I left the station looking at the mountain,
when I heard it again, the toot-toot of a steam train,
and there it was pulling into the station,
and then moving to what was the rear of the train,
and here it is in action,
I asked about tickets as the office was closed,
basically as it was a nice day they had decided to run the train, the price was £25.00 per compartment that holds 6 people, this was the last run of the day so the train would not be coming back here, but would stop at the National Slate Museum, which was fine by me,
but here was the problem there was only myself, and they only took cash as the ticket office was closed, the card machine locked inside, the only cash on me was a £5.00 note, also there were no banks nearby,
I asked if I could share a compartment but because of covid laws still in place I could not,
the guard took a quick look around and said, "I'll tell you what, do not say anything to anyone, but as I have a few spare compartments you can have one to yourself for £5.00", what a result! oh wait a second, maybe I should not have said that,
the train was coupled,
and soon chugging out of the station,
a slate mine in the distance,
this one on the other side of the lake,
everybody likes to take photographs of steam trains,
the train made its way past the National Slate Museum,
so it is here that I will be looking at later,
talk about a bit of good luck,
it is not a place I think that the girls would have liked to look around,
but when I steam back here I can look around and take as long as I like,
a quick look at a funicular slate railway,
not used for many years,
into the tunnel,
and we started to steam,
parallel to the lake,
looking towards the far end,
the track carved out of the mountainside,
and here we were at the end of the line,
the engine changed ends for the return trip,
after 5 minutes or so we stopped,
for a short break,
we all had a look around,
at the tracks,
the station was a picnic stop,
a couple of the engine,
now pulling people not slate,
the equivalent of a signal box,
we are going that way,
this engine,
built in 1889,
rebuilt in 1971,
and still going strong!
if you are familiar with these,
you are of an age similar to myself I would guess,
I never thought I would see them again,
it is a window fastener, to keep the windows from opening too fast and to adjust how far open you want them,
what a glorious day,
in the morning we were worried it was gong to be a cold grey day,
along the line many abandoned buildings,
in the distance,
slate slag spills into the lake,
back through the tunnel,
and off of the train by a walk through the forest, for myself what a delightful trip, especially as I was in the compartment next to the engine, on the way out I smelt the aroma of oil, steam and burning coal,
a walk past the lake railway office,
all around the signs of the past, like these rail tracks for the slate wagons,
these leading,
to another funicular rail track,
this part closed to visitors,
a double turntable in the ground,
I have no idea what this building was for,
I crossed the steam train tracks,
that also crossed the road,
the engine sheds,
I made my way to the entrance,
the opening times,
I entered the yard,
and started the tour,
luckily there were not many people here,
I almost had the place to myself,
on the ground,
so many tracks for the slate wagons,
and cranes,
a funicular train for the miners,
and of course lots of slate,
and waggons,
like this one,
an exposed turntable,
there was also a very narrow gauge track here, but I did not see any trains or waggons for it,
I made my way into the first building,
the caban,
the legend,
the caban itself,
back outside,
and into the room where the slate was split,
the legend,
and map of the site,
the sawmill was next,
above me,
huge wheels were turning,
there was also a soundtrack of a saw mill working,
everywhere I looked up,
there were massive wheels and belts, all moving,
the saw itself,
back in the yard,
I went to another saw mill,
this one with a massive circular saw, it must have been over 3 feet across,
I was coming to the end of the overhead power wheels,
and this is what was turning them,
water, not steam,
the whole site was run on water power,
amazing!
I had expected to see a stationary steam engine,
into the foundry,
mines like this one had to make everything they needed in house,
the legend,
I left the foundry,
and made my way upstairs,
where bucks were stored,
as well as finished products,
one of the lathes upstirs,
looking down to the foundry,
downstairs I looked at the man powered engine,
and some of the slate waggons,
next stop the smithy,
a neat way to reverse the direction of the drive,
the blacksmith hard at work,
making articles for the museum shop,
as he explained normally much larger jobs would be done here, hence the distance between the furnace and the anvil,
which meant that small items cooled rather quickly,
and here it is finished, a heart shaped bottle opener,
hard at work,
this is more like the size of pieces made here,
overhead wheels everywhere,
of all sizes,
now this is what you call a lathe!
it was huge,
going to the other extreme,
this one was wide,
a work in progress,
as I guess this is,
a vicious looking chain saw,
the legend,
a part of the pervious work in progress perhaps?
I made my way upstirs to the last exhibit,
a duck through the doorway,
and I was confronted by this huge spindle,
with its spokes,
radiating out to the huge wheel,
and here it is in action,
out of the water wheelhouse,
a last look across the yard,
and I was out of the museum,
and walking back to town,
where I meet up with Steve, Kai and Diana, here are the statistics of their walk down the mountain, after a wash and brush up, we were out for our evening meal to Spice of Llanberis,
where we all agreed we have never been so discourteously served before,
the good news was that they had rabbit wine,
as for the food,
it was excellent,
but it was just the way the plates and cutlery were almost thrown onto the table,
that was a bit off putting,
they were of course busy, but there it is,
the rum coffee delicious, we made a move back to the hotel, the girls went to bed, Steve and myself had a drink or two before we retired, if you would like to see day 3 of our stay in Wales please hit the Older Posts button.
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