Welsh Highland Railway (Light Railway) Company

The Welsh Highland Railway (Light Railway) Company was incorporated by a light railway order of 1922 to take over the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways and the Portmadoc, Beddgelert and South Snowdon Railway and to construct the remaining railway required to link them to Portmadoc.

The WHR and FR Co. had come under common control and the owners, North Wales Power and Traction Co. Ltd, adopted joint management and operation. There is evidence that the FR Co. was providing a hidden subsidy to the WHR at this time.

However financial results were very disappointing and the Chairman of both railways, H. J. Jack, resigned in 1924, and thereafter the railways were operated separately. However the WHR's results were not much improved and the WHR went into receivership in 1927 but continued to operate until 1933.

The FR Co. took out a 42 year lease on the WHR from 1934. The WHR had effectively closed at the end of 1933, but with this lease, passenger operations continued under the FR Co. until 26th September 1936. There was some sporadic goods traffic until 1st June 1937 when the FR ceased to operate it. The FR Co.'s attempts to rid itself of the lease failed until the track was removed in 1941. Since the FR Co. could not reasonably be expected to continue leasing a railway which no longer existed, the lease was terminated in 1942.

Following the legal wrangling that surrounded the revival of the WHR, the company was finally wound up in 1999 after the transfer of the remaining assets to the Ffestiniog Railway.

See Also

• Welsh Highland Railway

Reference

• Johnson, Peter (2002). An Illustrated History of the Welsh Highland Railway. Hersham: Oxford Publishing Co. ISBN 0-860935-65-5. OCLC 59498388.