Porthmadog Stations

STEVIEBOY1 · 19 Mar 2015

Good morning,

All being well, I shall be visiting North & Mid Wales next month and the tour that I am with is due to travel on the Main NR line along the coast, plus the three narrow "Heritage" railways in that region too.

I was rather confused about how all these converge and work in the Porthmadog area and was trying to find a map, similar to Quails, online so that I could familiarise myself with how it's all set up. I think two of the narrow gauge firms are now linked across the town, but don't know if this link is not used often and whether or not they all use the same station.? Do one of these also opertate over something called the Cob? or is that elsewhere.

Many thanks, I am looking forward to this trip as it's something that I have wanted to do for a long time.

Rgds.

RailUK Forums

berneyarms · 19 Mar 2015

The Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railways operate from the same station - have a look at their website:

http://www.festrail.co.uk/

Waldgrun · 19 Mar 2015

I take it that you will arrive in Porthmadog via National Rail's Cambrian Coast line.
If so the Welsh Highland Heritage Railway Station (the Short line with the shed tour) is just across the road on the East side of the level crossing. If you go across the crossing and follow the road through the town centre, after about one mile,you will end up at Porthmadog Harbour Station, joint terminal for the Welsh Highland to Caernarfon and the Ffestiniog to Blaenau Ffestiniog.
Please note that this may not be an easy journey, if you have visited the pub on the Platform, at the national rail station!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Just noticed you asked about the The Cob, that forms the first 3/4 of a mile of the Ffestiniog Railway.

dave_wm · 19 Mar 2015

The NR line runs to Porthmadog station, which is also near the Welsh Highland Heritage Railway's station (the 3/4 mile line with a shed tour). The Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways (the longer narrow gauge ones) both run from Porthmadog Harbour station, which is the other end of the High Street. The Welsh Highland Railway is the one which runs across town - every WHR train (but not WHHR) from Porthmadog uses it.

This map may illustrate slightly better: http://www.festrail.co.uk/cgi-bin/emAlbum_press.cgi?c=show_image;p=Maps;i=2;img=FR Map 2013.jpg

The black line is the Ffestiniog Railway, the blue line the Welsh Highland Railway, the orange line the Welsh Highland Heritage Railway and the green line National Rail. The Cob is the first straight part of the Ffestiniog Railway out of Porthmadog.

Hope that all helps!

STEVIEBOY1 · 19 Mar 2015

That's great, thank you for the explainations and links to the maps.

Sounds like I may be "forced" to try the above mentioned pub on the NR station.

Greenback · 19 Mar 2015

The pub on the platform is great. I've been there many times and it has never been a disappointment with its beer!

davetheguard · 19 Mar 2015

Greenback said:
The pub on the platform is great. I've been there many times and it has never been a disappointment with its beer!

And the Porthmadog-brewed Purple Moose Brewery beers are award-winning & excellent.

Well worth a try!

Waldgrun · 19 Mar 2015

Just remembered, that there is also Spooners bar at Harbour Station!

Greenback · 19 Mar 2015

Spooners is good for real ale, and the Purple Moose beers are, according to my Mrs, 'most excellent'!

fsmr · 20 Mar 2015

Of course if you stop at Minffordd NWR it is right next to the FFestiniog station and avoids any walking

and is only 7 minutes or so from PM by steam

IanD · 21 Mar 2015

fsmr said:
Of course if you stop at Minffordd NWR it is right next to the FFestiniog station and avoids any walking and is only 7 minutes or so from PM by steam

Then you'd still have to walk across town and back to get to the original WHR.

Envoy · 21 Mar 2015

What a crazy situation - having 2 narrow gauge railways in Porthmadog beginning with 'Welsh Highland'!

IanD · 21 Mar 2015

The shorter one has been there a lot longer, society founded about 1960 and site opened about 1980.

The Ffestiniog Railway tried to scupper their plans to rebuild the old WHR by buying up the trackbed but eventually decided to rebuild it themselves.

fsmr · 22 Mar 2015

IanD said:
Then you'd still have to walk across town and back to get to the original WHR.

Of course true, I know all the politics but I find it incredibly short sighted that a request stop interchange station was never constructed where the WHR and WHRH meet

Greenback · 22 Mar 2015

When I visited Porthmadog in 2009, the small society tried to explain the history of what happened during the shed tour, but I got very confused with the various legal shenanagins and name changes.

Happily the chap emphasised that the two groups get on very well at front line level!

nowananorack · 23 Mar 2015

There is a link at Pen-y-Mount, at the end of the WHHR, though WHR trains do not stop there. The reason given is that it's something to do with the block token. I think that on the WHR there aren't any token machines as such do to the lack of cable interconnection. Authority to take a token is given by Control following a telephone conversation.
WHHR trains have ventured onto the WHR towards Beddgelert but this was under possession as WHR are air braked and the F & WHR are vacuum.
The line between Pen-y-Mount and Pont Croesor was laid by the WHHR, who operated over it for one or two seasons untill the re-built WHR got there having started from the Caernarfon end.
I'm going there in the middle of April, riding on the Porthmadog to Blaenau Ffestiniog to Caernarfon to Porthmadog special called 'The Snowdonian' See http://phase5.org.uk/

341o2 · 26 Mar 2015

Waldgrun said:
I take it that you will arrive in Porthmadog via National Rail's Cambrian Coast line.
If so the Welsh Highland Heritage Railway Station (the Short line with the shed tour) is just across the road on the East side of the level crossing. If you go across the crossing and follow the road through the town centre, after about one mile,you will end up at Porthmadog Harbour Station, joint terminal for the Welsh Highland to Caernarfon and the Ffestiniog to Blaenau Ffestiniog.
Please note that this may not be an easy journey, if you have visited the pub on the Platform, at the national rail station!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Just noticed you asked about the The Cob, that forms the first 3/4 of a mile of the Ffestiniog Railway.

The Cob was built by William Madocks cpmpleted in 1811. The Wikipedia article on the WHR is pretty good http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welsh_Highland_Railway

The reason why the WHR was a failure was lack of traffic, not surprising when trains were mixed and shunted at intermediate stations. The line was worked in two sections, through passengers had to change at Beddgelert.

The GWR had no issues with the Croeseor tramway crossing it, but decided to levy a charge on the WHR when it took over the line, so the WHR responded by building a new station to the north of the crossing, passengers had then to walk into Portmadoc.

finally, in the eighties, the FR triumphantly returned to Blaneau. The line closed in 1946, the company could not afford to officially abandon the line, so they shut up shop. The Cegb decided to build a resevior, flooding part of the line on the assumption that trains would never run again.

To some, the FR seemed to lose sense of direction following reopening of the entire line ( with exception of freight lines in the Blaneau area ), and saw the newly formed WHR as a threat

Porthmadog Stations

STEVIEBOY1

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berneyarms

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Waldgrun

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dave_wm

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STEVIEBOY1

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Greenback

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davetheguard

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Greenback

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fsmr

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Envoy

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IanD

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fsmr

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nowananorack

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341o2

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