It’s a new season here at the Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways and we’re pleased to announce the latest offer for our neighbours…

It’s time for another exciting announcement regarding our highly anticipated ‘Railway 200 – FR Platinum Jubilee Weekend’, taking place between June 19th-22nd 2025.

We were delighted to pick up the ‘Best Attraction’ prize at the recent National Tourism Awards for Wales.

It’s 2025 and we’re busy making plans and goals for the new season of trains which starts on March 29th – If you like meeting and talking to new people, this is the role for you!

Join us for a three-day Mini Steam Exhibition between the Thursday 27th of February 2025 – Saturday 1st of March 2025, at ‘Y Stesion’ Caernarfon.

We’re taking part in The National Lottery Open Week, to say a huge thanks to National Lottery players for their support of our Interpretation and Boston Lodge Project.

Across the globe, New Year’s Day will resound to the sound of locomotive whistles, as heritage railways near and far mark the start of rail’s 200th anniversary.

Exciting news… between the 29th – 30th of December 2024, we will be offering a 50% discount for the whole family on our Seasonal Snowdonia Specials, to local residents with their primary address in the postcode areas LL22 – LL78 inclusive.

Congratulations to the Ffestiniog Railway Society (and, specifically, the ‘Buildings Minibash Team’) who have received the ‘Network Rail Volunteers Award’ at today’s National Rail Heritage Awards for the restoration work on Penrhyn Station,

Next year our trains will start running on the 29th March 2025 – and tickets for our 2025 services are now on sale…

We are delighted to announce that the Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways was awarded the prestigious ‘Go Attraction of the Year’ award at this year’s Go North Wales Tourism Awards.

Another stunning round-up of the past year’s activities on the F&WHR – filmed with more cameras than ever!

Press release from Bachmann Europe PLC…

We’re excited to launch our festive Christmas menu, available exclusively on Friday nights starting 29th November!

Here at the Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways, we are now offering an exciting new range of ‘Have a Go’ workshops, where participants can learn a variety of different skills including Painting, Signwriting and Welding!

This year father and daughter signwriting team Glenn Williams and Sarah have lined the curly roof van together.

Here’s the details on the October offer for our local neighbours…

Earlier in the season we welcomed S4C’s Iaith ar Daith (Language on Tour) film crew to the Railway as well as the two stars of an episode for the new season.

As one of the Great Little Trains of Wales, we’re thrilled to announce a thirteenth member to the GLTW group!

We are now delighted to announce that on Monday, 23rd of September we will be offering morning and afternoon tours in Welsh!

It’s a big week for the ‘Kalahari’ team at Dinas as the newly restored NG15- 134 joins in Super-Power Weekend for the first time.

Here’s the details on the September offer for our local neighbours…

A rather special photo opportunity presented itself this weekend when a group of volunteers gave Double Fairlie ‘Earl of Merioneth’ some much needed TLC!

Oliver Bennett, Stephen Greig and Chris Harrison first became involved with the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railways as young volunteers in 1999. The trio have now each clocked up 25 years working and volunteering on the railway.

Here’s the details on the August offer for our local neighbours…

This Summer, our visitors will have the opportunity to try out our new Ffestiniog ‘ Steam Coal’ Ice Cream from the Harbour Station platform Ice Cream stand, in collaboration with Marios!

Earlier this month we were delighted to welcome the whole of Ysgol Maenofferen infants and junior school to the station in Blaenau Ffestiniog for a train journey down to Tan-y-Bwlch Station.

“As a youngster he used to come in with his dad to events at the National Railway Museum and stand at the front of the Great Western Engine and take over… he would play to the audience and tell them all about it.”…

On Sunday 7th of July, the ‘Gelert Explorer’ service rolled out of Caernarfon station with an additional carriage included in the train – Pullman Carr. No.2115 ‘Bodysgallen’.

Come and build a carriage in a weekend… The ultimate kit build! – To kick off our programme of ‘Have a Go’ training workshops, we are hosting a free 4-day ‘Build a Carriage’ workshop between Friday, 12th – Monday, 15th July 2024.

Ahead of our Super-Power weekend this September, when the original Garratt engine ‘K1’ will return to the Railway, a couple from California, who recently travelled with us, told us about their family’s connections with this very special engine!

UK-born and US-based Melodic & Progressive house sensation Tom Marsh, known as Marsh, celebrated the release of his new single, ‘Floodlights’ on the Anjunadeep label, with a fully filmed DJ set which ran for over two and a half hours on the ‘Snowdonia Star’ service on Tuesday, 14th of May.

Congratulations to the wonderful group of young people from Coleg Glynllifon who have recently been awarded Certificates in recognition of their work experience on the Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways.

Today, we are celebrating another milestone in our railway’s long history… the 70th Anniversary of the takeover of the Ffestiniog Railway by a partnership of Alan Pegler as Chairman, a new Company Board and volunteers in the Ffestiniog Railway Society.

Musical Railwayman, Ted Beausire has combined a career in mainline railway signaling with life as a jazz musician.

We welcomed Bob Smith, an experienced pattern maker, to our Boston Lodge Works as a volunteer in his early 70s after a career in engineering in Leicester at Rover Cars.

The sun came out alongside the crowds for the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railways’ Blaenau Ffestiniog Family Fun Day, on the first Bank Holiday Monday in May.

If you’ve been to see us recently you may have been greeted by Coleg Menai’s Travel and Tourism students who’ve been getting first-hand experience, working with our visitors who come from all across the world to travel on the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railway.

Visitors to the Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways (FfWHR) are now able to take their very own guide along on the journey with them, on their phone, in the form of the FfWHR Explore App.

Here’s some exciting news for our local neighbours… between the 22nd of April – 22nd of May (exc. 4th, 5th, 6th of May), we will be re-launching our popular ‘LOCALS’ DISCOUNT OFFER’, which replaces the previous ‘Y Cerdyn’ scheme.

We are very excited to announce that the Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways will feature on the brand-new official MONOPOLY: Eryri / Snowdonia Edition – featuring the great and good of the much loved National Park!

Recently, we attended the 2024 NEC Caravan, Camping & Motorhome Show, alongside Talyllyn Railway, with whom we shared a stand.

Today we are celebrating International Women’s Day by stepping back in time to highlight the exceptional role women have played in shaping the history of our much loved railways!

Whatever you fancy doing this Easter, the Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways has something for everyone to enjoy…

We’re taking part in The National Lottery Open Week, to say a huge thanks to National Lottery players for their support of our Interpretation and Boston Lodge Project.

Richmond Light Railway and the Ffestiniog Railway Company are delighted to announce a plan to ensure the best possible future for historic Quarry Hunslet locomotive Nesta No 704 built in 1899.

The Vale of Rheidol Railway and the Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways are pleased to announce a collaboration to run 1864-built steam locomotive ‘Palmerston’ at the Vale of Rheidol Railway later this year.

Our season will begin on the 23rd of March 2024, and this year we will be running all the journey options that we offered last year, plus a brand new addition to the timetable… introducing ‘The Victorian’!

Over 35 new Interpretation Panels are being installed along Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railways over the next couple of weeks.

Due to unforeseen circumstances encountered during the maintenance work currently taking place at Spooner’s, we will be delaying our reopening until Tuesday, 16th of January.

We are delighted to announce that we have been shortlisted for two prestigious awards at the upcoming HRA 2024 Annual Awards.

Here are details of when Spooner’s will be open or closed over the festive period…

There are less than two weeks till Christmas Day!

Bookings for our Festive menus are NOW OPEN!

This month, we will be hosting x2 free Family Tours around our Boston Lodge Works

Our locals’ discount will be available on a selection of our train services throughout September!

The AGM will be a members’ only event and will focus on some of the projects the society has been supporting.

We have five ‘Behind the Scenes’ tours taking place over the coming months!

We have lots of trains running but we’ll also have some family friendly free footplate rides for visitors to enjoy.

We’ve got two pieces of exciting news to share… firstly we recently received the news that our Welsh Offer had been approved by the Welsh Language Commissioner!

We were very pleased to welcome MP Liz Saville Roberts to Harbour Station this week, where we presented her our new ‘This is Our Railway’ booklets, which have been produced bilingually and our Welsh services’ information leaflet.

Congratulations to our General Manager, Paul Lewin, who has been nominated for the ‘outstanding individuals’ category of the 2023 National Lottery Awards.

Our locals’ discount will now be available on a selection of our train services throughout August!

Level crossings should always be treated with respect and attention paid to lights and signs!

Summer is here and we’re steaming ahead with plans to offer footplate rides at Porthmadog and Caernarfon on selected days in July and August!

Last weekend, we were delighted to welcome Porthmadog FC. to Spooner’s as part of our new season of sponsorship!

During our busy WHR100 event weekend, an important presentation took place on the Saturday morning (June 24th) as the winner of the WHR100 Research Competition was announced.

We’ve more exciting news for our neighbours, as we are holding our second LOCALS’ DISCOUNT WEEK between the 15th and 23rd of July.

There was a buzz of excitement around ‘Y Stesion’ in Caernarfon earlier this month, as the railway received the wonderful donation of a 1/12 scale Meccano model of a SAR class NGG16 Beyer Garratt locomotive!

As a thanks for all your support, we will be offering a complimentary journey for all event ticket holders to ride behind Baldwin ‘WHR 590’, at a later date.

The Welsh Highland Heritage Railway have announced that a last-minute problem has arisen with Baldwin ‘590’ which has left insufficient time to give the locomotive the attention it requires ahead of the ‘WHR100’ event.

Thanks to the generous donations of our customers, the Spooner’s collection tin for the Welsh Air Ambulance has raised £584.74

Are you looking for work in the Porthmadog or Caernarfon areas this summer?

The popular play area beside the Tea Room at Tan-y-Bwlch Station now has a brand-new train for children to play on.

We’ve some exciting news for our neighbours, as we are holding our first LOCALS’ DISCOUNT WEEK between the 11th and 18th of June.

We’ve reduced the prices of our Bachmann Narrow Gauge items by 15% off RRP

We’ve reduced the prices of our Bachmann Narrow Gauge items by 15% off RRP

This weekend is filled with special events and activities arranged to coincide with the Ffestiniog Railway Society’s AGM.

Come and join us here at ‘The Station’ for some fun activities this Easter!

The wait is over – tickets for our highly anticipated WHR Centenary Celebrations are now on sale!

The Heritage Railway Association has awarded its most prestigious award – the Peter Manisty Award for Excellence – to the Ffestiniog Team that has rescued, restores and operates the unique gravity slate train.

We have some exciting news to share with you all – tickets for our 2023 train services are now on sale!

National Trust Cymru and Welsh Highland Railway team up to restore Fisherman’s Path at Aberglaslyn Pass in Beddgelert, Eryri (Snowdonia).

Congratulations to Laurie Zehetmayr who has recently been awarded the ‘Most Improved Student Apprentice’ award from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

We are on the lookout for your favourite Ffestiniog Railway and Welsh Highland Railway stories!

This weekend, we will be welcoming author, illustrator and songwriterm, Dawn Bosley, to Harbour Station as she launches a brand new series of adventures, starting with Series 2 – Book 1: ‘Theo The Yellow Bird – My Adventure on The Ffestiniog Steam Railway in Wales’.

There are now only 10 days to go until the 2022 World Cup kicks off in Qatar and we’re delighted to announce that Spooner’s will be taking part in the Gŵyl Cymru Festival!

We have some exciting news to report, Spooner’s have launched their new Food & Drink menu, with all items available to order daily between 09:00 – 15:00.

We’ve been working on our plans for special events on and around the F&WHR in 2023…

A joint project ‘Wales on Rails’ (WOR), led by Great Little Trains of Wales (GLTW) and supported by Transport for Wales and the Community Rail Partnerships (CRP) in Wales and the borders has won at The Community Rail Awards in the tourism and leisure category.

The latest addition to the Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways’ carriage fleet has entered service thanks to a generous donation from our friends Bob and Jan Bloodworth that funded the entire build.

Work on our NLHF-funded project continues…

A newly established, young volunteer team have recently launched a new campaign to ‘Rebuild the Alco’ – in the hope of getting Mountaineer back in steam!

Book your event rover tickets for the historic Welsh Highland Railway Centenary event weekend at Dinas! 

Here at the Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways you don’t just buy a ticket… You buy an experience!

Preparations for the joint ‘WHR 100 : SOUTH SNOWDON’ event at the end of the month included running a train of Welsh Highland Heritage Railway stock to Beddgelert on Saturday last.

We are pleased to confirm that the only surviving original Welsh Highland Railway steam locomotive, ‘Russell’, based at the Welsh Highland Heritage Railway at Porthmadog, will be running on today’s Welsh Highland Railway once again in 2022!

We are pleased to confirm that the only surviving original Welsh Highland Railway steam locomotive, ‘Russell’, based at the Welsh Highland Heritage Railway at Porthmadog, will be running on today’s Welsh Highland Railway once again in 2022!

Are you looking forward to the long weekend of celebrations? We’re going to be busy here at the F&WHR, so we’re looking forward to seeing you!

Looking for something special? – then come along to the Gweithdy at Minffordd Station this weekend!