The seaward end of the Croesor Tramway was at Porthmadog, home of the more famous Festiniog Railway, with whose lines it connected around the harbour. It ran in a north easterly direction into the Croesor valley for a distance of about 5 miles where it served a number of slate quarries located along the southern side of the valley. The tramway opened to traffic in 1864 and survived in a number of forms until the 1930s, by which time regular traffic over the line had ceased. The rails remained in place until 1948 when the lower section was lifted, the upper section succumbing during the 1950s.
The route of the tramway is still clear to see throughout most of its length and the three miles at the western end of the line are now being restored as part of the Welsh Highland Railway project.
The map below shows the route of the tramway running from Porthmadog in the south-west, in an almost straight line north-east past the village of Croesor and into the valley beyond. Approximately halfway along the tramway, the Welsh highland diverges to the north and Beddgelert. The Festiniog Railway can be seen in the valley to the south of Croesor (the route shown is that following restoration).
Map images produced
from the Ordnance Survey Get-a-map
service.
Images reproduced with kind
permission of
Ordnance
Survey
and
Ordnance Survey of Northern
Ireland.
