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A view from the 50s…

June 12, 2019February 11, 2020 Chris Humphrys

Coach restoration, weed killing and Bessie Jones gathering visitors for tea at her station cottage at Tan-y-Bwlch are all on view in this amateur film footage from 1956. It can be viewed freely on the British Film Institute website.

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Festiniog Railway Heritage Group

Festiniog Railway Heritage Group

The Festiniog Railway Heritage Group aims to research, conserve and recreate many aspects of the Festiniog Railway’s heritage. It supports many projects across the railway, and publishes research conducted by members in its quarterly journal.

Festiniog Railway Heritage Group

3 days ago

Festiniog Railway Heritage Group
Next on our adventure through old signalling panels is Tan y Bwlch. This is interesting for two aspects. Firstly the Up line is considered a loop while the Down is the Through road so the diagram and signalling reflect that. This means you could signal an Up train through the Through road which you no longer can do without using the shunt panels and signals. In today's layout an Up train will always go into the Up line so the "normal" direction of the points is set for the Up line not the Through or Down line. Secondly, the bottom end sidings are in place (where the current children's play area is next to the Goods shed / cafe) while the new sidings reached from the Through (Down) road have not been installed. The second picture shows Mary Ann and the Dduallt Diddy train of bug boxes in 1970 in the siding. (A. Stirling). ... See MoreSee Less

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Festiniog Railway Heritage Group

2 weeks ago

Festiniog Railway Heritage Group
It has been mentioned before that the Ffestiniog Railway is quite shy when it comes to throwing things away. This, in our view, is all to the good. Much of the railway's history is in its physical items as much paper records. Following a recent delve in the Heritage store, the next few weeks we will look at some of the less obvious assets that have been stored away. Today the railway uses automatic loops at Minffordd and Tan y Bwlch to cross trains. This uses "Remote operator" token release where the loco crew electrically asks the next box if line is clear for a token, and if it is, a token (or train staff as it is otherwise called) is released to them and the points and starter signal are set automatically. Prior to this, the loops were controlled by signallers and the railway still owns the control panels complete, in the case of Minffordd here, with the signaller instructions. In the second picture, the instructions are lying on top of a "U" board (also shown in the third picture) which was displayed when the signalbox was unattended. ... See MoreSee Less

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Festiniog Railway Heritage Group

4 weeks ago

Festiniog Railway Heritage Group
A fascinating day at the Library of Birmingham on Monday by one of our team working through the archives of Pooley, weighbridge manufacturers, led to the discovery of some relevant and not so relevant - but very interesting - documents and pictures to aid with our project to reinstall the weighbridge at Boston Lodge. ... See MoreSee Less

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Festiniog Railway Heritage Group

2 months ago

Festiniog Railway Heritage Group
An interesting rabbit hole - as anyone who researches anything will know, it is very easy to fall down a rabbit hole or two. While looking at Pooley weighbridge information online as part of the Boston Lodge Weighbridge project, this interesting snapshot of colonial life cropped up. This is an article from The Brisbane Courier in 1910 explaining that Pooley weighbridges did meet the British Board of Trade requirements, though other manufacturers products did not. The edition of the paper also included an advert by Pooley which is interesting because it lists the States of Australia separately in its Countries list. Australia had been formed into a single country (the Commonwealth of Australia) by the Act of Federation on 1 January 1901 but each State continued with its own Government and legislation as well as the Federal parliament - a situation that continues today. Pooley was therefore wise to advertise the States individually as compliance with one State Railway's rules did not mean automatic compliance with another. Intriguingly, and rather unfortunately, this has persisted; even now in 2026, equipment approved for use say in NSW, cannot be used in QLD without another round of approvals. And let's not talk about the different track and structure gauges...!The article and advert are copyright of Trove, a collaboration between the National Library of Australia and hundreds of partner institutions around Australia that brings together records and digitised content from libraries, museums, galleries, universities, archives, data repositories and other research and collecting organisations. Funding for digitisation of The Brisbane Courier contributed by State Library of Queensland. Original article here: trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/19653570/1567394and advert here: trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/19653342/1567403 ... See MoreSee Less

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Festiniog Railway Heritage Group

2 months ago

Festiniog Railway Heritage Group
Another update on the excellent progress of the complex rebuild of the Kerr Stuart. Thank you for all your donations and please do keep them coming. Every little helps get this pioneer back running. Details on the Kerr Stuart page. ... See MoreSee Less
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