Festiniog Railway
| Ffestiniog Railway Rheilffordd Ffestiniog |
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|---|---|
 Two trains passing at Tan-y-Bwlch, c. 1900
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| Locale | Wales |
| Terminus | Porthmadog |
| Commercial operations | |
| Name | Festiniog Railway Company |
| Built by | Festiniog Railway Company |
| Original gauge | 1 ft 11 1⁄2 in (597 mm) |
| Preserved operations | |
| Operated by | Festiniog Railway Company |
| Stations | 10 |
| Length | 13.5 miles (21.7 km) |
| Preserved gauge | 1 ft 11 1⁄2 in (597 mm) |
| Commercial history | |
| Opened | 20 April 1836 |
| Closed | 1 August 1946 |
| Preservation history | |
| 1954 | Restoration started at Boston Lodge works 20 September 1954 |
| 1955 | Reopened to Boston Lodge 23 July 1955 |
| 1956 | Reopened to Minffordd |
| 1957 | Reopened to Penrhyn |
| 1958 | Reopened to Tan-y-Bwlch |
| 1965 | Start of the Deviation construction work |
| 1968 | Reopened to Dduallt |
| 1974 | Restoration of Rhiw Goch passing loop |
| 1977 | Reopened to Llyn Ystradau |
| 1978 | Reopened to Tanygrisiau |
| 1982 | Reopened to Blaenau Ffestiniog |
The Ffestiniog Railway (Welsh: Rheilffordd Ffestiniog) is a 1 ft 11 1⁄2 in (597 mm) narrow gauge heritage railway, located in Gwynedd, Wales. It is a major tourist attraction located mainly within the Snowdonia National Park.
The railway is roughly 13 1⁄2 miles (21.7 km) long and runs from the harbour at Porthmadog to the slate mining town of Blaenau Ffestiniog, travelling through forested and mountainous scenery. The line is single track throughout with four intermediate passing places. The first mile of the line out of Porthmadog runs atop an embankment locally called the Cob, which is the dyke of the Traeth Mawr "polder".
The Festiniog Railway Company which owns the railway is the oldest surviving railway company in the world. It also owns the Welsh Highland Railway which was re-opened fully in 2011. The two railways share the same track gauge and meet at Porthmadog station, with some trains working the entire 40 mile route from Blaenau Ffestiniog to Caernarfon.
The railway company is properly known as the "Festiniog Railway Company" as this otherwise obsolete spelling (with F rather than Ff) is in the official title of the company in the Act (2 William IV cap. 48) that created the railway. It is the oldest surviving railway company in the world (although not the oldest working railway – a record which goes to the Middleton Railway, in West Yorkshire), having been founded by the Act of Parliament on 23 May 1832 with capital mostly raised in Dublin by Henry Archer, the company's first secretary and managing director. Most British railways were amalgamated into four large groups in 1921 and then into British Railways in 1948 but the Festiniog Railway Company, like most narrow-gauge railways, remained independent. In 1921, this was due to political influence, whereas in 1947 it was left out of British Railways because it was closed for traffic, despite vigorous local lobbying for it to be included.
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