Hardback | 64 pages | 150 x 200mm
Publication October 2018 | ISBN 9781912654147
Authors Paul Lawton and David Southern continue this series of pocket books exploring Wales’s railway heritage, each revealing one of the nation’s ‘lost lines’.
Though the Conwy Valley line is not ‘lost’ in the traditional sense and continues operations, this title recalls a by-gone era when steam locomotives were at their peak.
Opened in 1863, the Conwy Valley line began with the primary purpose of transporting slate from the Ffestiniog quarries for export by sea. It also served many isolated communities in Snowdonia and contributed to Wales’s developing tourist industry.
The history and social background of the railway and its passengers during this period is explored station by station and brought vividly to life through extensive research and archive photography, some of which has never been published before.
Books in the series:
- Cambrian Coast Line
- Ruabon to Barmouth
- Aberystwyth to Carmarthen
- Brecon to Newport
- Vale of Neath
- Shrewsbury to Aberystwyth
- The Mid Wales Line
- Chester to Holyhead
- Bangor to Afon Wen
- Rhyl to Corwen
- The Heads of the Valleys Line
- Conwy Valley Line
‘As is usual with this series the book contains excellent photographs, mostly monochrome but covering all sections of the line, and illustrating a mix of steam and diesel traction. The accompanying text gives a welcome insight into how the railway affected the surrounding communities, and demonstrates how times have changed since the line was in its heyday. […] Highly recommended.’ Ffestiniog Railway Magazine, Summer 2019