Penrhyn Ffestiniog Railway station

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Penrhyn station, Ffestiniog Railway

The Ffestiniog Railway station opened in 1865 and was called Penrhyndeudraeth until the 1870s, when it was shortened to Penrhyn to distinguish it from the Cambrian Railways station which bore the full name (now a station on Network Rail’s Cambrian Coast line).

The village of Penrhyndeudraeth, which lies mostly below the FR station, is on a peninsula between the Glaslyn and Dwyryd estuaries. There were beaches on both sides of the peninsula until the Cob was completed in 1811, turning the Glaslyn plain into farmland. Penrhyndeudraeth means “promontory between two beaches”.

To hear how to pronounce it, press play: Or, download mp3 (17KB)

The FR station was a little further up the track towards Blaenau Ffestiniog than the present site. It was relocated in 1879, when a small station building was provided, possibly by re-using parts from the original building at Porthmadog Harbour station.

Penrhyn had a goods siding, at the Porthmadog end of the station. It was used mainly to unload flour for the nearby Co-op Bakery. Look for the vintage Vitbe Bread logo on the building west of the station. The flour was loaded onto narrow-gauge FR wagons at a mill in Porthmadog or at the sidings in Blaenau Ffestiniog where goods were transhipped from the standard-gauge rail network to the FR.

The station reopened in 1957 as volunteer rail enthusiasts continued to restore the FR. Since 1968 the station building has been a hostel for volunteers, who come from across Britain to work on the railway.

With thanks to Prof Hywel Wyn Owen, of the Welsh Place-Name Society

View Location Map

Ffestiniog Railway on HistoryPoints.org

Website of the Ffestiniog Railway

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