At the insistence of the WHR Heritage Group, the McAlpine-built concrete supports for the water tower at Beddgelert survived the reconstruction, as did the Ash Pit and Lamp Room base. Since then the ash pit has had to be covered over, the Lamp Room has been reconstructed and the Group has also been able to reconstruct the water tower in its heritage form as far as possible, making allowance where necesssary for current requirements.
Moel Tryfan at Beddgelert Water Tower
Beddgelert Water Tower and Ash Pit before the reconstruction – 1988
Beddgelert Water Tower 2009 beside the Ash Pit which now has a cover in place. At this stage the siding was aligned with the ash pit.
The replica water tank during surface preparation
Replica water tank ready for installation
The siding was originally aligned with the ash pit, but it had to be relaid as it could not be used in full owing to the sharp curvature which was incompatible with current rolling stock.
The ash pit itself is being preserved but as it does not conform to modern safety standards it cannot be used so it has been filled in (with an ash covering – see photo).
The tank was delivered by rail to Beddgelert on 22nd February 2013 and positioned ready for erection beside the base on 9th March 2013. The ash pit is now hidden where the wagon is standing on the realigned siding
The top of the base was concreted on 30th April 2013 in readiness for installing the replica tank
The tank was finally positioned on the column on 3rd June 2013. It remained for the water supply to be connected and the fittings added before the tank was functional
9th September 2016. Thanks to the work of Cedric Lodge, the tank was finally made operational. It was first put into use during the Superpower weekend when the first loco to fill up at the tank was Prince on the left. Cedric is shown with Prince on the right. Click on the pictures for full size imagesRussell fills up at the Water Tower 21st June 2019 (Photo by David Firth)
A poster was produced by Andrew Thomas for display at the site to explain the developments. Download the poster here
The siding was originally aligned with the ash pit, but it had to be relaid as it could not be used in full owing to the sharp curvature which was incompatible with current rolling stock.
