Bryngwyn Branch
From Festipedia, hosted by the FR Heritage Group
Originally, when being proposed and built under the NWNG, the main line was to a place called Bryngwyn, and a secondary line was to South Snowdon (Rhyd-Ddu). This was the point the lines diverged. The 'main line connected to a number of slate quarries on the slopes of Moel Tryfan, the upland area which rises to the right of the railway as viewed from a train heading from Dinas Junction towards Waunfawr and turned through 180 degrees to run behgind the station and back in the opposite direction to the main line. The gradient in this section started as 1 in 39 but eased down to 1 in 49 as Rhostryfan Station (3/4 mile) was reached. The station consisted of a stone station building, a signal box and one siding with a goods shed at its end.
*Date April 1990
*Photo: Roger Marks
Leaving the station, the line entered a cutting and then crossed a small stream before passing under the main road through a village and within 50 yards crossed a minor road on the level to head up through open countryside once again on slight embankments and cuttings to enable it to use the natural contours of the hill. The line then crossed the Bryngwyn road on the level and immediately the gradient becomes 1 in 39 as it entered another cutting on a 180 degree curve emerging on an embankment. It then curved back the other way, round Bryngwyn Farm, and crossed the Bryngwyn road again on the level. Immediately across the road lay Bryngwyn station (2 1/4 miles). Here was a signal box beside the level crossing gates, a stone station building, a goods shed, a run round loop and a siding. Set someway away from the station stood an explosives store.
For the passengers, this was the terminus of the branch, but beyond the station stood the incline and the real purpose of the branch. The incline was of double track and rose from 650ft above sea level to 895 ft over its half mile length. Unlike most similar railways, the Welsh Highland owned the incline up to the drumhead and the private tramways did not start until beyond that point. Here four branches converged, leading off the The Alexandria Slate Quarry, The Moel Tryfan Slate Quarry, The Fron Slate Quarry, and The Braich Slate Quarry. Looking back from the top of the incline, the line's starting point at Dinas could be seen some 2 miles away whilst the line had covered over twice that distance in reaching here
A larger, photo enriched, description appears on the official WHR site here (external Link)