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Q2 2014 £4.00

From a Distance

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This page: A snow-capped Moel Ysgyfarnogod seen from Porthmadog Harbour Station on New Year’s Day. Front cover: A Welsh Highland train makes its way through the Aberglaslyn Pass.

Back cover: Driver Paul Ingham and fireman Tesni Jones wait to leave for Caernarfon.

 Welcome to the Top Left Hand Corner of Wales, where train travel is just a little bit different. With the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railways stretching for 40 miles across the Snowdonia National Park, you can experience the magnificent scenery whilst savouring the magic of train travel as it used to be, with gleaming steam engines, comfortable carriages, friendly staff and just a hint of magic.

2014 sees the opening of the new ÂŁ1.3 million station at Porthmadog Harbour. At long last the town finally has a station worthy of the unique 40 miles of railway between Blaenau Ffestiniog and Caernarfon.

And by this time next year, plans for an all-new station at Caernarfon should be well advanced.

Never a dull moment...

Running in the family

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Like father like daughter.

Earlier this year, Dave and Emily High became the first father & daughter team to drive and fire a steam locomotive on the Ffestiniog Railway in North Wales.

Civil engineer Dave has been volunteering on the railway for 35 years and qualified as a driver 25 years ago when he relocated from Cumbria.

He also played a major role in the construction of the Welsh Highland Railway, being the project manager for the Porthmadog Cross Town Link.

Daughter Emily, 18, has just qualified as a fireman and is studying for her A-levels at Coleg Meirion Dwyfor in Dolgellau.

Away from the railway, she won a first at Crufts in the ‘Heelwork to Music’ category in the Young Kennel Club section with her Papillon Anton for the second year in a row.

Dave’s son William also works on the footplate on the Ffestiniog Railway.

Dave and Emily are pictured in charge of Linda, built in Leeds in 1893.

Station to Station Â

A deserted Harbour Station in December 1960. Inset: The The same scene 54 years later.

 And so it was that a £1.3 million project was started after the end of regular daily services in late 2011 to produce a completely new layout fit for the demands of the 21st Century. 40,000 tons of rock When the Welsh Highland Railway was opened was used to widen the Cob at the Porthmadog end throughout between Caernarfon and Porthmadog in to make room for two new platforms.

2011, the shortcomings in the station design The work continued over the winters of 2012 and became clear - a single platform for both railways 2013, the new station opening for business on and the need for a pilot locomotive to shunt both Saturday March 22nd 2014. arriving and departing WHR services meant a radical rethink was needed to provide a vastlyRead on for details of how it was done... improved customer experience.

Porthmadog Harbour Station first opened for passengers on January 6th, 1865, two years after the introduction of steam locomotives.

I Can See Clearly Now

 The views from the Ffestiniog Railway are justly world-famous, but the ideal growing conditions of Snowdonia mean that nature can quickly make it rather difficult to see the wood for the trees.

This winter, a large-scale programme of tree clearance means that many of the vistas have been restored to their former glory, as typified by this view of an FR train passing Llyn Mair, just above Tan y Bwlch.

It is hard to imagine that this beautiful lake is artificial, but it was constructed on the orders of William Oakeley, owner of Plas Tan y Bwlch, as a 21st birthday present for his daughter Mary.

Today, the lake provides hydro-electric power to the Snowdonia Study Centre located in Oakeley’s erstwhile family seat.

ISSN 2047‐024X

01766 516024 www.festrail.co.uk