The present day narrow gauge line runs alongside the southern shore of Bala Lake for approximately four miles, occupying the trackbed of the former G.W.R. standard gauge route from Ruabon to Barmouth.

The Ffestiniog is another world- renowned Welsh narrow gauge line. Like many other similar enterprises it originally ran to carry slate from the huge mines at Blaenau Ffestiniog down to Portmadoc on the Cambrian coast for transhipment to both rail and sea. It now operates as a tourist line and is one of the main attractions for visitors in North Wales.

The world famous Talyllyn Railway was the first railway in the U.K. to be taken on by enthusiasts as a preservation enterprise after it had closed for business in the nineteen-fifties. It runs for just over seven miles from Nant Gwernol near Talyllyn lake down to Tywyn Wharf on the Cambrian coast.

The Corris Railway originally ran as a tramway built to transport slate from the quarry at Aberllefenni down to the Cambrian Railway system at Machynlleth - a distance of approximately eight miles. The line was closed just after the second world war but recently a short section of the line from Corris to Maespoeth has re-opened as a tourist attraction. It is early days yet but further extensions are planned.

Unlike many of it's contemporaries, the Welshpool & Llanfair was not built for the slate traffic but instead served the local farming community in this part of rural Mid-Wales. It was taken over by the G.W.R. in 1923 but as with many other lines became uneconomical by the end of the second world war and was closed in 1956. Preservatonists stepped in to save the railway and today it operates from Llanfair Caerinion to Welshpool Raven Square in the former county of Montgomery, it's mile-long link through the town to the former Cambrian Railway having been permanantly abandoned.