All Aboard Emma - Tales from the Line

In between the heavy showers I jumped on the train up to Porthmadog to meet Nick Cutmore, Co‑Chairman of the Welsh Highland Heritage Railway. They’re one of the recipients of our Railway 200 Community Grant Fund and are installing an interpretation board in their car park. What at first looks like an ordinary patch of tarmac turns out to be a pocket of local history and Nick was keen to tell its story as the sun came out.

“Immediately adjacent to Porthmadog Cambrian station and the level crossing is a triangle of land used by the Welsh Highland Heritage Railway as the entrance to its Porthmadog station. That scrap of land is very much part of the story of the northern end of Porthmadog for four reasons:

1. It’s bounded to the north‑east by “Y Cyt.” While it looks like a drainage channel, it’s actually the remains of a canal that once brought boats inland from the harbour.

2. Parallel to Y Cyt, and now a public footpath, runs the line of the Gorseddau Tramway, a narrow‑gauge slate route that carried stone from the quarry to the harbour.

3. The triangle itself served as an unloading dock for a spur from the Cambrian Railway; the Cambrian had goods sidings on both sides of Porthmadog.

4. When the Welsh Highland purchased the site from British Rail in the 1970s they also acquired the derelict Beddgelert sidings — a long arc to the north‑east that had been a slate transhipment point from the Croesor narrow‑gauge tramway to the standard‑gauge Cambrian Railway.”

Nick also said that schoolchildren walk the footpath to the town’s secondary school every day, completely unaware of the layers of transport history beneath their feet.

We moved into the Welsh Highland station and I met the volunteers who keep the railway running with passion and pride. I met Helen Leslie, the museum manager, who was doubling up as our guard for the trip, a short run up the line.

We found seats among families making the most of the sunshine. The train trundled along, hauled by a diesel engine and stopped so everyone could stretch their legs, enjoy the view and ask questions about the engine and carriages. Children, parents and dogs clustered around as Nick talked through the locomotive’s story.

Our next stop was the museum and the miniature railway. I resisted the urge to ride and watched others enjoy the experience. Nick and I then walked round the museum, taking in locomotives, exhibits and the many community stories preserved there.

After the museum we wandered through the well‑stocked shop into the café, where Kev Evans, the café proprietor, was waiting with a lovely piece of cake and a mug of tea. There was a blessed silence as we demolished it. Kev told me he follows our blog and our Instagram page (always nice to hear) and Kev if you’re reading this, the cake was lovely.

I also caught up with Steve Currinn, the general manager, and we swapped stories — including a few about Tipton and the Black Country.

The new interpretation board will give visitors and passers‑by a clear, engaging snapshot of the site’s layered past: canal, tramway, Cambrian siding and the Welsh Highland’s later revival. It’s precisely the sort of small, visible intervention that brings local history into everyday life and helps children, families and commuters connect with the landscape around them.

Thanks to Nick, Helen, Kev, Steve and the volunteers at the Welsh Highland Heritage Railway for hosting me and for their ongoing work to keep these stories alive. We can’t wait to see the new board in place and to share the triangle’s history with the many people who pass through every day.