The Bala Branch Reflections of a Lost Welsh Mountain Railway

'Not for many a day will the traveller forget that mountain ride'. So read the description of the journey along the twenty-five mile Bala branch in the GWR's 1924 publicity booklet Welsh Mountain Railways. Running through the rugged Arenig Mountains in North Wales, the journey by train from Bala to Blaenau Ffestiniog was one of unique character. Authors Martin F. Williams and Derek J. Lowe have enjoyed a lifelong interest in the Bala to Blaenau Ffestiniog line, its people and history. Many years of research have brought them into contact and close friendship with many who knew and worked on the line, providing a rare working insight into its day-to-day operation. Using hundreds of photographs, with several in colour and many hitherto unpublished, together with informative text and captions, they take the reader on a fascinating journey along the line, back through time from its earliest days until its closure to passengers in 1960.