryn y Felin |
| Previous Location | Beddgelert Station |
| Status | Location |
| Next Location | Aberglaslyn (Old WHR) |
| Next Location | Bryn y Felin |
| Next Station | Pen-Y-Mount Station |
| Harbour Station | |
|---|---|
There are four tunnels on the line, one immediately south of Beddgelert, and three starting approximately 1.5km further south, within a short space of each other at the south end of the Aberglaslyn Pass. Additionally, in a space of not more than 60 metres between (Goat) Tunnel 1 and 2, there are Bryn y Felin Road bridge, Afon Glaslyn Bridge, and a level crossing
The Goat tunnel which is located behind the Goat Hotel (No. 1). This tunnel was completed around 1905 for the PBSSR but was modified to ease the gradient for the WHR in 1922/3
A medium sized tunnel (No. 2)
A short tunnel (No. 3)
A long tunnel (No. 4)
It was a condition of the rebuilding that remedial work was carried out in this area before any other work was done in the Snowdonia National Park.
These three tunnels go back even further having been planned for the 1901 PBSSR which would have passed through Beddgelert on its way to Llyn Dinas in the Gwynant valley. Work started on them around 1905/6 but there were not finished until 1923 - T4 had only been bored half way. The 1904/6 alignment is slightly different from that planned in 1901.
There is a story behind the building of the tunnels which goes back to 1901 when the National Trust objected to the railway going through the Pass. They wanted it in a tunnel as far as possible and that could have been done (with no expense spared) with the northern end quite close to the river crossing i.e. opposite Gelert's grave not Bryn-y-felin. That would have been about 1300yds long. In the end the NT settled for one 700yds long which would have finished some way north of the northernmost short tunnel. An agreement was reached and the so-called "bargain" made but this not appear to have been incorporated into the 1901 PBSSR Act.Anyone knowing the Pass would assume that a tunnel that long would be east of the ones actually bored. Quite what the NT expected is impossible to determine.
However the PBSSR had either been very devious or someone was incompetent as the 1901 plans show the tunnel 20 to 40 ft on the west, i.e. the river side, of the ones actually bored. Such a tunnel is impossible and a track on that alignment would actually be suspended in mid air. So how was it that such a plan was approved in 1901? I assume that the National Trust had not made a close comparison of the plans and the location. I suppose that it is just possible that the area around the short tunnels was a scree slope (and this is what Sir Douglas Fox said at the hearing) but if it was that big it would have blocked the river. Why had the engineers not checked more thoroughly that such a tunnel could be bored? Apparently the PBSSR had agreed to make the tunnel 700yds long without consulting the engineers. That sounds the most likely explanation as I doubt the engineers would have risked their reputation by planning something they knew impossible.
So the PBSSR knew all along what they were doing. The National Trust wanted a tunnel 700yds long so they were told that's what they were getting! The crafty part of the plan was that the tunnel they intended to bore was with limits of deviation so no additional permission was needed. By the time the National Trust found out it would be too. At the hearing Sir Douglas Fox actually admitted that it would be too expensive to bore a tunnel to the length agreed although it would be possible by going into the hill.
This information comes from National Archive file MT6 1721 and the above is an edited version of an article which appeared in Welsh Highland Heritage No.37
