Festiniog Railway Heritage Group

The Festiniog Railway is a major twenty-first century tourist attraction but was also a major world pioneer in the technological development of narrow-gauge railways.

Its story goes back almost to the conception of railways and it has inherited a priceless collection of artefacts and records dating from its very earliest days which is probably second to none in the field of railway preservation.

This site will introduce you to many aspects of the Festiniog Railway’s Heritage and tell you something of the efforts being made to ensure that as much as possible of the historical past is preserved, and in some cases where artefacts have been lost, the building of replicas is undertaken.

Equally important is the recording of historically significant information and data and this is another aspect dealt with on this site.

We have also provided links to the other principal Festiniog Railway web sites. The Heritage Group also runs Festipedia - a kind of encyclopaedia dedicated to the Festiniog Railway and related subjects, to which anyone can contribute.

The Festiniog Railway was one of the earliest railways to be built and today is the oldest, unamalgamated, independent, railway company in the world. Any organisation with such a pedigree deserves special looking after and that is what the Festiniog Railway Heritage Group does. We sometimes refer to ourselves as the Festiniog Railway’s conscience. We are not opposed to the development of the railway to meet modern needs but we do try to ensure that wherever possible the past is retained, restored if practical, replicated if necessary and always recorded.