Minffordd railway station

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button_lang_frenchMinffordd railway station

Minffordd simply means “road side”. Ffordd = road. Here it refers to a group of houses by the road between Porthmadog and Penrhyndeudraeth which were built for workers at the nearby granite quarry, which remains active.

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Here the narrow-gauge Ffestiniog Railway crosses over the standard-gauge Cambrian Coast line at right angles. Minffordd station opened in 1872 for interchange between the railways. The lower platform belongs to Network Rail and is served by trains between Pwllheli and Machynlleth. The upper section features a large station building from c.1880. The station is the closest to Portmeirion Italianate village.

There were previously facilities at Minffordd for goods to transfer between the railway systems. West of the FR station, trains loaded with slate from the Blaenau Ffestiniog quarries were switched onto a track which turned through 180 degrees as it descended to a complex of sidings, where wagons of both gauges came side by side. Loaded wagons were weighed at Minffordd before their contents were transhipped to standard-gauge wagons here or taken to Porthmadog harbour. Slate-quarry owners had private wharves at Minffordd, echoing the wharves at the harbour.

Minffordd FR station closed in 1939 and reopened in 1956. In 2015 the FR began a project to improve the old goods yard to provide better storage for historic wagons and other equipment. Volunteers who work on the railway in their spare time can stay at the FR hostel in Minffordd.

The lower station is managed by Transport for Wales Rail Services and has been adopted by local residents, who keep an eye on the station’s condition.

Postcode: LL48 6HG    View Location Map

With thanks to Prof Hywel Wyn Owen, of the Welsh Place-Name Society, and David and Edith Isaacs

Ffestiniog Railway on HistoryPoints.org

Website of the Ffestiniog Railway

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