Paul Lewin, General Manager at the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railways, has set out plans for services in the Summer.
With the cost of coal and general living soaring, families and holiday makers are changing the way that they want to holiday, and sometimes are looking for the cheapest option.
In an update released today, 4th July, Paul has set out the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railways plan for the summer.
The Woodland Wanderer trains, which operate between Porthmadog and Tan-y-bwlch are set to be reduced from 5 trains a day to 4, with the trains in the middle of the day being the focus.
The Mountain Spirit trains, which run from Porthmadog to Blaenau Ffestiniog will continue to run 2 times a day until September (the exception being Sunday when only one train runs).
The reduction in The Woodland Wanderer trains means that a set of carriages and a small locomotive can be moved from Boston Lodge to Dinas Works.
This train will then form a new service for the Summer, operating from Caernarfon, the new train service will head to Rhyd Ddu before returning to Caernarfon to offer a shorter train ride from the northern end of the Welsh Highland Railway.
Other Welsh Highland Railway services remain the same until 2nd September when both lines change over to an Autumn Timetable.
Dates for the changes to services are yet to be confirmed but more information will be available soon on the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railway website.
Yes the coal issue is important, but this seems to be more about revenue generation. More trains running in the middle part of the day, on shorter journeys when the coach parties major along with their schedules.
As a long time supporter (ex-deviationist worker), it disappoints me that this short term action loses sight of the original conception of the railway – to run to Blaenau Ffestiniog – so why did ‘we’ labour some 47 years ago and toil in construction to reach Blaenau Ffestiniog?
If Paul Lewin wanted to save money he would be better off running fewer trains the full length of the line and then giving passengers the option of getting off at Tan-y-Bwlch or not like they used to…
The businesses in Blaenau Ffestiniog must be tearing their hair out, they have all but lost one of their biggest attractions.
These named train ‘experiences’ are a nonsense idea, a hangover from COVID when you couldn’t run a proper service, but now you can so what’s the excuse?
I fear the Festiniog is turning into a US-style tourist train experience, abandoning any pretence of being a means of transport in favour of becoming a linear theme park.
The new service will be called ‘Y Cwellyn’ named after the lake that the railway passes on the way to Rhyd Ddu.
I went to the Ffestiniog a few weeks ago. There appeared to be a reluctance to actually run trains in the afternoon, I had a long drive to get there and was delayed in traffic. Thus when I arrived at 2pm there was no train I could take a ride on. Duting that week I went to many of the heritage railways in Wales and this was the only one I felt unwanted at