Celebrating The Spiral

Today, the 2nd of January, marks a significant anniversary for the FR, for it is 50 years since a spade was driven into the ground to begin work on the Llyn Ystradau Deviation, an epic volunteer-led project to reconnect the historic railway which had been severed when an upper section was flooded as part of a hydro-electric scheme near Tanygrisiau.

Although there have been many impressive achievements in railway preservation during the last half century, not the least of which is the restoration of the Welsh Highland Railway in full, of which we model at small section on Bron Hebog, the idea of settling out to build a brand new formation in such a remote spot remains a daunting enough proposition in 2015, it is hard to imagine how immense the undertaking must have seemed when a small group gathered at a spot near Dduallt station at the beginning of 1965.

So the building of the spiral, the New Moelwyn Tunnel and line along the lakeside, behind the power station, ranks with the achievements of the Victorian pioneers in the railway history books.

It is a history we honoured with the OO9 layout of the spiral we built more than 20 years ago.

Dduallt has been in semi-retirement since the Bron Hebog project gathered momentum but this 50th anniversary year of the Deviation seems too good an opportunity to miss.

So we are delighted to announced that we have accepted an invitation to show Dduallt at the WHR Super Power event in September alongside Bron Hebog.

This may very well be the one and only opportunity to see these two layouts operating at the same time - and that includes for us the builders! - so make sure you get the Super Power weekend down in your 2015 diary as a date not to be missed!