WHR Main Line
Our main line curves gently from its easterly course on leaving Porthmadog station, to a north-easterly course at Pen-y-Mount, 1/2 mile to the left. As it approaches Gelert's Farm Halt, the line first passes over Hoppe's Bridge.
Aerial photograph of Gelert's Farm works taken 25th April 2002(Van Rhijn Aerial Photographs, Wrexham)
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Our main line curves gently from its easterly course on leaving Porthmadog station, to a north-easterly course at Pen-y-Mount, 1/2 mile to the left. As it approaches Gelert's Farm Halt, the line first passes over Hoppe's Bridge.
The standard-gauge Cambrian coast line runs along the southern edge.
The east side of The Farm is bounded by the course of the 1863 Croesor Tramway (history), seen along the top edge in the photograph. This is planned to be rebuilt at some future date to carry the WHR through Porthmadog town to the Harbour Station (FR), as it did until 1937.
Several heritage mobile telephone exchanges on site. These are adjacent to the wagon display area. The expertise in period telephony technology at the WHR played a vital part in TV's Hello Girls.
The Big Shed houses our museum exhibits and is the main viewing area for visitors touring the Railway, with its adjacent wagon display on one side and main display yard on the other. The Big Shed is also where the train is stored at night, along with the Lyd2 Diesels and Karen. Coach restoration is carried out here too. A steel-clad steel frame building erected in the late 1970s, the Big Shed has been a core part of activity at Gelert's Farm.
The Railway Extension Department (R.E.D.) Shed and Yard is where works trains are stored and is also the home of several restoration projects, including 20hp MRT No.264 and 100hp Hudwell-Clarke No.1247.
The R.E.D. Yard lines are named A (bottom) to D (top). A-Road is notable in having interleaved track, which allows rails to be brought up on wagons right within the reach of the large radial drill inside the R.E.D. shed. D-Road runs behind the shed; various items of stock are usually stored for lengthy periods. Notable here is the locomotive boiler that belongs to Gelert's sister locomotive Bagnall 3023 'Moel Tryfan' (formerly Rustenberg No.3).
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West of the heritage wagon display area is the volunteers' ablution block and temporary mess. The planned new mess will be an extension of the ablution block.
West of the Big Shed is the heritage wagon display area. This contains a fascinating collection of wagons of various eras and gauges, coming from many of the old local industrial areas. The volunteers' mess is to the right.
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East of the Big Shed is the main public viewing area. The surface has been levelled to allow visitors to walk around to view the stock on display. Set into the ground, there are four roads into the Big Shed numbered 1 to 4 (No.1 is nearest the main line), and two more into the old Civils Shed (Nos. 5 & 6). Ruston & Hornsby No.1 'Glaslyn' can be seen on No.2 and several of the RNAD box vans are clearly visible on No.5.
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On No.5 Road in the Big Shed display yard can be seen four box vans that came from RNAD yards (photo of similar vans).
Above the Big Shed viewing area is the dark-painted Loco Shed. This is where day-to-day locomotive maintenance is carried out, plus longer-term restoration projects. It once was a hay barn, hence explaining all those references to such a barn in past editions of The Journal. The corrugated steel cladding of the Loco Shed has been patched and patched again, giving a wonderfully rustic look befitting its age, but not so good inside when cold winter winds blow! No.7 Road serves the Loco Shed: replacing two of its points was carried out as part of Civil's Week 2001 (see Journal 139).
To the right of the Loco Shed is the Civils Shed, surrounded by various steel parts from locos etc. Amidst these parts is the huge tender for NG15 No.120 on No.6 Road, but it is quite hard to make out. The NG15 itself is behind on No.8 Road. No.5 Road was extended in 1991 (Journal 101) to pass right through the Civils Shed and continue across into what is now the heritage wagon display area.
The Machine and Joinery Shop is towards the right, nearer the Cambrian Railway. These workshops are housed in old stone-built buildings dating from the earlier farm on this site, but sadly, they are now in poor condition and new roofing is an urgent priority. The machine shop is rail-served by No.8 Road, which runs behind the loco shed and also provides access to the R.E.D. Yard.
The volunteers' caravans are clearly seen along the top edge of the site. This edge is bounded by a footpath that is along original route of the WHR. The site of the 1863 level crossing across the Cambrian is barely visible (not to be confused with the obvious access road to Gelert's Farm), and no trace remains of the small signal box that once stood by the crossing.
To the left of the caravans, wooden-framed sheds house plant and other machinery.
This signal box controls access between Gelert's Farm and the main line. A 'one engine in steam' principle, enforced using a section staff, ensures that no two trains will ever meet at speed on the main line.
Because the signal box is not a block post for signalling between adjacent boxes, some may pedantically prefer to call it a ground frame, but it looks every bit like a signal box so that is how it is termed on the Railway.
This small station provides the main access point for visitors to the Railway's shed tours. The first exhibits visible to visitors are the heritage wagons.
A signal box once stood at the Cambrian/WHR crossing to control the crossing. Alas, no trace remains of it.
The main line crosses a stream on a bridge of sturdy stone piers, built for the standard gauge exchange siding that once ran along this route. The bridge was extensively rebuilt in the 1970s, prior to the WHR's re-opening in 1980.