Blaenau Ffestiniog quarry tramways

I have a couple of photosets of Blaenau quarry tramways that may be of interest. First is a 2007 trip through Votty & Bowydd, Maenofferen and up the Rhiwbach Tramway inclines:

Votty & Bowydd, Maenofferen and the Rhiwbach Tramway - a set on Flickr

More recently, a walk this year along the upper end of the Rhiwbach Tramway from Manod to Cwt-y-Bugail:

Rhiwbach Tramway - Manod to Cwt-y-Bugail - a set on Flickr

The history of the quarries is complex, so if anyone has any corrections to the captions, I'd be delighted to hear them.

Dan

 

I'd already found your photos, from a posting on the IRS forum I think. Very interesting and well researched. My brother and I have explored many of the North Wales slate quarries and tramways over the years and recorded a lot of what remains in photos. Cwmorthin, Rosydd and the associated tramways are worth a visit as are the Deeside and Oernant tramways in the Llangollen area, and of course Dinorwic. Eventually I will set up a gallery on my Zenfolio site but PM me if there is any mutual interest.

 

Interesting photos Dan, but of poor quality, the content deserves a better camera. Have you seen Dave Sallery's site at Welsh Slate Quarries - a mine (hee hee!) of information.
I've a couple of flickr sets too...
Maenofferen: Maenofferen Quarry - a set on Flickr
Dinorwic: Dinorwig quarry | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

 

The Maenofferen/Votty trip was on a truly filthy Blaenau day, and a poor quality compact camera. The results are actually surprisingly good given the conditions I think they're useful for historical purposes, especially given how rapidly Maenofferen is deteriorating.

The upper Rhiwbach ones are on a much better camera (Nikon D80) and I think the quality is much better. Hope you agree.

I love your Maenofferen shots - they really capture the sense of industrial decay

 

I've added another set from 2007, this time a walk along the Croesor Tramway up to Croesor Quarry. As usual, comments and corrections welcome:

Croesor Tramway - a set on Flickr

 

Inspired by your photos I have begun a gallery on Zenfolio of photos taken at various quarries over a number of years. View it as a 'work in progress' as i have yet to create further galleries,add captions and scan some older non-digital photos.

Zenfolio | Mick Pope - Railway Related | Slate Quarries and Tramways

 

Some great photos on there, Mick. Thanks for sharing. Love to see some more of these.

Dan

 

Interesting stuff. Remarkable how some rail is still in situ after all these years.

 

Thanks for the corrections you sent me Dan. I uploaded a batch and went one shot too far in selecting them. I've started a gallery for Cwm Pennant and the Gorseddau tramway so the 'overhanging wall' shot has gone in there.

 

It will require a very intrepid scrapman to reach some of the locations in Dinorwic as it is a massive site and pretty inaccessible! There was an interesting account some years ago in one of the mags about how some of the stranded and semi-dismantled locos were brought down the inclines for preservation. There is an account in the book 'Delving in Dinorwig' by Douglas Carrington about this exercise. The 'bible' for exploring the slates quarries is ' The Slate Regions of North and Mid Wales' by Alun John Richards who has written extensively on this subject. A lot of stuff still remains underground and there are some fantastic photos on websites such as '28 Days Later' and 'Subterraenia Brittanica ' taken by cavers. Cwmorthin and Croesor are the most popular and also Moel Fferna near Llangollen.