Bryn y Felin River Bridge
| Bryn y Felin River Bridge | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Type | Bridge | ||||||||
| Status | In Use | ||||||||
| Bridge name | Bryn y Felin | ||||||||
| Construction No. | UB 174 | ||||||||
| Operational No. | UB 48.00 | ||||||||
| Location | |||||||||
| Latitude | 53:00:18.31N | ||||||||
| Longitude | 04:06:01.31W | ||||||||
| Grid reference | SH591473 | ||||||||
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| Stations | Locations | Bridges | Tunnels | Map | |||||||||
Bryn y Felin River Bridge carries the Welsh Highland Railway over the Afon Glaslyn at the start of the Aberglaslyn Pass.
To the South of Beddgelert, the railway makes the first of five major river crossings. This 75 ft Warren Truss Bridge, designed by John Sreeves and built by the Brunswick Ironworks in Caernarfon was installed over the Glaslyn in March 2006. Two near-identical bridges cross the Afon Nanmor (UB196) and Afon Dylif (UB199), and were replaced as part of the same contract.
As there are two major structures at Bryn y Felin, an overbridge and an underbridge, the road bridge is referred to as Bryn y Felin Road bridge that carries the A498 from Beddgelert towards Porthmadog
There is also a pedestrian level crossing, to the right on the picture below, called Bryn y Felin crossing, taking the Fishermans Path across the railway into Aberglaslyn Pass.
Bryn y Felin Embankment extends from the Afon Glaslyn railway bridge as far as the east side of the Pass, where it meets the former alignment of the Portmadoc Beddgelert & South Snowdon Railway on yet another curve of about 50 m or 53 m radius. This was originally laid with wooden sleepers in the belief that they look prettier, but had to be replaced by steel sleepers with spades on their ends to stop the track creeping sideways on the sharp curve under the impact of 62 ton Garratt locomotives. The embankment itself has in the past been overtopped by the river in floods, so a two-pipe culvert was built through it at the restoration to prevent ballast being washed away. This culvert proved successful within a month of construction, but it takes a substantial rise in the river level to bring it into use.