Blaenau Ffestiniog railway station
Encyclopedia
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
. Arriva Trains Wales
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.
side comprises a single platform (Platform 1) opening directly on to the station car park and the High Street. There is a standard gauge
run-round loop used by occasional locomotive hauled charter trains. The narrow gauge side comprises an island platform (Platforms 2 and 3) with an overall roof reached via a footbridge and also from the standard gauge platform and the town centre by a pedestrian level crossing at the terminal end. Narrow gauge trains normally use Platform 3. There is also a narrow gauge run-round loop.
The main Duffws station building survives as a grade 2 listed building, now serving as a public toilet block on the central car park.
An additional FR station existed opposite the LNWR station.
had opened from Llan Ffestiniog to Blaenau Ffestiniog on 29 May 1868. Its station was located where the FR foot access gate is now located. The line was initially worked by the Ffestiniog Railway and all slate traffic on the F&BR throughout its existence was carried in FR owned wagons. The FR and F&BR stations were both called Duffws although they were several hundred yards apart and passengers walked between the two. On 1 September 1882 the standard gauge Bala Ffestiniog Line
reached the Llan Ffestiniog
from the south. The following year the narrow gauge line was converted, with the station re-opening on 10 September 1883.
railway reached the town in 1879. It was the London and North Western Railway
Conwy Valley Line
from Llandudno Junction
, which established its slate yards at the northern end of Blaenau Ffestiniog and built its passenger station near Glanypwll and across the road from the Ffestiniog Railway on which an interchange station was built in 1881. The LNWR had built this line in order to seek a share of the Ffestiniog slate traffic (including that then being carried by coastal steamer from Porthmadog to ports on the Irish sea and elsewhere). To this end they established a slate wharf at Deganwy
and a feature of early LNWR operation of the line was the carriage of slate in narrow gauge wagons from Blaenau to Deganwy
pick-a-back on standard gauge wagons.
line from Bala to Llan Ffestiniog and the conversion of the Festiniog and Blaenau line to standard gauge in 1883. The Ffestiniog Railway provided an interchange platform adjoining the GWR station. From 1883 until 1930 there were therefore five railway passenger stations in use in Blaenau Ffestiniog. (LNWR, FR Stesion Fein, GWR, FR Duffws, and the FR-GWR interchange). Duffws station closed in 1931 and the two remaining FR stations closed at the outbreak of war in 1939. A feature of GWR operation of this line from 1883 to 1945 was the carriage of slate in narrow gauge wagons from Tanymanod
to Blaenau (about ¾ mile) pick-a-back on standard gauge wagons.
(LNWR) station was renamed Blaenau Ffestiniog North and the GWR station became Blaenau Ffestiniog Central. The construction of the Tryweryn reservoir from 1958 brought the closure of the former GWR line to passengers on 2 January 1960 and to freight trains on 27 January 1961. Later, the construction of the Trawsfynydd nuclear power station in 1963 led to the extension of the Conwy Valley line to the Central station site in order to provide rail access to the power station. Passenger services continued to terminate at Blaenau Ffestiniog North.
, the new Ffestiniog Railway/British Rail Joint Station was opened on the site of the Festiniog Railway/GWR Joint Station of 1883. British Rail trains first used the new station on 22 March 1982 and Festiniog Railway services to Blaenau Ffestiniog were resumed on 25 May 1982.
The former LNWR "North " station on the Conwy Valley line was therefore closed. The FR Stesion Fein station was not rebuilt.
The new joint station was officially opened on 30 April 1983 by George Thomas
, Speaker of the House of Commons
, who unveiled a plaque at the station recording his visit. The Royal Oakeley Silver Band and the Brythoniaid Male Voice Choir led the celebrations.
In 1990 the temporary wooden buildings on the narrow gauge island platform were replaced with new permanent masonry buildings. As part of these works, the platform 2 track was laid.
Plans for another rebuild, and construction of a modern joint station and facilities were drawn up in 2008, but the project did not receive the required finance.
Blaenau Ffestiniog
Blaenau Ffestiniog is a town in Gwynedd, north-west Wales. It has a population of 5,000, including Llan Ffestiniog, which makes it the third largest town in Gwynedd, behind Caernarfon & Porthmadog. Although the population reached 12,000 at the peak of the slate industry, the population fell due to...
, Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
, and is the passenger terminus of the Conwy Valley Line
Conwy Valley Line
The Conwy Valley Line is a railway line in north Wales. It runs from Llandudno via Llandudno Junction to Blaenau Ffestiniog, and was originally part of the London and North Western Railway, being opened in stages to 1879...
from Llandudno Junction
Llandudno Junction railway station
Llandudno Junction railway station is on the Crewe to Holyhead North Wales Coast Line. The station is managed by Arriva Trains Wales, although Virgin Trains also serves it....
. Arriva Trains Wales
Arriva Trains Wales
Arriva Trains Wales is a train operating company, owned by Arriva, that operates urban and inter urban passenger services in Wales and the Welsh Marches...
operate through services to Llandudno Junction
Llandudno Junction
Llandudno Junction , once known as Tremarl, is a small town in the county borough of Conwy, Wales. It is part of the ancient parish of Llangystennin, and it is located south of Llandudno. It adjoins Deganwy and is to the east of the walled town of Conwy, which is on the opposite side of the River...
and Llandudno
Llandudno
Llandudno is a seaside resort and town in Conwy County Borough, Wales. In the 2001 UK census it had a population of 20,090 including that of Penrhyn Bay and Penrhynside, which are within the Llandudno Community...
. The station is a joint station with the narrow gauge Ffestiniog Railway
Ffestiniog Railway
The Ffestiniog Railway is a narrow gauge heritage railway, located in Gwynedd, Wales. It is a major tourist attraction located mainly within the Snowdonia National Park....
, which operates primarily tourist passenger services to Porthmadog
Porthmadog
Porthmadog , known locally as "Port", and historically rendered into English as Portmadoc, is a small coastal town and community in the Eifionydd area of Gwynedd, in Wales. Prior to the Local Government Act 1972 it was in the administrative county of Caernarfonshire. The town lies east of...
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.
Facilities
The standard gaugeStandard gauge
The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...
side comprises a single platform (Platform 1) opening directly on to the station car park and the High Street. There is a standard gauge
Standard gauge
The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...
run-round loop used by occasional locomotive hauled charter trains. The narrow gauge side comprises an island platform (Platforms 2 and 3) with an overall roof reached via a footbridge and also from the standard gauge platform and the town centre by a pedestrian level crossing at the terminal end. Narrow gauge trains normally use Platform 3. There is also a narrow gauge run-round loop.
Ffestiniog Railway
The first railway to be built in Blaenau Ffestiniog was the Festiniog Railway, which opened for slate traffic in 1836. The main line terminated at Dinas to the north west of the town (now buried under the spoil tip) with a branch line from a junction near Glanypwll to Duffws near the town centre. The first passenger trains ran from Porthmadog to Dinas on 6 January 1865 and the passenger station at Duffws opened in January 1866. Until 1870 alternate trains ran to Dinas and Duffws but by the end of 1870 Dinas passenger station had closed and all passenger services in future terminated at Duffws. This situation continued until 1931, when Duffws closed as a passenger station, and the co-sited GWR station became the terminus.The main Duffws station building survives as a grade 2 listed building, now serving as a public toilet block on the central car park.
An additional FR station existed opposite the LNWR station.
Festiniog and Blaenau Railway
Meanwhile, the narrow gauge Festiniog and Blaenau RailwayFestiniog and Blaenau Railway
The Festiniog & Blaenau Railway was a narrow gauge railway built in 1868 to connect the town of Blaenau Ffestiniog with the slate quarries around Tanymanod and the smaller town of Llan Ffestiniog. At Blaenau Ffestiniog it made a direct connection with the Ffestiniog Railway with which it was...
had opened from Llan Ffestiniog to Blaenau Ffestiniog on 29 May 1868. Its station was located where the FR foot access gate is now located. The line was initially worked by the Ffestiniog Railway and all slate traffic on the F&BR throughout its existence was carried in FR owned wagons. The FR and F&BR stations were both called Duffws although they were several hundred yards apart and passengers walked between the two. On 1 September 1882 the standard gauge Bala Ffestiniog Line
Bala Ffestiniog Line
The Bala and Ffestiniog Railway was a , standard gauge, railway backed by the Great Western Railway railway in North Wales which connected Bala with Blaenau Ffestiniog.- History :...
reached the Llan Ffestiniog
Ffestiniog railway station
Llan Ffestiniog railway station was a railway station in Llan Ffestiniog, North Wales. It opened as the terminus of the narrow gauge Festiniog and Blaenau Railway on 29 May 1868. On 1 September 1882 the standard gauge Bala Ffestiniog Line reached Llan Ffestiniog from the south. The standard gauge...
from the south. The following year the narrow gauge line was converted, with the station re-opening on 10 September 1883.
Conwy Valley Line
The first standard gaugeStandard gauge
The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...
railway reached the town in 1879. It was the London and North Western Railway
London and North Western Railway
The London and North Western Railway was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. It was created by the merger of three companies – the Grand Junction Railway, the London and Birmingham Railway and the Manchester and Birmingham Railway...
Conwy Valley Line
Conwy Valley Line
The Conwy Valley Line is a railway line in north Wales. It runs from Llandudno via Llandudno Junction to Blaenau Ffestiniog, and was originally part of the London and North Western Railway, being opened in stages to 1879...
from Llandudno Junction
Llandudno Junction railway station
Llandudno Junction railway station is on the Crewe to Holyhead North Wales Coast Line. The station is managed by Arriva Trains Wales, although Virgin Trains also serves it....
, which established its slate yards at the northern end of Blaenau Ffestiniog and built its passenger station near Glanypwll and across the road from the Ffestiniog Railway on which an interchange station was built in 1881. The LNWR had built this line in order to seek a share of the Ffestiniog slate traffic (including that then being carried by coastal steamer from Porthmadog to ports on the Irish sea and elsewhere). To this end they established a slate wharf at Deganwy
Deganwy
Deganwy is a village in Conwy County Borough in Wales with a population of 3,700. It is in a more English-speaking region of North Wales, with only 1 in 4 residents speaking Welsh as a first language...
and a feature of early LNWR operation of the line was the carriage of slate in narrow gauge wagons from Blaenau to Deganwy
Deganwy railway station
Deganwy railway station serves the small town of Deganwy and is located on the branch line from Llandudno Junction to Llandudno...
pick-a-back on standard gauge wagons.
Bala Ffestiniog Line
The last major change in the 19th century was the construction of the Great Western RailwayGreat Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
line from Bala to Llan Ffestiniog and the conversion of the Festiniog and Blaenau line to standard gauge in 1883. The Ffestiniog Railway provided an interchange platform adjoining the GWR station. From 1883 until 1930 there were therefore five railway passenger stations in use in Blaenau Ffestiniog. (LNWR, FR Stesion Fein, GWR, FR Duffws, and the FR-GWR interchange). Duffws station closed in 1931 and the two remaining FR stations closed at the outbreak of war in 1939. A feature of GWR operation of this line from 1883 to 1945 was the carriage of slate in narrow gauge wagons from Tanymanod
Tan-y-Manod railway station
Tan-y-Manod railway station was a railway station in North Wales. It opened as part of the narrow gauge Festiniog and Blaenau Railway on 29 May 1868. On 1 September 1882 the standard gauge Bala Ffestiniog Line reached Llan Ffestiniog from the south. The following year the narrow gauge line was...
to Blaenau (about ¾ mile) pick-a-back on standard gauge wagons.
Post Second World War
Following nationalisation, the LMSLondon, Midland and Scottish Railway
The London Midland and Scottish Railway was a British railway company. It was formed on 1 January 1923 under the Railways Act of 1921, which required the grouping of over 120 separate railway companies into just four...
(LNWR) station was renamed Blaenau Ffestiniog North and the GWR station became Blaenau Ffestiniog Central. The construction of the Tryweryn reservoir from 1958 brought the closure of the former GWR line to passengers on 2 January 1960 and to freight trains on 27 January 1961. Later, the construction of the Trawsfynydd nuclear power station in 1963 led to the extension of the Conwy Valley line to the Central station site in order to provide rail access to the power station. Passenger services continued to terminate at Blaenau Ffestiniog North.
1982 Consolidation
In 1982, with the completion of the rebuilding of the Festiniog Railway back to Blaenau FfestiniogBlaenau Ffestiniog
Blaenau Ffestiniog is a town in Gwynedd, north-west Wales. It has a population of 5,000, including Llan Ffestiniog, which makes it the third largest town in Gwynedd, behind Caernarfon & Porthmadog. Although the population reached 12,000 at the peak of the slate industry, the population fell due to...
, the new Ffestiniog Railway/British Rail Joint Station was opened on the site of the Festiniog Railway/GWR Joint Station of 1883. British Rail trains first used the new station on 22 March 1982 and Festiniog Railway services to Blaenau Ffestiniog were resumed on 25 May 1982.
The former LNWR "North " station on the Conwy Valley line was therefore closed. The FR Stesion Fein station was not rebuilt.
The new joint station was officially opened on 30 April 1983 by George Thomas
George Thomas, 1st Viscount Tonypandy
Thomas George Thomas, 1st Viscount Tonypandy PC was a British Labour Party politician and Speaker of the House of Commons. Born in Port Talbot, Wales, he initially worked as a teacher in both London and Cardiff...
, Speaker of the House of Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
, who unveiled a plaque at the station recording his visit. The Royal Oakeley Silver Band and the Brythoniaid Male Voice Choir led the celebrations.
In 1990 the temporary wooden buildings on the narrow gauge island platform were replaced with new permanent masonry buildings. As part of these works, the platform 2 track was laid.
Plans for another rebuild, and construction of a modern joint station and facilities were drawn up in 2008, but the project did not receive the required finance.