Extend the lake railway!

Just a stone’s throw from the Oakeley Arms Hotel is the lovely town of Bala. A popular market town with both local people and visitors alike, it is most famed for it’s lovely lake (did you know that Bala Lake is the largest natural lake in Wales?) and of course, the railway that runs alongside it.

Bala Lake Railway (or Rheilffordd Llyn Tegid) is one of the busiest and most popular historic narrow gauge railways in the area. It runs for a distance of just over 4 miles, and was built on part of the old railway line that used to serve trains running between Ruabon to Barmouth. This line was sadly axed in the 1960s under Dr Beeching’s recommendations when he overhauled the British Rail Network.

Bala Lake Railway runs along the southern shores of the lake, and it opened in 1972 after a band of volunteers worked hard to restore the line and get it up and running again. The railway runs from Llanuwchlyn to a stop half a mile outside Bala, but just recently, we’ve heard of plans to extend the Bala Lake Railway so that it reaches the town of Bala itself.

By Kristian Thye on wiki commons

Although the plans are still in the early stages, the Bala Lake Railway hopes to raise £2million to help achieve it’s ambitions. If the plans are successful then it’ll mean a railway passenger service for the town of Bala for the first time in almost 50 years.

There’s a long way to go and a lot of planning to do before the plans come to fruition, but it’ll be an interesting development. You can find out more about the railway, and their future plans at their website (click here).

And in the meantime, if you’re visiting Snowdonia, then the Bala Lake Railway is a perfect day out on a lovely vintage railway in stunning surroundings.

By Nigel Brown on wikicommons