All Aboard!

Here at the Oakeley Arms hotel, we’re a stone’s throw from one of the most famous vintage narrow gauge railway lines in the world. The Ffestiniog Railway sprang into life in the nineteenth century as a way to transport thousands of tonnes of slate from the mountains of Snowdonia to the local port at Porthmadog for shipment across the world. Today, the heavy duty lifting is a thing of the past as the railway now only transports tourists through over 13 miles of stunning Snowdonia scenery between Blaenau Ffestiniog and Porthmadog.

Thousands of visitors every year flock here to take a spin on the beautiful steam trains and they are incredibly popular. We all think the world of our fabulous little railway line, so we were very excited to hear of news this week that a determined group of volunteers are attempting to expand the line even further in the coming years.

The Ffestiniog Railway has already recently been improved and extended, when it joined with the Welsh Highland Railway. Together, these two lines now link the Ffestiniog Railway at Porthmadog with the line that reaches northwards through Beddgelert and up to the coast at Caernarfon. Well volunteers are now working on plans to re-open an old railway line that stretched between Caernarfon and Bangor. If the plans were successful then it would mean a 90 mile route through Snowdonia and to the coast.

The beautiful steam trains of the Ffestiniog Railway could soon be extended…. By Herbert Ostner on wikicommons

The line, which closed ion 1972 as part of Dr Beeching’s widespread railway line closures, was once a popular route, especially during the summer months as tourists flocked to the region. The trackbed remains intact in some parts and the group of volunteers looking at plans to re-open it estimate the work to cost around £40 million pounds, so it would be a significant investment to an area that is already famed for it’s little Welsh trains!

We’ll be very excited to hear more about it, and we’ll update you with any news.

Read the full story, click here.