What's left of the abandoned Dinorwic Quarry Railway?

[@TheUnluckyTug_official]

What a video. Your editing continues to improve with every new installment of this series! The music choices greatly enhance the atmosphere. Really enjoyed this!

[@Terrier55Stepney]

Really nice of you to say. The more serious tone felt right for this one but it's something I should do more of. Very grateful for your support. I still don't know how you manage to produce so many long-form videos!

[@Bobithan_Bobby_Bob_XXVII_Jr]

Its the Tug

[@Iron_Blood_Enjoyer1933]

Now imagine if the slate quarry on the SKR was the size and scale of Dinorwic? With the quarry company owning a small fleet of engines that worked the pits separate from the engines of the SKR.

[@robrice7246]

Isn't that what the BMQ sorta represents (just without the designated fleet)? Not to mention that if it's meant to be near the Peel Godred Branch, would they have interacted with any of the nearby Culdee Fell Engines (since that's what the Llanberis lake railway did with Snowdon)?

[@bluebirbjayy]

I personally enjoy the idea. Applying a quarry of that size in the RWS Continuity would also add a lot of potential depth with the MOD's use of the quarry later on.

[@TheSudrianTerrier653]

I imagine the quarry was actually the same size as bryn eglwys

[@liladoodle]

I mean, the SKR did sell the quarry to the MOD in the RWS.

[@davinsmith7543]

I'd like to imagine that this is where Luke comes in.

[@ProfPtarmigan]

Excellent video, informative and entertaining. I remember travelling on the lake railway, visiting the museum, and visiting (as far as is possible) the quarries.

[@Amtrak09]

This is really fascinating and well done. Superb video!

[@davedear929]

I first saw this quarry in 1963 when i rode by on my motorbike. It was still producing then of course..the place has fascinated me ever since .been there many times ..sadly age and knee replacements have stopped any more climbing. So videos like yours are very welcome..i take my hat off to those Welsh miners they were real men ..have just subscribed many thanks...

[@robertbalazslorincz8218]

I must say. As a Hungarian, from a land where, we pinch ever more pennies for ourselves and scrap anything if it makes someone money, it does bring me joy to see all this.

[@HeavyTanker-vx4oq]

As a American...... It amazes me all this is left in place... people can't leave things alone here, If something is able to be taken, they will take it. Which is so sad.

[@sawyerawr5783]

It's like East Broad Top in its own way.

[@MagiTailWelkin]

I visited the museum a few months ago. Highly worth a visit to learn about the industry that roofed the world.

[@kclassproductions]

Exactly 30 minutes of pure Dinorwic content.

[@Koko_Chan]

This was amazing, Max. thanks for this, i adore looking back at abandoned railways

[@aliminator1310]

I'd love to see a locale like this in a video game!

[@michael32A]

Great! Haven't got up there since 2018 now (Bangor Uni' 2011-2016), so I'm glad to see not _too_ much more has changed.😊 21:48 - I think there was one compressor house much lower down the quarry (nearer the power station) still somehow more intact, more clearly showing what's what: the "steam engines" left are really the air compressors, plumbed to an air reservoir (spent ages looking for a firebox or flues, then it dawned!), which was belt-driven by a dustbin sized electric motor instead. Must get back.😢

[@roderickjoyce6716]

A very good video; worth watching even if you already know quite a lot about Welsh slate industry and its people and railways. Gilfach ddu is worth a visit. On a visit to the Llanberis Lake Railway on a very wet October day a few years ago, my wife and I were almost the only passengers on the first train of the day. The staff were super friendly and the guard escorted us to the train under an enormous umbrella :) The power lines from the power station were laid underground beneath the trackbed of the Padarn Railway, and some of the diesel locos are used for works trains when the cables need maintenance - there is a modern shed for the maintenance trains about halfway along the line.

[@cptshelly]

As bad as the loss of life and the destruction of the environment, I have to say these views are stunning even with all the slate waste. Truly Welsh slate is beautiful. It's also interesting to see how the environment moves back in after it's abandoned

[@AussiePom]

I went to Honister Slate Mine and they said (naturally) that their slate was superior to Welsh slate because there's was formed from compressed volcanic rock whereas the Welsh slate is formed from compressed mud. According to them their slate adorns the roof at Dartmouth Naval College and Barnes Wallis's grave head stone. But the Welsh slate on a roof will last over 100 years and I think that should be long enough for most people. The old B&W footage of miners riding down the incline on their home made transporter only went well as long as your balance was good. If it wasn't and you went off the rail then everyone behind you landed on top of you. You simply pushed down with your left hand to activate the brake on the other rail.

[@LindseyTate13]

When I was visiting Snowdon this summer I also went to the llanberis lake railway and saw the national slate museum and the remnants of dinorwic (albeit from a distance) and while I didn’t spend much time there, it was one of my favourite places I visited. Snowdon ended up being overcrowded with annoying tourists who don’t care about the history but I loved the slate museum. If you’re in the area it’s one of my favourite places I’ve ever been.

[@roderickjoyce6716]

Personally I would always choose a visit to the Llanberis Lake Railway and the Slate Museum - Snowdon is horribly overcrowded and the mountain railway fares are daylight robbery.

[@InkblotHyena]

Your statements about careless tourists makes me want to reuse a line I've used many times when visiting historical locations. "Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints."

[@zphotography7305]

Awesome video man! Also I’m curious 1:59 what’s the name of the intro music?

[@alanabyss9246]

This reminds me of a Roblox game that took place in a slate quarry just like Dinorwic.

[@T199Productions]

Maeroffin qyarry railway?

[@alanabyss9246]

@@T199Productions yeah

[@thetrainguy4797]

@@alanabyss9246sadly, that game has been left to root with all the Rob;ox games updates so noww it’s gone, sad

[@fredsummerfield9066]

Great video, very fascinating.

[@harrisonallen651]

Fantastic work

[@computerwizkid1002]

Loved this video! I visited llanberris bank in 2017 and wandered round the incline working but couldn't get up as high as you did. Did you get escorted round? I was told it was national grid property where the huts where. It was all fenced off Are there any locomotives still up there? Or any remains there? Thanks brilliant video!

[@michael32A]

Correct - you just try not to be spotted.😉 Groups climbing/exploring in the quarry with any sense tend to keep well away from each other and stay quiet (they certainly don't yell to each other in calm weather, unless someone is in danger) in case any other group there are National Grid staff, who supposedly do ask people to leave, for their safety, but I never met any myself. That said, the quarry is usually utterly crawling with climbers on sunny summer weekends, so how more people aren't caught I don't know!😅 I strongly recommend _please_ *not* going self-guided, at least the first time, for safety's sake! There are no decent maps. The 'best' map (in the book 'Delving in Dinorwig') is 70 years old, hand drawn by a retired quarry foreman, and _hopelessly_ misproportioned - it's like a 5yo drew a Pirate treasure map for play, with crayons - rely on it too much and you're soon lost!😬 Climbing groups quite openly organise group visits, and will know the quarry well enough to keep folk safe, but from our historical view they've re-used the quarry gallery names in all the wrong places... On Australia level in 2018, a group of climbers bumped into me, ascertained I wasn't an National Grid employee kicking then out, then pointed to the opposite corner of the quarry and said they'd come from Australia level, so I had to break the news to them they'd only just arrived there!😅 I think Alice was the very last loco up there (intended to be retrieved and cannibalised for spare parts!) in Australia's double-length shed, rescued maybe around 1980?🤔 Elsewise, it's 'just' waste wagons and slab sleds, by the dozen, usually minus all trace of wheels - the fragile cast-iron wheels and bronze lined axle guards all long since smashed up by hammer into pieces, far easier to bring down in pocketed chunks than a bulky, thin, sheet-metal wagon body that needs an acetylene torch to cut up into anything that can be taken away.😑 A single example of the semi-experimental 'Auto-tipper' wagons (full rolling chassis _and_ bucket!🤩) used in conjunction with a very few steam shovels/excavators - both here and at nearby Penrhyn Quarry - was getting pushed about the top-right corner of the quarry 2017-2018, but whether that finally got carelessly lumped off the end of a tip since, I sadly wouldn't now know, as I last went in 2018.🙁 The last proper wooden slate wagon up there, which had been lined with steel sheets for use conveying loco coal instead, was extracted by Julian Birley (with expressed National Grid permission!) around 2003, since restored at Bala Lake. Sorry, that reply got long-winded.😮 Hope there's some useful information in there. I can try to answer further questions, but it's been 6years since my last visit.😊

[@computerwizkid1002]

@@michael32A my last visit was 2017 ISH time I think your far more knowledgeable about it than me fantastic place though

[@shedhead00]

Wonderful video

[@nathantownrow4177]

You are an inspiring example my friend keep up the good work n hopefully we can at least save some of inheritance legacies of steam locomotives n our historical engineering ancestors

[@SpongeDan]

I love abandoned railways

[@mario_master1]

i would love to see a bit of thw quary restord with a loco ther as a demonstration thing

[@ThereAndJackAgain]

Brilliant video, subscribed! I recently made one about it myself. Where did you get that awesome footage of the miners coming down the incline?!

[@Eagleye1995]

great video!

[@sudrianrailwaystudios676]

Great video, Max!

[@amandagoodwin9926]

You should make a guide rail on boxhill

[@figodwnnieto2581]

The remains of the Roman Fort at Caernarfon are preserved and can be visited. It's on the outskirt of the town.

[@ryleeculla5570]

A bit obvious why some the shots are said “bad” gotta understand you don’t want this KZbinr to lose his life

[@danielcallender8649]

Any chance of a walk of the line to the port?

[@eliotreader8220]

I bet it makes good gravel for paths or drives too

[@Cctrainstop]

Do you think you could do a history video on the railway at Port Maddock? I can’t pronounce its name so I’m just saying port medic.

[@rottenroads1982]

The Dinorwic Quarry Railway. I have got to say, the Quarry Hunslets are fascinating little locomotives. So fascinating that I have created T&F OC’s based on the Quarry Hunslets.

[@robrice7246]

I assume you have headcanon profiles & backstories behind them?

[@rottenroads1982]

@@robrice7246, yes.

[@eliotreader8220]

I believe they had retired all of their steam engines a few years earlier

[@MidiMail]

Heard about this.. too bad it’s abandoned

[@ryleeculla5570]

“LOOK OUT” -Peter Sam

[@Alextrains502]

Cool

[@traingameiacs]

very

[@darreno9874]

Why on earth has Fire Queen been moved to a non slate railway when it should have gone to Dinorwic and the slate museum.

[@DEVIOUSDUCK5741]

Ashton Smith? Hmmm, that name sounds familiar...