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no 14 (centre) at Tanybwlch.]] The Ffestiniog Railway (in Welsh ''Rheilffordd Ffestiniog'') is a Narrow-gauge Heritage Railway , located in North West Wales . It is one of the most popular Tourist Attraction s in Wales, as it weaves in and out of the Snowdonia National Park . The railway is about 13.5 miles (21.5 km) long and runs from the harbour at Porthmadog to the slate mining town of Blaenau Ffestiniog . The line travels through spectacular mountainous scenery and has a track gauge of . The first part of the line runs along "the Cob", which is the Dyke of the Traeth Mawr " Polder ". HISTORY The railway company is properly known as the "Festiniog Railway Company" and this contemporary spelling (correct for the period) is still the official title of the company as defined by the Act (2 William IV cap.xlviii) that created the railway. It is the oldest surviving railway company in the world, having been founded by the Act of Parliament on 23 May 1832 with capital mostly raised in the Dublin area. Most British railways were amalgamated into four large groups in 1921 , and then into British Railways in 1948 , but the Festiniog Railway Company, in common with 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. The line was constructed between 1833 and 1836 to transport the line's first double Fairlie Articulated Locomotive was introduced, and these double-ended machines have since become one of the most widely recognised features of the railway. By the 1920s the demand for slate as a roofing material dropped owing to the advent of newer materials and to the loss of the overseas trade in World War I . As a result, the railway suffered a gradual decline in traffic. In 1923 , the FR was linked with the new Welsh Highland Railway (WHR), which went bankrupt in 1933 , and the FR leased it. The WHR proved to be a financial liability and closed in 1937 . Ordinary passenger services ceased on the FR on 15 September 1939 , shortly after the outbreak of World War II . The workmen's passenger service ran for the last time on Saturday 16 September 1939 and slate traffic ceased on 1 August 1946 , apart from the section from Duffws to the North Western yard through Blaenau Ffestiniog town centre, which was leased on 7 October 1946 to the quarry owners and provided the railway company, that retained the services of a resident manager at Porthmadog, with a small income throughout the moribund years. The original Act of Parliament which permitted the building of the line made no provision for its closure or abandonment. Although the line had ceased functioning, the company could not dismantle the railway, so the track and infrastructure were left in place. However without any maintenance, it soon became overgrown and unusable. From 1949, various groups of rail enthusiasts attempted to revitalise the railway. Eventually, in 1954 a group of volunteers funded by Alan Pegler purchased the company to run it as a tourist attraction, and gradually restored the line to working order. This was not helped by a decision by the CEGB ( Central Electricity Generating Board ) in 1954 to build the Ffestiniog Pumped Storage Scheme , including the Tan y Grisiau reservoir (Llyn Ystradau), which flooded part of the northern end of the line. The Festiniog Railway Company was able to obtain compensation in 1972 , after the second-longest legal battle in British legal history, having taken eighteen years and two months. Two years later, as a result of the case, the British Parliament passed the Land Occupancy Act 1973 . Between 1965 and 1978 , a 'Deviation' route from Dduallt to Tan y Grisiau, including the only Rail Spiral in Britain and a tunnel, was built around the reservoir largely by volunteer labour. The through route to Blaenau Ffestiniog was completed in 1982 ; the group building this deviation were officially called the ''Civil Engineering Group'', but were usually called the '' Deviationist s''. In the late 1980s the Festiniog Railway Company was involved in a highly controversial plan to stop the neighbouring Welsh Highland Railway being rebuilt. The plan would have involved the Company buying the original track bed of the Welsh Highland Railway from the old company's receiver and giving it to Gwynedd County Council, as long as no railway-related developments were allowed on the land. This, and other actions, put back the rebuilding of the Welsh Highland Railway for 5 to 10 years. In 2009 the Festiniog Railway will reconnect with the Welsh Highland Railway, comprising parts of the former London And North Western Railway (1867), North Wales Narrow Gauge Railway (1877-81), Portmadoc, Beddgelert And South Snowdon Railway and Welsh Highland (1922-3) Railway when the RhE is completed from Caernarfon to Porthmadog . The link would join the FR at Harbour Station, with the WHR at Pen-Y-Mount Station, north of Porthmadog. It is hoped that this merger will not lead to a repeat of the bankruptcy of 1937 following the merger of the two lines. LOCOMOTIVES For more detailed information on current and past locos, visit the Railways own Heritage Group Wikipedia These are the existing locomotives that are owned by or are permanently housed at the Ffestiniog Railway: Steam Locomotives Diesel Locomotives STATIONS AND HALTS REFERENCES #Ove Arup & Partners; Report on a Rock Fall at Penlan, Ffestiniog Railway, 1979 #E.Beazley; Madocks and the Wonder of Wales, 1967 #R.F.Bleasdale; Spooner Album, 1887, also repub. with commentary by A. Gray, 2003 #D.Blenkinsop; Linda & Blanche 1993 #J.I.C.Boyd; Narrow Gauge Rails to Portmadoc, 1949 #J.I.C.Boyd; On the Welsh Narrow Gauge, no date (1970s) #J.I.C.Boyd; The Festiniog Railway, 1959, revised edns 1965,1975 #J.Buck; Didcovering Narrow Gauge Railways, 1972 #D.J.Charlton; FR Spotter's Guide; 2001 #C.F.Cliffe; Book of North Wales, 1850 #W.J.K.Davies; Narrow Gauge Railways, 1962 #R.Edwards & P.Moss (eds); Festiniog Railway Historic Drawings, 1997 #R.F.Fairlie; Battle of the Gauges renewed, 1872 #R.F.Fairlie; Locomotive Engines, what they are and what they should be, 1881, reprint 1969 #Ffestiniog Railway Co.; Share prospectus, Traveller's Guides, Stock Books, Guide Books (about 40 in all), 1957-2005 #Festiniog Railway Society; Newsletters 1954-7; #Ffestiniog Railway Society; FR Magazine, quarterly since 1958 # A. Gray; The Spooner Album, 2003. See also Bleasdale. #N.F.Gurley; Narrow Gauge Steam out of Portmadoc, 1980 #L.Heath-Humphrys; letter to Railway Gazette, 27 July 1951 #G.T.Heavyside; Narrow Gauge into the 80s, 1980 #B.Hollingsworth; Ffestiniog Adventure, 1981 #F.H.Howson; Narrow Gauge Railways of Britain, 1948 #P.N.Jarvis; Adeiladu Muriau Cerrig Sych - dry stone walling on the Ffestiniog Railway, 1993, revised edn 1995 #P.Johnson; Ffestiniog Railway - a View from the Past, 1997 #P.Johnson; Immortal Rails; the Story of the Closure and Revival of the Ffestiniog Railway 1939-1983 Vol.1 2004, 2004, ISBN 1-9000622-08-4 £35; Vol II 2005 ISBN 1-900622-09-2 £35. Rail Romances, Chester. #P.Johnson; Portrait of the Ffestiniog, 1992 #P.Johnson; Welsh Narrow gauge; a view from the past, 1992 #P.Johnson; Welsh Narrow Gauge in colour, 1992 #P.Johnson & C.M.Whitehouse; Ffestiniog mewn lliw, 1995 #J.R.Jones & A.Pritchard; Great Little Steam Railways of Wales, 1991 #F.Jux; British Narrow gauge Steam, 1960 #R.W.Kidner; Narrow Gauge Railways of Wales, 1947 #M.Kington; Steaming through Britain, 1990 #C.E.Lee; Narrow Gauge Railways in North Wales, 1945 #M.J.T.Lewis; How Ffestiniog got its Railway, 1965, revised edn 1968 #J.G.V.Mitchell & A.G.W.Garraway; Ffestiniog in the Fifties, 1997 #J.G.V.Mitchell & A.G.W.Garraway; Ffestiniog in the Sixties, 1997 #J.G.V.Mitchell & A.G.W.Garraway; Return to Blaenau 1970-82, 2001 #J.C.V.Mitchell, Smith, Seymour, Gray; Branch lines around Porthmadog, 2 vols, 1993 #F.H.Pole (ed); Welsh Mountain Railways, 1924, reprint 1985 #J.D.C.A.Prideaux; Welsh Narrow Gauge Railway, 1976 #P.J.G.Ransom; Narrow Gauge Steam, 1996 #P.J.G. Ransom; Locomotion, 2001 #A.Roberts; Gossiping Guide to North Wales, 1879 (the 5/- version is much superior to the 6d. edition) #L.J.Roberts; Festiniog & Welsh Highland Holiday book, 1923 #H.R.Schwabe; Mit Volldampf nach Ffestiniog, 1978 #C.E.Spooner; Narrow Gauge Railways, 1871, revised edn 1879 #H.Stretton; Past & Present Companion; Ffestiniog Railway, 1998 #M.J.Stretton; Festiniog Railway in Camera, 1971-1971, revised edn 1999 #'Taliesin' (C.R.Weaver et al.); Festiniog Railway locomotives, 1988 #J.Timpson; Little Trains of Britain, 1992 #E.Vignes; Étude technique sur le chemin de fer Festiniog, 1878, English translation by Don Boreham 1986 #F.T.Wayne; When Accounts become misleading Nonsense, Accountancy, Nov 1961 #P.B.Whitehouse; Festiniog Railway Revival, 1963 #P.B.Whitehouse; Welsh Narrow Gauge Album, 1969 #P.B.Whitehouse & P.C.Allen; Round the World on Narrow Gauge, 1966 #P.B.Whitehouse & P.C.Allen; Narrow Gauge the World over, 1976 #C.Winchester & C.J.Allen,(eds.); Railway Wonders of the World, Vol 2, pp.1224-28. ca.1938. #J.Winton; Little Wonder, 1975, revised edn 1986 SEE ALSO
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