Blaenau Ffestiniog Central railway station

On 10 September 1883 the Bala and Festiniog Railway (B&FR) and the Festiniog Railway (FR) opened what would nowadays be called an interchange station in Blaenau Ffestiniog, Merionethshire, Wales. Merionethshire is now part of the county of Gwynedd.The station was initially named plain "Blaenau Festiniog" (without a second f), being renamed Blaenau Ffestiniog Central in 1951. It closed to passengers on 4 January 1960 and closed completely a year later. The B&FR was part of the Great Western Railway in all but name, becoming vested in the GWR in 1910.ContextThe complex and confusing evolution of Blaenau's passenger stations is explored here.OriginsThe Festiniog Railway's narrow gauge line from Portmadoc to ran through the future site of Blaenau Ffestiniog Central from 1865, but there was no platform or stopping place. In 1868 the narrow gauge Festiniog and Blaenau Railway (F&BR) opened a line the three and a half miles from Llan Ffestiniog to Blaenau, making a junction with the FR a short distance west of the future Blaenau Ffestiniog Central, this junction - named Dolgarregddu Junction - was for goods only. The F&BR opened their Blaenau passenger terminus almost exactly in the site of the future Blaenau Ffestiniog Central; it was named. From 1868 to 1883 there were therefore two wholly separate "Duffws" stations a short distance apart on opposite sides of Church Street. Passengers wishing to travel from (say) Bala to could travel by horse-drawn coach to Llan Ffestiniog, then buy a through ticket, changing trains in Blaenau by walking the couple of hundred yards between the two Duffwses.

Tags: Landmark & Historical Place,Light Rail Station