By law, each new railway is required to mark off the distances along its line from a given point. The Ffestiniog Railway has changed that point three times in its existence. [1] [2] Originally the "Zero Point", as it is called was set near to the Dinas station at the north end of the line (at a location called Rhiwbryfdir, now buried under the slate tips).
The second "Zero Point" saw the line turn around and was located at the southern end of the line, on the quayside, at the Welsh Slate Cos. yard, some quarter-mile further on from Porthmadog Harbour railway station.
Following the revival of the line, and at a later date, the "Zero Point" was resited at the water tower at Porthmadog Harbour railway station.
The "accurate" measurement of the line has varied as the line has evolved over the years, not only from the changes above, but with the construction of the Deviation, and other realignments.
Station | Place | Image | Opened | Closed | Distance from Porthmadog | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Porthmadog Harbour | Porthmadog | ![]() | 1865 | Open | 0 | Junction with the original line from across the Britannia bridge to Welsh Slate Co. wharf. Junction with the Welsh Highland Railway 1923-1936 and from 2011. |
Pen Cob Halt | Boston Lodge | ![]() | 1956 | 1967 | 70 chains (1.41 km) | Opened 19 May 1956 used regularly only until 5 November 1957. |
Boston Lodge Halt | Boston Lodge | | 1928 | Open | 1 mile 5 chains (1.71 km) | Temporary terminus 23 July 1955 to end of 1955 season. Used as required mainly by staff. |
Minffordd | Minffordd (near Portmeirion) | ![]() | 1872 | Open | 2 miles 5 chains (3.32 km) | Joint station with the Cambrian Line. Temporary FR terminus 19 May 1956 to end of 1956 season. |
Cae Ednyfed | Minffordd (near Portmeirion) | 1836 | 1863 | 2 miles 7 chains (3.36 km)? | There were stables here between 1836 and 1863 and this was a horse stage station. | |
Pen y Bryn Halt | Penrhyndeudraeth | 1957 | 1957 | 2 miles 63 chains (4.49 km) | Opened 20 April 1957 used regularly only until 5 November 1957. | |
Penrhyn | Penrhyndeudraeth | ![]() | 1865 | Open | 3 miles 8 chains (4.99 km) | Temporary terminus 20 April 1957 to 5 November 1957. |
Rhiw Goch (Passing Loop) | Penrhyndeudraeth | ![]() | 1836 | Open | 4 miles 16 chains (6.76 km) | Passing loop for horse-drawn trains until 1863. Re-instated in 1975. |
Plas (private) Station | Tan-y-Bwlch | 1865 | c. 1920 | 6 miles 2 chains (9.70 km) | Used only by the Oakeley household at Plas Tan y Bwlch. | |
Plas Halt | Tan-y-Bwlch | ![]() | 1963 | Open | 6 miles 19 chains (10.04 km) | Opened 31 May 1963. |
Hafod y Llyn | Tan-y-Bwlch | 1836 | 1873 | Approx. 7 miles 5 chains (11.37 km) | Used for passing slate trains until 1865 and as passenger station 1865 to 1873. | |
Tan-y-Bwlch | Tan-y-Bwlch | | 1873 | Open | 7 miles 35 chains (11.97 km) | Temporary terminus 5 April 1958 to 5 April 1968. |
Coed y Bleiddiau | Coed y Bleiddiau | 1865? | Open | Approx. 8 miles 40 chains (13.68 km) | Private platform serving Coed y Bleiddiau cottage which is only accessible by rail or footpath. | |
Campbell's Platform | Y Dduallt | ![]() | 1965(private) 1968 (full use) | Open | 9 miles 7 chains (14.62 km) | Private halt serving Plas y Dduallt, a 15th-century Welsh Manor House. Built in 1965 for works trains during reconstruction of the line. Line re-opened to the public in 1968. |
Dduallt | Moel Dduallt | ![]() | 1880? | Open | 9 miles 44 chains (15.37 km) | Temporary terminus 6 April 1968 to 24 June 1977. |
Tunnel South loop | Moelwyn Mawr | 1842 | c1865 | Approx. 10 miles (16.09 km) (on former track alignment) | Used for passing horse drawn trains and early steam trains. | |
Moelwyn Halt | Moelwyn Mawr | 1920s? | 1939 | 10 miles 60 chains (17.30 km) (on former track alignment) | At the northern end of the old Moelwyn tunnel. | |
Gelliwiog | Moel Dduallt | 1975 | 1977 | 10 miles 32 chains (16.74 km) | Temporary terminus of push-pull shuttle trains from Dduallt 26 May 1975 to 24 June 1977. | |
Llyn Ystradau | Tanygrisiau reservoir | ![]() | 1977 | 1978 | Approx. 11 miles 30 chains (18.31 km) | Temporary terminus 25 June 1977 to 23 June 1978. |
Tanygrisiau | Tanygrisiau | | 1866 | Open | 12 miles 10 chains (19.51 km) | Temporary terminus 24 June 1978 to 24 May 1982. Now used as a passing place. |
Dinas | Blaenau Ffestiniog | 1865 | 1870 | 13 miles 30 chains (21.52 km) (on branch from current line) | The original northern terminus, opened 6 January 1865. From the opening of Duffws in 1866 until the closure of Dinas in 1870, alternate trains ran along the Dinas and Duffws branches. | |
Blaenau Festiniog Junction/Stesion Fein | Blaenau Ffestiniog | 1881 | 1939 | 13 miles 25 chains (21.42 km) | ‘Stesion Fein’ (narrow station).Interchange station with LNWR (Conwy Valley Line). Terminus from 31 May 1931 until 1939. | |
Blaenau Festiniog (GWR) | Blaenau Ffestiniog | 1883 | 1939 | 13 miles 50 chains (21.93 km) | Interchange station with GWR line to Bala | |
Blaenau Ffestiniog | Blaenau Ffestiniog | | 1982 | Open | 13 miles 50 chains (21.93 km) | Current terminus; joint station with British Rail (Conwy Valley Line) opened 25 May 1982; roughly on site of Blaenau Ffestiniog (GWR) station. |
Duffws | Blaenau Ffestiniog | ![]() | 1866 | 1931 | 13 miles 60 chains (22.13 km) (on a different alignment) | Only alternate trains ran to Duffws until 1870 when Dinas was closed to passengers. Terminus until 1931. |
Traeth Mawr is a polder near Porthmadog in Gwynedd in Wales. The area was formerly the large tidal estuary of the Afon Glaslyn. It was created after large-scale land reclamation occurred in the late 18th century and the early 19th century. A large embankment, called the Cob, separates the area from the sea and carries a road and railway line.
Blaenau Ffestiniog railway station serves the slate mining town of Blaenau Ffestiniog, Wales, and is the passenger terminus of the Conwy Valley Line from Llandudno Junction. Transport for Wales Rail operate through services to Llandudno Junction and Llandudno. The station is a joint station with the narrow gauge Ffestiniog Railway, which operates primarily tourist passenger services to Porthmadog throughout most of the year. A feature of the standard gauge service is the availability on trains and buses of the popular "Gwynedd Red Rover" day ticket.
Minffordd railway station is a pair of adjacent stations on separate lines in Gwynedd, Wales. The mainline station opened as Minfford Junction on 1 August 1872 at the point where the then recently built Aberystwith and Welsh Coast Railway line from Dovey Junction to Pwllheli passes under the earlier narrow gauge Festiniog Railway. The latter was built in 1836 to carry dressed slate from Blaenau Ffestiniog to Porthmadog for export by sea, and had carried passengers from 1865 onwards. The station was renamed Minffordd in 1890.
Penrhyn railway station on the Ffestiniog Railway is located on a restricted site at Pen-y-Bwlch above the town of Penrhyndeudraeth.
Porthmadog Harbour railway station in Porthmadog, Gwynedd, North Wales. It is the passenger terminus of two narrow gauge railways: the Ffestiniog Railway, which was opened in 1836 to carry dressed slate from the Quarries around Blaenau Ffestiniog to the sea port of Porthmadog, for export by sea; and the Welsh Highland Railway, incorporated in 1923, which ran to Dinas. After rebuilding in 1997-2011, the other terminus is at Caernarfon, in sight of the Castle.
Tan-y-Bwlch railway station is the principal intermediate passenger station on the narrow gauge Ffestiniog Railway, which was built in 1836 to carry dressed slate from Blaenau Ffestiniog to Porthmadog for export by sea. The station lies off the B4410 former turnpike road from Maentwrog to Llanfrothen and Beddgelert, which the railway crosses on a fine cast-iron skew bridge.
Dduallt railway station is a passenger station on the narrow gauge Ffestiniog Railway in northwest Wales, which was built in 1836 to carry dressed slate from Blaenau Ffestiniog to Porthmadog for export by sea.
Tanygrisiau railway station is a passenger station on the narrow gauge Ffestiniog Railway The line was built in 1836 to carry dressed slate from Blaenau Ffestiniog to Porthmadog for export by sea but official passenger services began in 1865.
Campbell's Platform is a private, unstaffed halt on the Welsh narrow gauge Ffestiniog Railway, which was built in 1836 to carry dressed slate from Blaenau Ffestiniog to Porthmadog for export by sea. It is 9 miles and 7 chains from Porthmadog and is at 510 feet above sea level.
Plas Halt is an unstaffed halt on the narrow gauge Ffestiniog Railway in Wales, which was built in 1836 to carry dressed slate from Blaenau Ffestiniog to Porthmadog for export by sea.
Boston Lodge Halt in North Wales is an unstaffed halt on the narrow gauge Ffestiniog Railway, which was built in 1836 to carry dressed slate from Blaenau Ffestiniog to Porthmadog for export by sea.
James Ian Craig Boyd was an English author and narrow-gauge railway historian.
Rhiw Goch is a passing point on the Ffestiniog Railway north of the village of Penrhyndeudraeth in Wales. It was originally a passing loop and an exchange point for the horses that worked the line, opening in 1836. Horses were stabled overnight at Rhiw Goch farm, which adjoins the line further south nearer to the village. When the railway converted to using steam locomotives in 1863, Rhiw Goch passing loop was no longer needed and was closed.
Graig Ddu quarry is a disused slate quarry near Blaenau Ffestiniog, in Gwynedd, North Wales. Although output was only about 3,000 tons a year, it reputedly has 36 saw tables and the same number of dressing machines on site. As with others in the area, the quarry suffered from a lack of water, resulting in the siting of the mill some distance away, at a lower level.
Nyth-y-Gigfran quarry was a slate quarry in the town of Blaenau Ffestiniog, North Wales. It was located about 300 feet (91 m) above the settlement of Glan y Pwll, south of what was to become Blaenau Ffestiniog. The quarry was sited on the steep cliffs that form the eastern edge of Allt-fawr and was entirely underground. The quarry opened around 1840 and became part of the Oakeley quarry in the 1880s; this in turn closed in 1969.
Dinas station was built by the Festiniog Railway (FR). It was the first passenger station in Blaenau Ffestiniog, then in Merionethshire, now in Gwynedd, Wales. This station is not to be confused with Dinas some miles distant on the Welsh Highland Railway; nor is it to be confused with the Festiniog and Blaenau Railway's northern terminus in the centre of Blaenau Ffestiniog which was sometimes referred to colloquially as "Dinas".
Duffws was the Festiniog Railway's (FR) second passenger station in Blaenau Ffestiniog, then in Merionethshire, now in Gwynedd, Wales. This station is not to be confused with the Festiniog and Blaenau Railway's (F&BR) Duffws (F&BR) station which stood some distance away on the opposite side of Church Street. During that station's life from 1868 to 1883 passengers travelling from (say) Festiniog on the F&BR to Tan-y-Bwlch on the Festiniog would walk between the two stations, much as passengers walk between the standard gauge and narrow gauge in modern-day Blaenau Ffestiniog.
Blaenau Festiniog Junction railway station was the Festiniog Railway (FR)'s third of eventually five passenger stations in Blaenau Ffestiniog, then in Merionethshire, now in Gwynedd, Wales.
North west Wales experienced a slate boom in the first half of the nineteenth century. Three sites stood out as experiencing the most explosive growth: Dinorwic near Llanberis, Penrhyn near Bethesda and Blaenau Ffestiniog.
The Merionethshire Railway (MR) was a proposed 1 ft 11+3⁄4 in and 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in dual gauge railway in south Caernarfonshire North Wales, United Kingdom. It was incorporated by an Act of Parliament on 29 June 1871. Powers to build the line lapsed in 1885 and were abandoned on 12 July 1887. Work to build the line never started, though parliamentary extensions of time to do so were obtained in 1876, 1879 and 1882.