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Ffestiniog Railway

Ffestiniog Railway
Rheilffordd Ffestiniog
Ffestiniog-Railway-07419u.jpg
Two trains passing at Tan-y-Bwlch, c. 1900
Locale Wales
Terminus Porthmadog
Commercial operations
Name Festiniog Railway Company
Built by Festiniog Railway Company
Original gauge 1 ft 11 12 in (597 mm)
Preserved operations
Operated by Festiniog Railway Company
Stations 10
Length 13.5 miles (21.7 km)
Preserved gauge 1 ft 11 12 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 12 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 12 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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