Ffestiniog Railway – Driver’s Eye View – Blaenau Ffestiniog to Porthmadog (Wales)

We start at the slate mining town of Blaenau Ffestioniog – also known as “the town that roofed the world”. Loco No. 10 “Merddin Emrys” built in 1879 simmers at that platform end ready to haul the last train of the day on a glorious sunny evening. Our train traverses a narrow ledge cut into the hillside above the quarrymen’s cottages to Tanygrisiau, before passing the deep waters of Llyn Ystradau and plunging into the darkness of Moelwyn tunnel. The original track bed lies beneath the waters of Llyn Ystradau, today the line passes the lake on a new deviation between Tanygrisiau and Dduallt that includes a spiral formation allowing the new line to loose enough height to re-join the original route. Once again our little trains clings to the wooded slopes with occasional glimpses of the River Dwyryd far below, we pass the halfway point at Tan-y-Bwlch before we continue our steady descent to Penrhyn and Minffordd where we cross the Cambrian Coast Railway. Our descent continues to Boston Lodge works and onto the fa