​ The UK Government has submitted a bid to UNESCO for the Welsh slate landscape that includes the Talyllyn Railway to become a World Heritage Site.

If successful, it will see Gwynedd's Slate Landscape join the Great Wall of China the Grand Canyon and the Great Barrier Reef as UNESCO sites.

The Talyllyn Railway is a narrow-gauge railway opened for goods traffic in 1865 and for passenger services shortly after.

It has operated ever since between Tywyn on the west coast of Wales and Nant Gwernol, just over seven miles inland.

The Railway with a Heart of Gold

The Talyllyn Railway is the first preserved railway in the World, known affectionately as 'The Railway with a Heart of Gold'.

It was over 150 years ago, in 1865, that the line opened and in 1951 the Preservation Society was born to take over the Railway after the death of the owner Sir Haydn Jones.

The heritage steam engines transport passengers from Tywyn, the coastal town on the edge of the Snowdonia National Park, to Nant Gwernol buried deep in the mountains above Abergynolwyn.

The journey itself crosses more than seven miles of spectacular scenery within sight of one of Britain's highest mountains, Cadair Idris.

The journey takes 55 minutes up the line from Tywyn through the ancient woodlands and meadows of the Fathew Valley.

Bird spotting

En route guests cand well see Red Kites, Cormorants, Barn Owl, Redstart, Peregrine Falcons, Wheatear, Linnet and Little Owl.

On arrival at Abergynolwyn, Quarryman's Caban serves treats, drinks and snacks and there are plenty of trails and walks to explore in this corner of the Snowdonia National Park.

The slate industry

The slate industry has shaped North Wales' physical landscape and its social and economic history for over two centuries.

Slate is one of the most geographically widespread building materials from a single source to be found in every continent – Welsh slate 'roofed the nineteenth-century world'!

Slate quarries exported their people, skills, knowledge and technology to quarries all over the world and in turn, learnt from them and their industries.

The narrow-gauge railways were a crucial part of the industry's transport system and success, and their designs and engineering were copied worldwide.

The Talyllyn Railway, Bryneglwys quarry and Abergynolwyn village provide snapshots of the extraction, processing, transport and community from the heyday of the North Wales slate industry.

Walk down to Abergynolwyn village and visit Y Ganolfan (the village community centre) and see the collection of photographs in the main hall.

These show the history of Abergynolwyn as a slate quarrying community.

There's also the chance to follow the Quarryman's Trail from Nant Gwernol station to Bryn Eglwys and see the remains of the slate quarrying past.

Useful links

www.talyllyn.co.uk

www.visitsnowdonia.info