The Llanberis Lake Railway is a one-foot eleven-and-a-half inch (597 mm) gauge railway that takes you on a five-mile return journey along the northern shore of the beautiful and tranquil lake of Llyn Padarn. The carriages are pulled by ex-Dinorwic Slate Quarry locos.
The railway officially opened in May 1971, with much of the route running along the old trackbed of the Padarn Railway which ran to Y Felinheli (Port Dinorwic) on the Menai Strait (this railway closed in the early 1960s). The new track was extended into the village of Llanberis in 2003 with a new station near its neighbour, The Snowdon Mountain Railway.
The journey passes the thirteenth-century ruin of Dolbadarn Castle and travels through the Padarn Country Park. The return trip of around one hour includes a short stop at the popular picnic spot at Cei Llydan and the National Slate Museum at Gilfach Ddu (which was the main engineering works for the Dinorwic Quarry).
The railway uses three steam locos, “Elidir“, “Dolbadarn” and “Thomas Bach” as well as several steam locos which are used as works trains and backups for the passenger trains.
