Wednesday 19th August 2009 Snowdonia railway link delayed
A dispute over money is causing further delays to the opening of the final 24-mile section of the narrow gauge railway across Snowdonia. The work is part of a £28m project to reinstate the Welsh Highland Railway and was due to have completed by Easter.

The row has been going on since at least February this year and looks like rolling on to delay the opening until at least 2010. The Ffestiniog Railway Company claims a substantial sum of money is owed to them by the assembly government agency, the North Wales Trunk Road Authority. The dispute stems from work done to repair a retaining wall near Glaslyn and the Britannia Bridge after a storm. North Wales

Monday 17th August 2009 Welsh waters flexing their mussels
Young shellfish destined for Welsh waters are thriving, according to pictures released by the Environment Agency Wales. The photographs show three-year-old freshwater pearl mussel being reared in a hatchery in Mawddach, Gwynedd. Although the shellfish are thriving, the juveniles are still only the size of pinheads. They will need three to five more years of rearing before they will be ready for release into the wild.

The population of the pearl mussel has been badly hit by a decline in the condition of their habitats. A recent study of the 23 Welsh rivers traditionally associated with the mussel found them only present in 11 of them. Careful rearing is essential as, even in the wild, the survival rate of young mussels into maturity is on average a lowly 100 from every 70,000 hatched. North Wales

Thursday 23rd July 2009 Boathouse plan scuppered
Plans to turn a boathouse into a holiday home have been withdrawn by Steven Mackreth. The businessman already owns several holiday homes in the area and had hoped to convert the boathouse in Porth Colmon on the Lleyn Peninsula, Gwnyedd into another. The plans met with very strong opposition.

Locals spoke out against the plans, claiming that there was a danger of too much development in the Porth Colmon area. There was even talk of threats having been made to Mackreth, although no evidence was offered to support this and no action has been taken regarding the threats. However, Mackreth is reported as claiming that the threats were a factor in his deciding to withdraw the application. North Wales

Thursday 2nd July 2009 Pontcysylite aqueduct an official world wonder
Last week we reported how the Pontcysylite aqueduct near Wrexham was in line for being officially recognised as one of the Unesco World Heritage Sites. We’re pleased to now tell you that the 200-year-old bridge has officially been crowned and joins around 900 sites worldwide, including The Pyramids and the Great Wall of China.

Britain already has 27 World Heritage Sites so the aqueduct, built by Thomas Telford and William Jessop, will join a prestigious list of sites that includes Stonehenge. North Wales

Friday 26th June 2009 Snowdon visitor centre proves popular
The Snowdon Mountain Railway has enjoyed a rise in passenger numbers this year after the opening of a new visitor centre on the summit. Since the Hafod Eryri opened the railway has experienced a 30% rise in ticket sales, carrying over 1,000 visitors everyday.

Demand is so high that some services are sold out two days in advance. The unprecedented demand is in part due to the opening of the new visitor centre, complete with a café, on the summit. However, Snowdon Mountain Railway’s head, Alan Kendall, says he thinks the rise is partly due to an increase in people taking their holidays in the UK this year. North Wales

Wednesday 24th June 2009 Pontcysylite Aqueduct bids to become a wonder of the world
Thomas Telford’s greatest civil engineering achievement, the Pontcysylite Aqueduct near Wrexham, could be crowned one of the heritage wonders of the world. The aqueduct is the only British site up for nomination as a UNESCO world heritage site in 2009. There are currently 27 world heritage sites in the UK including Stonehenge and the Tower of London.

The aqueduct features a cast iron trough suspended on top of 18 stone piers. The trough carries the water at 121 feet above the River Dee. It took ten years to build at a cost of £45,000 and first opened in 1805. North Wales