Explorer given rare sight of once-key quarry rail tunnel

WHEN Vince from Disused Railway Tunnels UK came to North Wales on a shaft hunt last year he left disappointed. The target was the Port Dinorwic Tunnel.

- Owen Hughes

This was a near 100 yard tunnel that once played a vital role in the area's slate trade. The Dinowic Quarries Railway - also known as Padarn Railway - was built in 1824 to connect the quarries at Llanberis in North Wales with Port Dinowic on the Menai Strait.

The alignment was altered in 1843 which would include a rope worked incline and the need for a 92 yard tunnel into Port Dinorwic from Penscoins, situated above the village.

This carried slate from the quarries around Llanberis down to the waterside, from where it went across the UK and the globe on ships and trains. The line also carried workers along the route - initially unofficially before a more formalised service.