Railway Walks with Julia Bradbury episode 2
Railway Walks with Julia Bradbury episode 2
Transcript
00:00MUSIC
00:16Britain is a country that owes a great deal to its rail empire.
00:22For 100 years, the railways dominated the development of this country,
00:27the network that supported a global superpower.
00:33But today, our island is home to 10,000 miles of disused lines,
00:38a silent network of embankments, platforms and viaducts.
00:46For me and many others,
00:48they've become a perfect platform for exploring the country on foot.
00:57MUSIC
01:11This week, I've come to Wales,
01:13to the market town of Dalgethau, to be precise,
01:16and there in the distance are the southern hills
01:18of Snowdonia National Park.
01:22Northern Wales tends to conjure up images of mountains, scenery,
01:26which, of course, are all major tourist attractions.
01:29But the railway walk I'm taking today
01:31follows a line that was actually built
01:33to bring those tourists here in the first place.
01:35It promises a surprising history and beautiful scenery,
01:38and yet this is one of the quieter corners of Snowdonia.
01:42And the railway walk apparently is the only way to fully appreciate it.
01:46And, of course, I want to find out why.
01:51MUSIC
01:57From Dalgetlau, my walk today follows the line
02:01that once reached out from the West Midlands
02:04all the way to the Welsh West Coast.
02:07It was one of numerous lines that ran across Wales
02:10by the end of the 19th century,
02:12connecting these remote parts with Birmingham, Manchester and beyond.
02:16But in the beaching era of the 1960s,
02:19the majority of these routes were deemed surplus to requirements
02:23and disappeared from the map.
02:27I'm going to head downstream for a few minutes
02:31and find the old railway track bed,
02:33but you can see that ancient road bridge.
02:35In fact, on the other side of that ancient road bridge
02:38is where the railway station used to be.
02:40Nothing at all left now.
02:44The cars and lorries of the Dalgetlau Bypass
02:47now rush past where the railway once stood.
02:50But in 1867, this was where two railway empires met head-on.
02:55The race to control a route to the Welsh coast
02:58saw the English Great Western Railway
03:00build a line through Wales as far as here.
03:05But it was the much smaller Cambrian Railway Company
03:08that built the line inland from the coast,
03:10the section that I'll be walking today.
03:14Before I set off, let's take a closer look at the route.
03:20I'll head west, out of Dalgetlau, following the river and the bypass,
03:24towards the head of the Mouthack estuary.
03:28From here, the old railway makes its own path,
03:31across the reed bed and floodplains
03:34to meet the river Mouthack at Penmine Pool Bridge.
03:42Now the river really begins to look like an estuary.
03:50The railway path hugs the south bank
03:53and follows the corridor through the Welsh hills.
04:05Before the estuary Mouth,
04:07I pass through the slate-mining community of Arthog,
04:12where tramways once crossed the line,
04:14taking the slate down to the waterside.
04:18And then there's a long curve
04:20as trains once reach the bustling Barmouth Junction,
04:23the final landmark before the stunning approach to Barmouth itself.
04:32Barmouth Bridge may be man-made,
04:34but what finer way could there be to reach the Welsh west coast?
04:48Now, there are two things I've learned since I've been in Dalgetlau.
04:51One is that the history of Welsh railways is slightly complex,
04:54and the other one is that the pronunciation of Dalglethau or Dalglethi
04:58is a bit of a mystery wrapped in a riddle.
05:00So I'm going to meet someone who's going to clear it up for me,
05:03and she's from Lancashire.
05:06When she's not preoccupied with her bed-and-breakfast business,
05:09I'm going to meet her.
05:11I'm going to meet her.
05:14When she's not preoccupied with her bed-and-breakfast business,
05:17overlooking the Mouthack,
05:19Jackie O'Hanlon leads walking and bike tours of the estuary,
05:22and, of course, all of them make use of Dalgetlau's old railway line.
05:26So, Jackie, Dalglethi, Dalglethau.
05:28I don't know why I'm asking you from Lancashire,
05:30but you've been here for a while now,
05:32so you've heard all different pronunciations.
05:34Yes, it's either Dalglethau, when you ask people how it's pronounced,
05:37that's the very Welsh way, or Dalglethau is also right,
05:40and people will mix between the two, just when you think you've got it.
05:43They'll use the other one just to make it more natural.
05:45Right, so there is no right or wrong, really?
05:47There's a definite wrong if you go Dalglethau.
05:49Dalglethau, yes, good. But there's two rights.
05:51What on earth is a woman from Lancashire doing here?
05:54We'd heard about the scenery, how beautiful it was,
05:56the beautiful biking that's here, the walking that's here.
05:59The estuary, to be honest, was a big surprise at how spectacular that was,
06:02and it's absolutely beautiful, hidden away,
06:04and it's a lovely place to live,
06:06and it's nice to share that with people
06:08and get them to know a bit more about the area.
06:10Now, here we are in this very picturesque setting,
06:12and we're about to cross over, aren't we, to where the railway begins?
06:15Yes, this is where we cross the river,
06:17and from the other side of the footbridge is where the actual railway track,
06:20where the trail joins the actual railway track.
06:22You've mentioned Barmouth.
06:24That was one of the big reasons for the railway line, wasn't it,
06:27to ship the tourists in, but it wasn't all about tourists.
06:30No, no, there was also... Dalglethau had a very busy web trade,
06:33lots of weaving, that went out on the railway lines.
06:36So slate mining along the estuary went out along the railway lines.
06:39I think a lot of people don't know how much there was here, actually,
06:42because it's beautiful and tranquil and very quiet,
06:44and the idea that once it was full of slate quarries and mining
06:47and shipbuilding and weaving and everything else,
06:49now there's sheep grazing on the mountains, and that's about it.
06:52And what should I keep my eyes peeled for along the way?
06:55The trail takes the south side of the Malvac estuary.
06:57All along the north side, you'll see the mountains,
06:59that's where all the Welsh gold, clog-eye mines were up there.
07:02Right. Might find some?
07:04You'd need to cross the river to find it.
07:06Bit of digging, that's all right. Indeed, yes.
07:08On your left-hand side, you'll also see,
07:10as well as the remnants of the railway,
07:12you'll also see Penmanpool Bridge, which is beautiful,
07:14and also there's some tank traps from World War II.
07:17Tank traps? Why?
07:19During World War II, they suspected that there may be an invasion
07:22coming in through the estuary, and they put blockades in the way
07:25to keep the tanks back. Tank traps.
07:27So they don't sound picturesque and pretty in any way.
07:29They're not as bad as you'd think they might look, actually.
07:32There's something about them, but that's what they are.
07:35When you encounter them, you'll know what they are. OK.
07:40Jackie's agreed to meet me further down the line
07:42to lead me through some of the less well-known landmarks on the estuary.
07:46But for now, it's time to cross the River Onion
07:49and join the old Cambrian Railway.
07:55So this is it.
07:57This is where the old track bed used to be.
07:59You can't actually make out where it would have come out of
08:02Golglethi there, but you can see, and you can probably hear,
08:06the bypass just there.
08:08But not for long.
08:13The railway origins of my path soon become more obvious.
08:18Within half a mile, a distinct embankment appears.
08:23Then you're joined by another telltale feature of a railway line.
08:27An avenue of trees lining the route
08:29as it cuts through the silted-up area of the upper estuary.
08:36This is now designated as a site of special scientific interest.
08:42An important breeding ground for wetland birds
08:45and a varied environment of salt marsh, swamp
08:48and perfectly flat grazing grounds.
08:51Now, that might look like a field in front of me,
08:54but in fact, it is the largest reed bed in Wales.
08:57It's quite boggy underfoot,
08:59but follow my finger through to the village there,
09:02and that's where the two rivers meet,
09:04the River Malthac and the River Onion.
09:06And then the eye travels into the valley to the right-hand side,
09:09and you should be able to smell gold,
09:11because that's where a lot of the Welsh gold mining industry took place.
09:15The rush for Welsh gold in this area started in the 1860s,
09:19the same decade as the railway's arrival.
09:22Since then, the industry has grown and shrunk repeatedly,
09:26with the most recent activity ending in 1998.
09:29The northern side of the Malthac estuary
09:32has produced some of the most prized and highly valued gold in the world.
09:36And to this day, British royal weddings are usually topped off
09:40with the most expensive gold in the world.
09:43British royal weddings are usually topped off with a ring made of Welsh gold.
09:48BIRDS CHIRP
10:11Ah, I can spy the toll bridge at Penmine Pool.
10:16There he is. Pretty obvious landmark.
10:23Since 1879, the wooden bridge has served
10:26as a permanent crossing of the estuary,
10:28connecting the railway station at Penmine Pool
10:31with the north side of the estuary and the gold mining industry.
10:38So if it's 60p for a car, what is it for Bradbury?
10:42Er, double.
10:44£1.20, that's still a bargain.
10:46What is it to walk over?
10:4820p to walk. It goes to pay for that.
10:50Maintenance? The repairs and the paint.
10:55The bridge replaced a ferry service here,
10:57but of course it provided one more obstacle to a shipping industry,
11:00already being overrun by the railway.
11:07You don't have to be an expert to notice the signs of a railway station
11:10at this point of the walk.
11:12There's the signal box in the cream and brown colours
11:15of the Great Western Railway.
11:18Then there's a very familiar-looking station building...
11:23..and an immaculately maintained signal.
11:28Penmine Pool is a brief snapshot of the past,
11:31topped off by the centuries-old George Hotel.
11:37It's a favourite with locals and somewhere that I'm meeting
11:40is the railway double act.
11:44Keith Davis and Des Thomas have known each other
11:47for a number of years now.
11:49One's English, one is Welsh,
11:51one's an artist and one's a former train driver.
11:55But the important thing is Keith's passion
11:58for accurately painting the past.
12:01How long have you actually been based here as an artist, Keith?
12:04About seven years, 2001.
12:07Through many hours of going through the archives,
12:10looking for information on the railway, et cetera,
12:13I managed to find Des that worked and lived here,
12:16which was fantastic, because to talk to somebody
12:19makes it all come to life.
12:21So when was this painting?
12:23It's 1960, dated 1960, with the Foxcote Manor,
12:26which is running at Llangollen now, all restored.
12:29So, Des, how have things...
12:31I mean, now, when you look at Keith's painting,
12:34when you look at that, that picture,
12:36how real is it to you?
12:38How much does it bring back to you?
12:40Well, it's actually like being on it.
12:42And I probably was on that train.
12:44The driver's on this side, the fireman's on the other side.
12:47Yeah.
12:48And all you had to do was open the reg and hit it
12:51and sit down and watch it go.
12:53That was it? Easy!
12:55Look at the scenery and enjoy yourself.
12:57So, Des, let's talk a little bit about your career.
13:00How old were you when you started on the railways?
13:03About 15.
13:04About 15. And what was the first job?
13:06Cleaner.
13:07Cleaner.
13:08You've got to go through the stages, like, you know...
13:10Yeah.
13:11..like every other train apprentice,
13:13until you become a driver.
13:15And how long, do you think, from start to finish,
13:17before you became a driver?
13:19Oh, I'd say about 12, 15 years.
13:21And what did you feel when you were told for the first time,
13:24in fact, where were you when you were told
13:26that the railways were going to close?
13:29Well, we were in these sheds there.
13:32The foreman of the shed received letters to say that
13:35Dr Beeching had arrived and he was going to close the line.
13:38I'm not very happy.
13:39No.
13:40It must have been sad and shocking news for you.
13:42Of course it was.
13:43When the railways closed, everything else was rapidly closing down.
13:47The wool factories, they didn't last very long afterwards.
13:50They closed them down.
13:52Shops shut.
13:54Nothing there, was there?
13:56What did you think of Mr Beeching himself, or Dr Beeching?
14:00I'll pass on that.
14:05And can you remember your last day working on the railways?
14:09Yes.
14:10We had to take the last little tank engine,
14:12which worked the local train,
14:14we had to take that back to Mackintosh.
14:16And we were hooting the whistles all the way there and back.
14:21Really sad time.
14:23Then we had to travel home by bus and that was the end of us.
14:28End of the railway.
14:42Leaving the pub, you pass the site of old sidings
14:45and a handful of buildings that once served the station and the line.
14:50Then you pass through a cutting,
14:52once blasted through this finger of hillside,
14:55to create a flat and direct route for the railway.
15:02All right, I know they're lambs,
15:05and I know it's the time of year,
15:07but I've never heard such noisy sheep.
15:10SHEEP BLEAT
15:12They won't shut up.
15:15Of course, it's no surprise when you walk along old railway tracks
15:19that the path is excessively long and straight.
15:27For over three-quarters of a mile,
15:29the embankment stretches out across the sands of the estuary.
15:33The valley may look wide and unthreatening,
15:35but flash floods have been a feature here for centuries.
15:39As recently as 1976,
15:41one such flood helped the creation of this path today,
15:44as it washed away much of the rocky ballast left behind by the railway.
15:50But your reward for this straight trudge
15:52is a view that you won't find on any other rail line in the country.
15:58There's the first sighting of Barmouth Bridge in the distance,
16:02reflecting in the water, just a thin line from here.
16:06Must be about four miles away.
16:08For much of the rest of the walk,
16:10Barmouth Bridge becomes a teasing goal,
16:12regularly disappearing from view,
16:14then reappearing moments later, just a little bit closer,
16:18as the railway hugs the line between the hillside and the estuary.
16:23And here's Barmouth Bridge again,
16:25just a little bit closer,
16:27as the railway hugs the line between the hillside and the estuary.
16:53Well, it's nice to get off the track and go off piste for a while,
16:57and from here, you get the most magnificent view of Barmouth Bridge proper
17:01for the first time, and it really is enormous.
17:04It's about half a mile long.
17:12Oh!
17:14Oh!
17:16Oh!
17:18Oh!
17:20Oh!
17:27Just think, the Victorians didn't even have to get off the train
17:30to soak in this view.
17:39That rather grand-looking building over there is Cairdian Hall.
17:44In fact, apparently the whole of the North Bank is littered
17:47with big, fat houses built by wealthy Victorians,
17:49and Cairdian Hall itself was a bit of a literary haven.
17:52Tennyson, Ruskin, Darwin, even my mate Wordsworth from the Lakelands
17:57would come and hang out here for some estuary inspiration.
18:07The Mouthack Estuary has certainly not been short of promoters in the past.
18:12The Great Western Railway advertised the trip to the Welsh coast
18:15as one of the most enchanting in the world.
18:18And it was Ruskin, certainly no great lover of railways in general,
18:22who once expressed the view that the only walk better
18:25than the one from Barmouth to Dolgethlai
18:27was the walk from Dolgethlai to Barmouth.
18:33Without the old railway line here, you wouldn't be able to do this,
18:36to walk straight through the estuary.
18:38You can see it clearly here on both sides.
18:42And I love these old telegraph poles.
18:46They're bits of railway furniture, if you like, left from the good old days.
18:50The only bits.
18:55Whereas the north side of the estuary was defined by its mining industry,
18:59the south side that the railway line hugged was more agricultural,
19:03and there's still some stunning farms today.
19:07But as you approach Arthog, and as Jackie suggested,
19:11this bank hasn't always been a place of peace and tranquillity.
19:18Aha, now these must be the World War II remains
19:22that Jackie was telling me about,
19:24because I'm fairly certain that this concrete
19:26doesn't date back to Victorian times.
19:28I'm also fairly certain, looking at them,
19:30that they would have done a very good job at stopping tanks
19:33getting past, sturdier than my Greek grandmother.
19:36Sorry, I, but...
19:45As you approach the tiny mining village of Arthog,
19:48it's difficult to imagine a place less likely to witness a major invasion.
19:54This quiet collection of cottages owes its existence
19:57to the slate mining in the area.
19:59And from the air, it's impossible not to notice
20:01the crater left behind by the local industry.
20:08Today, it seems as quiet as the rest of the village.
20:13But nothing could be quite as sleepy as the remains of Arthog station.
20:18Jackie, hello again!
20:20It's not much of a station, is it?
20:22No, there's not a lot left.
20:24I was expecting a bit more, I must say.
20:26You're standing where the platform would have been.
20:28Right.
20:29And the trail would have gone along there.
20:31Yeah.
20:32And this is it.
20:33It was all made of wood and there's not a lot survived.
20:35Would the station have been built for tourists?
20:37No, not here.
20:38No, not here.
20:39This station was built to support the slate quarrying.
20:42All along here were slate quarries.
20:44You can still see the heaps and the cottages
20:46where the quarrymen would have lived.
20:48Right.
20:49And this station was built to support that,
20:51take it out to Barmouth and then beyond.
20:54Now, we're quite close to the water here,
20:56which, I mean, I know now it floods
20:58and presumably it would have done back in the good old days as well.
21:01Yes, it would have flooded then.
21:03There is a story, who knows if it's true,
21:05about the stationmaster for this station
21:07clinging on during the floods to his station
21:09until the water subsided and he was able to survive
21:12by holding on to his timber-built station.
21:14Yes, which had probably washed away parts of it.
21:17Right, we've done Arthog. What else are we going to see up here?
21:20We're going to see some more World War II remains.
21:23Ah, because I've just seen the tank traps back there,
21:26so there's more. There's more this way.
21:34More concreteness.
21:36Yes, this is the remains, part of the remains
21:38of the World War II marine training camp that was here,
21:41Camp Iceland, one of a number of marine training camps in this area.
21:45There was one over the hill, Camp Burma,
21:47where my grandpa trained in the war.
21:49And what were they all training for, the marines around here?
21:52Reputedly training for the D-Day landings.
21:54And your grandpa was one of them? He was, yes.
21:58The presence of so much activity here in the 1940s
22:01is a surprise to me and I'm sure to many other visitors to the area.
22:05But there was one reason why marines came to this spot
22:08outside Arthog in particular.
22:12In 1894, a Cardiff entrepreneur by the name of Solomon Andrews
22:16turned this waterside spot into a tourist destination to rival Barmouth.
22:21He came here with grand plans to develop villas and transport facilities.
22:27His dream barely got off the ground,
22:29but it did leave the marines with enough facilities
22:32to set up their training base.
22:34But it didn't take off as a resort?
22:36It didn't take off as a resort, no. Why not?
22:39I don't know. They had problems with subsidence,
22:41they had problems with flooding, and it never really came.
22:45It was the marines, now it's the RAF training this area.
22:48Yeah.
22:50All the time.
22:51Do you want to see the... Yeah, let's go and look at the houses.
22:55So these are the posh bits that Solomon Andrews built?
22:58Yes, these are the houses that he built for part of his resort
23:01that were then made use of by the marines' training camp.
23:05They had all of the first floor with doors adjoining
23:08so they could get from one end to the other without having to come outside.
23:11And half of the ground floor,
23:13some of the residents stayed in the ground floors of their houses
23:16and the marines made use of the rest of it.
23:18And we can't go in there, obviously?
23:20We can't go in there, no. The footpath goes around this way.
23:23With Jackie's help, it's time to head back to the railway
23:26and the final station en route to the coast.
23:30Looks like we're on another railway track.
23:32It does. This is a tramway that was put here.
23:35Solomon Andrews made use of tramways all in this area
23:38for providing the building materials for his holiday resort
23:41and also the idea to use it to bring people in and out.
23:44The visitors. The visitors.
23:46The visitors that never came. The visitors that never came.
23:49This would connect his resort that we've already seen
23:51to the railway station that we're going to go and see.
23:57One mile short of Barmouth,
23:59my old railway path meets with an active railway.
24:03In an area that lost so many of its major rail arteries
24:06to Dr Beeching's axe, the Welsh coastline was fortunate to survive.
24:11And today, it does feel eerily quiet.
24:15This used to be a platform of what was then Barmouth Junction station.
24:18Yeah. It was a very busy station in its day.
24:21The lines between Dolgethla and the Cambrian coast on our right
24:25and the Cambrian coastlines over to our left, siding here.
24:28So it was big. It was a big junction.
24:30It was a big junction, yes. It had five platforms.
24:32The only ones in Wales that were bigger were Swansea and Cardiff.
24:35And what's it called now, cos it's not Barmouth Junction any more?
24:37Now it's called Morva Malvac. Say that again?
24:39Morva Malvac. Morva Malvac.
24:42So, Jackie, this is where we part ways. I'm heading there.
24:45Yes. Enjoy your walk over the Barmouth viaduct.
24:47I will. Thank you very much. Thank you for all your information.
24:50No problem. I've lived and learned today.
24:52OK. Enjoy your walk. Thank you. Bye.
25:06Here's another tramway, but to be honest,
25:08by now all of your attention is just focused straight up ahead
25:11on Barmouth and the bridge.
25:19And so to the last bit of my walk, which is shared with the quiet
25:23but definitely still active coastal line.
25:33Opened in 1867, this viaduct, known simply as Barmouth Bridge,
25:37is the longest in Wales.
25:41It was one of the final and most complex pieces of the link
25:44connecting England and the Welsh coast at Barmouth.
25:51It was high-tech too, featuring a sliding section at the northerly end
25:55that would allow ships to pass through.
26:00At 2,292 feet long, the bridge is made up of 113 timber spans.
26:07And an eight-span iron section.
26:11Each iron column had to be sunk 120 feet below sea level
26:15through layers of silt and mud to find the rock floor below.
26:22So here I am, smack bang in the middle of the Mouthlake Estuary,
26:26with a view that carries you all the way back to Dolgethae.
26:29But I might not have been here at all,
26:31because if you look back through the newspaper archives,
26:34you'll know that in 1980 this bridge was actually closed.
26:36It was riddled, infested with shipworm.
26:39Now, luckily, it was treatable with worm-proof, glass-reinforced cement.
26:44Try saying that after a pint at the end of a long walk.
26:49Shipworm.
26:53Shipworm.
27:07The original sliding metal gate mechanism
27:10may have been immune to shipworm,
27:12but it took 37 minutes to open and close,
27:15so it wasn't a massive success.
27:18100 years ago, it was replaced with this more conventional swing bridge.
27:23But even this hasn't swung open now for over 20 years.
27:30So, with Barmouth ahead, this is it.
27:33The end of the line that once brought fashionable people from England
27:36all the way to the Welsh west coast.
27:39And as I've seen today, those visitors of the late 19th century
27:43are just one of many developments
27:45that this stretch of water has witnessed in recent centuries.
27:51It's quite funny that here we are in the most Welsh part of Wales.
27:54The national language is commonly spoken,
27:56and yet this town is known by the frightfully English name of Barmouth,
28:00when it's got a perfectly good Welsh name of Abermouth.
28:03It just goes to show that those Victorian railway tourists
28:05have certainly left their mark, haven't they?
28:12Despite the railway and the mining and the quarrying and the shipping
28:16and all the millions of visitors to Snowdonia every year,
28:19today I found a little stretch of water here in Wales,
28:22and I think it's one of their better-kept secrets.
28:26Until now.
28:30.
29:00.