(From Gwynedd Railways by Mike Hitches.)
Quite an old picture of the southern Moelwyn portal on the Festiniog. I like the wildness of this location, and the simplicity of the shot: track, tunnel mouth, walls, hills, figure, all captured straight on. The old tunnel is quite an evocative location, since it was in use only for the “historical” part of the FR’s life, and had to be abandoned after preservation due to a new pumped water scheme and lake at the other end. Even if it’s never used again, the remaining alignment and portal are unlikely ever to be removed.

The caption accompanying the reproduction of this photograph in the first edition of Winton’s The Little Wonder says:

“The southern entrance to the fabled Moelwyn Tunnel, now blocked up. The locker to the right is about where the Deviationists tunnel mess now stands. The figure in FR uniform is Dillus the Bearded.”

However, the photograph and reference is missing from the revised edition. Googling for Dillus only turns up references to a character in Welsh mythology, so I do wonder if someone was pulling Winton’s leg on this (or he is pulling ours), as no other reproduction of the image names the figure. The Festiniog did have its resident Welsh bard though, Gwilym Deudraeth, the stationmaster at Dduallt. The lonely, desolate atmosphere of this place was said to drive stationmasters mad at regular intervals, causing them to be quietly removed from their position, so it might well have suited a bard seeking a turbulent relationship with the landscape.

The area on the left was initially a halt with a passing place for traffic. It therefore represents an early example of Festiniog dereliction which, as you might imagine, certainly pushes my buttons.