Snowdonia’s famous narrow-gauge trains now running on ‘plastic railway’
Tourists trundling along 40 miles of narrow-gauge rail track in Eryri (Snowdonia)[1] probably notice little difference: the telltale “clickey-clack” remains the same as it always has.
But under their seats, the track is slowly being renewed on the Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways (FWHR). Instead of conventional wooden sleepers, part of the line now sits on plastic.
In October, Network Rail confirmed it will stop buying hardwood sleepers from June 2024 and switch to composites instead. It’s a process that was led by heritage railways: FWHR bought its first batch, for laying on the Cob at Porthmadog[2], Gwynedd[3], back in 2014.
Replacement of old wooden sleepers was stepped up in late 2019, and almost a fifth of the 13.5-mile Ffestiniog Railway[6] now rests on plastic sleepers. Made mainly from recycled milk bottles, these have a minimum life expectancy of 60 years, around twice that of wooden equivalents.
When they need replacing, old plastic sleepers can simply be recycled back into sleepers or used for other purposes. Funding them was the Ffestiniog Railway Society.
“They come to the railway as standard gauge they are then cut in half and predrilled ready to receive the rail chairs,” said FWHR infrastructure manager Alex Spring. “These new sleepers are very adaptable – unwanted holes can be repaired with a kind of puncture repair kit.”
In the run-up to Christmas[7], more plastic sleepers were laid on the line between Penrhyn and Tan y Bwlch stations on the Ffestiniog Railway. Ballast was removed and a geo-textile membrane placed to make it permeable to rain while stopping fine particles percolating up into the stones. The ballast was then replaced and tampered down.
Plastic sleepers on a newly relaid section of the Ffestiniog Railway (Image: FWHR)
In places, new drains are being installed to cope with the region’s rainfall. “It is well to remember that the railway is located in one of the wettest parts of Wales,” said Alex.
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“The Ffestiniog is providing a highly effective use for plastic waste which would have ended up in landfill, shipped to Asia or, worse still, ending up in the oceans. The use of these sleepers is part of the railway’s attempt to be as sustainable as possible.”
The first batch of composite sleepers, made from recycled plastic botttles, arrives in Porthmadog in 2014 (Image: FWHR)
Network Rail[9] is moving to using plasic sleepers on the main network. In Wales, they’ve been deployed already on parts of the Cambrian Coast and Heart of Wales lines.
When compared with hardwood, Network Rail expects composites to give whole-life value savings of between £1,801 and £4,387 per sleeper installed. In turn, this should save over 30,000 tonnes of carbon emissions over their expected lives.
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References
- ^ Eryri (Snowdonia) (www.dailypost.co.uk)
- ^ Porthmadog (www.dailypost.co.uk)
- ^ Gwynedd (www.dailypost.co.uk)
- ^ Delays to trains on recently-reopened line after lorry hits bridge (www.dailypost.co.uk)
- ^ Wales in path of 'cyclone bomb' this weekend with snow possible next week (www.dailypost.co.uk)
- ^ Ffestiniog Railway (www.dailypost.co.uk)
- ^ Christmas (www.dailypost.co.uk)
- ^ WhatsApp community group where you can get the latest stories delivered straight to your phone (www.dailypost.co.uk)
- ^ Network Rail (www.dailypost.co.uk)
- ^ all the latest Gwynedd news (www.dailypost.co.uk)