The Fairbourne and Barmouth railway started out life in 1895 as a 2ft. gauge horse-drawn tramway linking Fairbourne with the ferry across to Barmouth. At that date the tramway and ferry were the only link across the Mawddach estuary, the alternative being a 20 mile detour to the nearest upriver bridge. The tramway survived until 1916, by which time the Barmouth railway bridge had been built and the ferry's business was greatly reduced.
The tramway was converted to a 15" gauge minature railway using steam traction. For many years the line continued to operate with a variety of interesting stock. By the mid-80's the railway was in poor shape, and in 1984 the whole enterprise was brought by John Ellerton who had run a similar line to 12.25" guage in Brittany, France. He moved his relatively new locomotives over to Fairbourne and re-gauged the railway to 12.25". Thus the F&B is the amazing shrinking railway of Wales.
Today you can still take the minature train through the sand dunes to Penrhyn Point.
