Vale of Rheidol Railway

The Vale of Rheidol Railway is a narrow-gauge heritage line running 19 kilometres through the wooded Rheidol valley between Aberystwyth and Devil’s Bridge in Ceredigion. It follows the fast-flowing River Rheidol for much of its route, climbing 200 metres above sea level. The railway opened in 1902 to carry lead ore and timber, but passenger traffic soon became its main business. It is one of the few British lines to have stayed in continuous service since the national rail era. Steam locomotives have worked every day of operation, from the first Davies and Metcalfe engines to today’s fleet. The railway’s survival is unusual. After British Rail withdrew steam in 1968, it became the only steam-operated line left on the national network. It passed into private hands in 1989 and remains a working tourist railway. The line’s history includes the hand-hewn rock cuttings supervised by chief engineer Sir James Szlumper. Early locomotives like Rheidol and Palmerston were joined by Great Western Railway-built engines at Swindon works. The railway’s carriages from the 1930s are still in daily use. A ride lasts about an hour and a quarter, climbing through oak and beech woods to the dramatic waterfalls at Devil’s Bridge. The train stops briefly at Capel Bangor and Nantyronen, where passengers can watch the driver shovel coal. At Devil’s Bridge the line ends beside the 18th-century road bridge and the deep gorge of the River Mynach. The station building, with its Great Western-style canopy, still stands beside the main line platforms in Aberystwyth.