With gleaming steam engines and summer coaches from the 1920s, as well as kitchen carriages and a restored 1894 carriage, the Welsh Highland Railway is the longest heritage rail line in Britain. From the castle at Caernarfon, the railway traverses a 25-mile coast-to-coast passage across the Snowdonia National Park in North Wales to the harbor town of Porthmadog.
Still operating on its original rails, the steam-hauled Welsh Highland Railway climbs through a stunning Snowdonia landscape of lush green coniferous woodlands and remote countryside punctuated with tiny rail stations, stone inns, and youth hostels. An ascent along the foothills of Snowdon reveals spectacular vistas of the highest mountain in Wales and England, which is also reflected in the lake below.
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The train runs through Beddgelert, an archetypal Snowdonia hamlet as quaint as the illustrations from the beloved Rupert the Bear series of childhood books, which were based on this picturesque village. Near Llanfrothen, you might glimpse the ancestral family home and estate of Clough Williams Ellis, architect of Portmeirion.
Home to ravens, merlins, black grouse and Peregrine falcons, the mountains of Snowdonia are cut by raging rivers and waterfalls. Following a series of zigzagging horseshoe curves, the train runs along the river and into hillside tunnels before passing alongside ancient sea cliffs dotted with ospreys.
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The train’s open carriages are particularly appealing in clement weather, while a buffet car offers locally-sourced sustenance. For those seeking first class accommodations, a Pullman Observation Carriage and a Pullman Saloon Carriage provide a hint of the Orient Express. Special rail events include the annual Rail-Ale Festival in May, as well as Halloween and Santa trains. Small wonder that the trains host more than 400,000 passengers annually.
