Ffestiniog Railway
The Ffestiniog Railway is the oldest surviving independent narrow-gauge railway in the world, a 13.5-mile line running from Porthmadog on the Cardigan Bay coast through the mountains of southern Snowdonia to Blaenau Ffestiniog at the heart of the Welsh slate quarrying industry, whose combination of the extraordinary mountain scenery traversed, the Victorian and Edwardian carriages and steam locomotives maintained in working order and the industrial heritage of the slate trade that created the line provides one of the finest heritage railway experiences in Britain.
The railway was built between 1832 and 1836 to carry slate from the quarries of Blaenau Ffestiniog to the harbour at Porthmadog for export to the world. The slate of Blaenau Ffestiniog roofed much of the Victorian world, and the railway that carried it to the coast was one of the most important industrial transport links in Wales. The closure of the railway in 1946 and its subsequent reopening by volunteer enthusiasts from 1955 onward is one of the defining stories of the heritage railway movement in Britain.
The mountain section of the line between Tanygrisiau and Blaenau Ffestiniog traverses the most dramatically scenic section, the railway hugging the hillside above the reservoir with views across the mountains in a sequence of spectacular vistas. The combination of the Ffestiniog and the Welsh Highland Railway, which connects Caernarfon to Porthmadog through the heart of Snowdonia, creates one of the finest narrow-gauge railway experiences available anywhere in the world.