The welsh round robin

[Pacef8]

Hi is it still possible to go chester shrewsbury portmadog Ffestiniog llandudno and back to chester ? Are parts still missing post covid and fires ?

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Think that used to be known as the "Ffestiniog Round Robin" (one day) product, which I think is still available; from Chester the fare should be something like £40 (Adult).

Can anyone confirm?

 

[_toommm_]

Think that used to be known as the "Ffestiniog Round Robin" (one day) product, which I think is still available; from Chester the fare should be something like £40 (Adult).

Can anyone confirm?

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£40.00 for an adult, or there’s a family edition for £70.00 which includes two adults and up to two children.

Of note with this ticket if you’re buying it, it’s issued as a return ticket as opposed to a rover. I’m not familiar with how different ticket office softwares issue fares (whether rovers are on different menus etc.), but to issue the round robin specifically, the clerk has to enter Chester (in your case) as the starting station, and Ffestiniog Round Robin (or FFEST ROUNDROBIN or J293) as the destination, and you’ll get an outward and return coupon.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

If the Ffestiniog Round Robin product is currently available, does that imply that travel on the Ffestiniog's rails is effectively now on a walk-up basis?

 

[_toommm_]

If the Ffestiniog Round Robin product is currently available, does that imply that travel on the Ffestiniog's rails is effectively now on a walk-up basis?

Nothing that I can see on the website about not being able to walk-on.

 

[Pacef8]

My concern was also that it only went to tan y blych and not all the way to Ffestiniog for the Llandudno service.

 

[bspahh]

I used one today. I had no problems with the ticket.

National Rail says:

Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railways have imposed restrictions following the government Covid-19 guidelines, as a result they are not currently able to run to Blaenau Ffestiniog so it is not possible to complete the Round Robin circle.

However, Transport for Wales don't list anything like that. I've left a message on the Ffestiniog WWW site to ask for their comments.

I live in Ely, and to do it as a day trip meant an early start and a drive. I didn't want to buy a ticket in advance in case I overslept. In the end I set off at 4am and got to Sandwell & Dudley by 6am.

Sandwell & Dudley, has a big free park, and is close to the M5. The ticket office opens at 5.20am. I had thought of starting from Smethwick Galton Bridge, but its ticket office only opens at 6.15am, just after 2 trains have left towards Crewe. If you get the ticket beforehand, then it might be better as you are less likely to need to change at Wolverhampton.

The ticket was printed on paper with a 2D bar code, which worked fine for all the ticket checks, but not at the barriers at Shrewsbury and Wolverhampton. None of the staff had heard of it. It took a few minutes at the ticket office to find out how to print it, with codes at http://www.railrover.org/pages/ffestiniog-round-robin.html

I did the journey anti-clockwise with the 12:25 train from Blaenau Ffestiniog to Porthmadog, and then stopped off for an hour in Shrewsbury on the way back.

I got caught out at Chester. I wanted the 7.58 to Llandudno which was shown as being on platform 4B. I ended up on the 7.50 from Llandudno towards Manchester which also went from platfom 4. 2 other people also got caught out by this.

Today the 18.06 from Porthmadog to Machynlleth was cancelled due to "resource availablility". It said that there would be road replacement transport. I don't know if that would have been fast enough to get the connection towards Birmingham.

 

[AltcarBob]

I used one today. I had no problems with the ticket.

National Rail says:

However, Transport for Wales don't list anything like that. I've left a message on the Ffestiniog WWW site to ask for their comments.

I live in Ely, and to do it as a day trip meant an early start and a drive. I didn't want to buy a ticket in advance in case I overslept. In the end I set off at 4am and got to Sandwell & Dudley by 6am.

Sandwell & Dudley, has a big free park, and is close to the M5. The ticket office opens at 5.20am. I had thought of starting from Smethwick Galton Bridge, but its ticket office only opens at 6.15am, just after 2 trains have left towards Crewe. If you get the ticket beforehand, then it might be better as you are less likely to need to change at Wolverhampton.

The ticket was printed on paper with a 2D bar code, which worked fine for all the ticket checks, but not at the barriers at Shrewsbury and Wolverhampton. None of the staff had heard of it. It took a few minutes at the ticket office to find out how to print it, with codes at http://www.railrover.org/pages/ffestiniog-round-robin.html

I did the journey anti-clockwise with the 12:25 train from Blaenau Ffestiniog to Porthmadog, and then stopped off for an hour in Shrewsbury on the way back.

I got caught out at Chester. I wanted the 7.58 to Llandudno which was shown as being on platform 4B. I ended up on the 7.50 from Llandudno towards Manchester which also went from platfom 4. 2 other people also got caught out by this.

Today the 18.06 from Porthmadog to Machynlleth was cancelled due to "resource availablility". It said that there would be road replacement transport. I don't know if that would have been fast enough to get the connection towards Birmingham.

Thanks for the information. Looking to do the round robin on Tuesday, can you confirm was the Ffestiniog portion just walk up and board or did you have to book?

 

[bspahh]

Thanks for the information. Looking to do the round robin on Tuesday, can you confirm was the Ffestiniog portion just walk up and board or did you have to book?

I was on the 12.25 from Blaenau Ffestiniog on Monday July 4th. There was plenty of space on the train. I was in a second class coach, and there were about half a dozen other people in a coach with for something like 24 or 30. My ticket wasn't checked on the train.

Some compartments in other coaches had been reserved. You can also pay extra to upgrade to a first class seat.

These are some other threads about the Round Robin ticket.

Ffestiniog Round Robin Rover - Great Value?

Had a mad idea to travel from Porthmadog to Blaenau on the narrow gauge railway after arriving from Shrewsbury and returning home to the Wirral via Llandudno and Chester - on doing some digging trying to plan my route came across this ticket on the ATW website that isn't featured on the National...

www.railforums.co.uk

E769 Heritage Trip Reports 2018/2019

Wensleydale Railway 21 August 2018 I visited the Railway Tuesday 21 August 2018. I'm currently engaged in "heritage" railway visits mid-week to the see the state-of-play through the lens of regular punters. For myself it was a 538 mile round trip at a cost of £94.25 in train and bus fares. The...

www.railforums.co.uk

In Blaenau Ffestiniog I got a cup of tea from De Niros cafe. The reviews for the food are good at

De Niros · 36 High St, Blaenau Ffestiniog LL41 3AA

★★★★★ · Cafe

goo.gl