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Trains speeding through the countryside at over 180mph are unlikely to be seen in North Wales for many years – if ever.

But the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railways have given a glimpse of this fast-track world thanks to two eye-catching videos.

A camera was attached to the front of Myrddin Emrys for its journey from Porthmadog to Blaenau Ffestiniog, with its normal leisurely speed of 15mph speeded up to 186mph for the video – that’s as fast as an Eurostar train from London to Paris.

John Wooden of the Ffestiniog Railway said: “It's a remarkable bit of film and needs to be viewed a distance from the screen to appreciate it properly.”

Set to Malcolm McLaren and the Bootzilla Orchestra’s Waltz Darling and uploaded to the company’s YouTube channel, the film has been watched more than 2,000 times and is part of a real-time drivers eye view film the company will be releasing shortly.

On the Welsh Highland Railway a similar sequence can be seen on the 13-mile section between Porthmadog and Rhyd Ddu.

Mr Wooden added: “The film is particularly spectacular as the train goes up the steep curves above Beddgelert to the summit of the line just before Rhyd Ddu.”

Daily Post head of images Hadyn Iball said: “Modern technology has made such filming possible. Digital cameras have become smaller and lighter in recent years and memory cards have been developed that can store all the data.

“There was a time when the best we could hope for was a 36-frame film for stills and maybe 20 minutes of cine film in a large camera.

“Speeding up films has always been possible but easily available software make this easier too.”