Geograph - photograph every grid square

Betws-y-Coed is one of the stops on the Conwy Valley line, a 30-mile branch from Llandudno to Blaenau Ffestiniog, part of the National Rail network. The line reached here in 1868 before being extended southwards a few years later; the principal traffic in the early years was slate, although the railway was also instrumental in opening up this part of Snowdonia to tourism, and Betws-y-Coed remains an important tourist centre. The line might well have closed in the 1960s but was saved largely because it was required for access to Trawsfynydd power station, which has now been decommissioned. On the right is the small railway museum complete with a miniature layout.