LOW TIDE UNCOVERS RAIL TRACK HIDDEN FOR A CENTURY

Debate swirls as to route’s purpose

- By ANDREW FORGRAVE

LOW tides have revealed the ghostly remnants of a railway line running across a beach as if heading out to sea.

In recent days, long-covered wheels and axles have emerged from the water alongside stretches of iron tracks now gently rusting on the sand.

The scene, on Barmouth beach in Gwynedd, has echoes of the Welsh legend of the submerged kingdom of Cantre'r Gwaelod in Cardigan Bay.

Unlike the kingdom's bells, said to be still ringing beneath the surface, Barmouth’s mysterious beach railway remains eerily silent save for the sounds of the sea.

It is thought the track has stayed hidden on the beach for more than a century. But in recent years, it’s been occasionally exposed by shifting sand patterns on a coastline that’s constantly evolving.

Several theories have been put forward to explain the railway’s existence.

A historic lifeboat launch site has been speculated, along with a ramp site for bringing fishing ships ashore for repairs.

As far as anyone knows, the tracks end at the low tide line and so, disappointingly, they're unlikely to be part of a long-lost smuggling route from Ireland, as commonly supposed.