I did a return trip on the Ffestiniog Railway in October. It is a spectacular trip and I came home with dozens of pictures. These are a selection of pictures from the line above Tan y Bwlch.
Leaving Tan y Bwlch station, the line climbs up along a ledge carved out of the hill slde with views down to Llyn Mair in the valley below.
The isolated cottage, Coed y Bleddiau, was originally built to house the line supervisor in 1863 and had no road access, but had its own tiny halt on the railway. This has been carefully restored by the Landmark Trust and is now a “holiday cvottage.”:http://www.landmarktrust.org.uk/search-and-book/properties/coed-y-bleiddiau-50127#Overview
There are views across to the mountains of the Harlech dome. Below in the trees is the Elizabethan Manor House, “Plas Y Dduallt”:http:///www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2112249
It is a short distance across open grassland to Dduallt, the most isolated station on the railway with no road access, and the start of the “deviation and spiral.”:https://www.silvertraveladvisor.com/review/attraction/200429
Through Moelwyn Tunnel, the line suddenly emerges into the into the mountains of Snowdonia with Moelwyn Bach and Moelwyn Mawr looming above the line. This is real mountainous country with bare rocks and steep hillsides with waterfalls tumbling down them after rain. It feels a top coat colder here. From Tanygrisiau, it is a short run to “Blaenau Ffestiniog.”:https://www.silvertraveladvisor.com/review/attraction/200430