Beddgelert Siding
From Festipedia, hosted by the FR Heritage Group
Beddgelert Siding is the name given to the section of track which branched off from the original Welsh Highland line to the north of Portmadoc New (1923), the GWR exchange station. It ran parallel to the main line for half its length, terminating at the (GWR) standard gauge slate exchange siding at Portmadoc. Prior to the construction of the WHR the siding existed as a branch of the Croesor Tramway.
The siding subsequently became the home of the Welsh Highland Railway (Porthmadog) who purchased it from British Rail in 1975, and soon afterwards were able to purchase the adjacent Gelert's Farm to use as an operational base. Since 1980 passenger trains have run along the siding, terminating at Pen-Y-Mount, although since March 2007 trains have run beyond this onto Traeth Mawr, which is on the original trackbed, and where there is a temporary loop. In the future Pen-y-Mount will be an exchange station with the completed Welsh Highland between Caernarfon and Porthmadog.