Welcome to the website of the Bala and Festiniog Railway Heritage Trust.
This organisation has taken up the vision of the Blaenau Ffestiniog and Trawsfynydd Railway Society to restore the mothballed railway line between Blaenau Ffestiniog and Trawsfynydd to operational status as a heritage railway. The Trust has set up a Company limited by Guarantee to take this forward and a new Committee is in place to guide the work we need to do to achieve our goal of a fully operational heritage railway. This organisation used to be known as the Blaenau Ffestiniog and Trawsfynydd Railway Society and the Trust is a Member Owned Charitable Body formed to continue and expand the work of the BFTRS.
One of our primary purposes is to investigate, appreciate and disseminate the history of the Railway of this name. The railway line between Bala and the villages of Llan Ffestiniog and Blaenau Ffestiniog, was opened in 1883; absorbed into the GWR in 1910 and closed by British Railways in 1961.
The section of the line that we wish to restore was retained for traffic to Trawsfynydd Nuclear Power Station and linked, for the first time, to the rail network at Blaenau Ffestiniog on the Conwy Valley line in 1964. Mothballed by Network Rail in 1998, one of the big tasks will be to negotiate terms under which the Trust could access the line to assess the viability of running tourist and community trains. That process may well take a considerable time.
In the meantime the Trust has been working on other aspects of restoration and saving of history of the line. To this end the Trust is in negotiations with the current owners of the former Llan Ffestiniog Station with a view to taking on a portion of the site and restoring the station building as well as the cattle docks for use by the Trust to further its aims. It is intended that the rebuilt station building would become a useful addition to the village and tourism in the region.
We recognise that many of you have the same passion for the line and the Trust encourages you to join us. Details of membership can be found elsewhere on these pages along with information about the line history and geography.
Shane Barry
Chairman
2019-2023