Vintage Ffestiniog Railway Freight

Описание: Preserved Railway
Vintage Ffestiniog Railway Freight

The Ffestiniog Railway was built to transport slate from the quarries around Blaenau Ffestiniog down to sea for onwards transportation via boat at Porthmadog. Slate traffic ceased on 1st August 1946, which saw the end of services on the line in the pre-preservation days. The railway has preserved and recreated a large number of slate and goods wagons, which generally make a few appearances each year, mainly at the annual Victorian Vintage Weekend. For me these trains are the highlight of any event, a chance to see an original Ffestiniog locomotive on a beautifully restored demonstration goods train.

Before steam locomotives arrived in 1863, short trains of wagons where hauled up the hill by horses, with loaded longer trains of slate wagons returning downhill by gravity (with the horses travelling in Dandy Wagons). This tradition of gravity trains continues to this day. The line was built on a continuous gradient from Blaenau to the Cob for this reason. With the flooding of the original formation for Llyn Ystradau (Tanygrisiau Reservoir) and deviation of the line, this now means gravity trains can not run from Blaenau, but the furthest up the line they can start is Power Station Summit.

Locomotives featured are George England locomotives No. 2 Prince and No. 4 Palmerston, Single Fairlie No. 9 Taliesin and Double Fairlies No. 10 Merddin Emrys, No. 11 Earl of Merioneth and No. 12 David Lloyd George.

Check out more goods train footage here from my August 2020, Goods Train Saturday features:    • Preserved Railway - Freight  

www.preservedrailway.co.uk
(C) Lee Andrew Davies 2020