Harbour Station
From Festipedia, hosted by the FR Heritage Group
| Harbour Station | |
 | |
|---|---|
| Harbour Station in 2007 Dan Crow | |
| Previous Station | Pen-Y-Mount Station |
| Previous Location | Britannia Bridge |
| Status | Main Terminus & Head office |
| Next Location | Cob |
| Next Location | Pen Cob Halt |
| Next Location | Boston Lodge Halt |
| Next Station | Minffordd |
| Latitude | 52:55:26.05N |
| Longitude | 04:07:36.92W |
| Grid Reference | SH571383 |
| Wikipedia Entry | |
| Harbour Station | |
OSGrid:SH571383 Latt / Long :52.92391 / -4.12697
For more pictures, in and around the station, over the past 100 plus years, click here
For details on the remodelling of Harbour Station in connection with the Welsh Highland Railway, please click here.
The Portmadoc Harbour Station was opened for passenger service on 6th January 1865. The original station buildings lasted until 1879 when they were replaced with the stone buildings that exist today. Parts of the original buildings were used in the construction of Penrhyn Station.
Under the 1865 arrangement the goods shed was at the quay end of the site and the station buildings were on the site of the later goods shed (1880), now Spooners, in the Y of the junction between the station sidings and the line that led to the wharves behind the station, the Britannia bridge and the wharves on the far side of the harbour. The tanks from which locos took water were immediately behind the station, beside this line.
The new (1879) station building, which included provision for the Company's offices on an upper floor, and the separate goods shed remained virtually unaltered for over 60 years. With the arrival of the WHR in 1923 it became known as 'Portmadoc Old', to distinguish it from the 'Portmadoc New' station, established beside the crossing over the Cambrian Coast line at the other end of town. The suffix 'Old' was replaced in Bradshaw's Guide by 'Harbour' from the July 1930 edition, by which date it had been brought back into use as the main narrow gauge passenger station. The station was closed to passengers on 15th September 1939 but continued in use as the principal offices of the Festiniog Railway Company occupied only by the Manager (Mr Robert Evans) throughout the years of its closure. (See below)
Boyd, in 1949, wrote "Here are the headquarters of the Festiniog Railway and also those of its late offspring, the Welsh Highland Railway. The offices of the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railway were also here, likewise those of Messrs. Spooner & Co."
Harbour Station was reopened to passengers on 23rd July 1955 in a ceremony performed by the, then, Welsh Tourist Queen, Miss Janet Jones. Part of the upper floor of the 1879 office building was converted to serve as a flat for the Manager, Allan Garraway and the ground floor was progressively altered to suit the requirements of the developing restored railway (see hostels for part of the story, also FRMxxx et seq for accounts written by those involved in the works. By 1975 the growing business required more and better accommodation, particularly for the all-important souvenir shop and café. A Leeds based architect and volunteer, Eddie Jones (who also ran the Railway's lorries) designed a structure to link the offices with the former goods shed. The latter had served as a carriage workshop/paintshop and stores for the shop since 1955 but was now converted to house part of the catering facilities and, eventually, an enlarged museum.
Initial planning for the platform awning began in 1985, with most of the erection work taking place in 1987. The valance, which was specially commissioned, was added in 1988. It was made at BR's Taunton Concrete Works and is similar to the standard GW timber valance.
A fence marked the edge of the platform from the end of the goods shed, whilst the Cleminson Wagon was exhibited at the end of the goods shed on a section of track. This was removed in the early 1990s, and the platform area extended. This extended area provides additional seating area for Spooner's.
Further alterations, specifically in the view of this picture, are scheduled in 2008-2009, in preparation for the reconnection of the Welsh Highland Railway.
- The Festiniog Railway Company is the oldest independent railway company in the World - being founded by an Act of Parliament in 1832, a statment the company is rightly proud of. The company has never ceased to exist. It has been in continual operation since the Act was enabled on the 23rd May 1832. On 15th September 1939, it had to suspend passenger operation, (in part, due to wartime conditions) and on the 1st August 1946, it ceased operation of the goods side of the business. It still had a commercial side, which included residential property and leases, and this operation continued alone until 1954. Thus, this period is now referred to as the closure period. It then took another 28 years to re-establish full passenger operations with the return to Blaenau Ffestiniog. There is now no commercial goods traffic, although demonstration runs are performed from time to time.