In 2021, mysterious train tracks leading to the sea have resurfaced on a beach in north Wales, and now there’s more evidence of a long-lost hidden Victorian railway. Eighteen months ago, there was excitement in the seaside town of Barmouth when sections of narrow 19th century track were discovered on Barmouth Beach.
The remains of the associated undercarriage have now also been seen, with old iron wheels and axles occasionally becoming visible at low tide, reports North Wales Live. The tracks and undercarriage had been buried under the sand on the northern part of the beach for decades.
They are believed to have been gradually exposed in recent years due to changing sand patterns on the ever-changing shoreline. This latest find has delighted longtime visitors.
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“I’ve never seen them and I’ve been going for about 35 years,” said one. “I think they may have been lying on the beach for years, and recent storms have washed away the sand that covers them.”
It is widely believed that the rails were laid to move Edwardian bathing machines up and down the beach, as reported. But although Barmouth had these machines, old photos show they were never on the rails.
(Image: Dickie Sharpe)
Another theory is that after a major storm in 1928 destroyed part of the embankment, a series of iron rails were laid in 1930 to remove the rubble. It is believed that more ballast was placed on the beach for the city’s new wave deflection wall after the storm, and that the beach became an area of construction for steam engines and related works.
But questions remain whether the tracks were scrapped after the 1930s work. Barmouth historian Hugh Griffith Roberts, curator of a large archive of local historic photographs, believes not.
At the time, he said, the resort was building a tourist reputation: Rusty paths along its picturesque beach were not part of the idyllic setting. He added that the contractors involved in the work would not have left valuable equipment behind.
Instead, he believes the train tracks predate the boardwalk by at least 40 years and were almost certainly laid in the late 19th century for the city’s new sewer system. During the tourism boom, getting rid of trash became a priority, he said.
“There were so many guest houses being built at the time that ways to dispose of the resulting waste became increasingly important,” Roberts previously told North Wales Live. In 1890 a new reservoir was built at the northern end of the beach.
The railway line is believed to have been used to lay a 150 m long cast iron pipe to discharge raw sewage into the sea at high tide, as was the norm at the time. Perhaps the tracks were simply left in place to disappear under the sand.
In 1987 the Victorian drainage pipe was replaced with a pipe buried deep within the beach carrying treated waste. At the same time, a sewage and pumping station was built.
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Source: Wales Online
John Cameron is a journalist at The Nation View specializing in world news and current events, particularly in international politics and diplomacy. With expertise in international relations, he covers a range of topics including conflicts, politics and economic trends.
