The first world war created a large demand for timber, much of which was supplied from the rich forests of Mid Wales. Following the end of hostilities, there was sufficient demand as Europe rebuilt to keep an active logging industry in the Dyfi valley. To reach the trees on the steep slopes of the Ceirig valley, various tramways and inclines were built from the main CR&DJR line. Of these the largest and perhaps oddest was the Caecyno Tramway, built in the late 1920's. Stocked with second hand equipment, this line was built to 1'10 1/2" gauge, presumably because the owners found a source of rolling stock to that gauge.
While other lines in Wales ran on or close to this gauge - notably the extensive internal lines of the Dinorwic slate quarry at Llanberis - it is interesting to note that this was almost, but not quite, the same as the gauge of the CR&DJR. As a result, the stock and track of the Caecyno Tramway was entirely separate from the mainline, and timber had to be transfered between the lines at their interchange point at Dolfor Junction.
While an exchange between narrow gauge railways is not unique, it did pose problems: additional costs were involved in moving logs and other goods from one line to another. Most of the output of the forests was first loaded onto the Caecyno Tramway, then moved onto the CR&DJR timber bolsters at Dol and taken down to the sawmill at Brynmelin. Once cut into lumber, the wood was loaded again for the short journey to Cemmaes Road where it was moved onto roadlorries or into the wagons of the standard gauge Cambrian Railways. All in all, a lot of handling for each plank of wood.
Inevitably as the demand for timber slackened, prices fell and the Caecyno timber operation was no longer profitable. The felling and the associated tramway struggled on into the 1930's, but the entire operation had gone before the start of the Second World War.
So much for the history, what of the model? The Caecyno Tramway is a recent (July 2005) addition to my layout. I have always intended to add a quarry or forestry scene to the model, but the exact form this would take was somewhat hazy. However at the end of June I found an intriguing eBay auction for a large amount of Regner RSSB equipment. In the 1980's Regner manufactured its own line of large scale narrow gauge equipment, based on the Feldbahn railways used by the German Army in WWI. Regner chose the unusual scale of 13.5mm to the foot, using 30mm gauge track to represent the 60cm gauge prototypes.
For details of the model of the Caecyno Tramway, follow these links:
This photo shows the exchange between the high-level Caecyno Tramway and the low-level lines of the CR&DJR north of Dolfor Junction station. Socrates waits with a short skip train below Caecyno Tramway No. 4
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