The Railway Conquest of the World

THE Principality is a land of many surprises to the visitor, for it possesses innumerable attractions. Yet it is doubtful whether any feature arouses more interest in North Wales than the strange little railway which runs from Portmadoc for a distance of 31 miles among the mountains. Certain it is that no tourist would think of omitting a journey over what is known colloquially as the Festiniog "Toy" Railway, for it is one of the great sights of North Wales.

For several years it held a unique position among the great systems of the world as the narrowest gauge line in operation. The metals are laid only 3k inches apart -- less than half the distance between the rails forming the roads of the greater proportion of steel highways bounding the globe -- and yet it has a traffic which many a more important railway would have just cause to envy. Visitors disembarking from the London & North-Western express at Portmadoc, and seeing the diminutive engine and trucks drawn up alongside on their own road and completely dwarfed by the towering rolling- stock of the standard-gauge line, cannot repress a smile, for the engines, cars, trucks and wagons are no larger than are used upon the larger-sized model railways devised today for the amusement and education of the young.

Yet it is a complete pocket edition of the familiar railway, and its capacity is amazing. The engine provokes interest, for it is no taller than an average sized person. Its coupled wheels are only 28 inches in diameter, while the cylinders measure but 8¹/₄ inches in diameter and have a