Uploaded April 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
On April 17, 2023 I returned to the wonderful Ffestiniog Railway in Porthmadog, Wales. Being an off-season Monday the railway was running a limited service, with only a single Mountain Spirit to Blaenau Ffestiniog, the two daily Woodland Wanderers to Tan-y-bwlch and no trains on the Welsh Highland Railway. To my delight, the train to Blaenau was headed by Merddin Emrys, the first locomotive to be built by the Ffestiniog's Boston Lodge Works back in 1879 and the only operational pre-preservation Double Fairlie locomotive. I began the day at Boston Lodge, watching the Fairlie being readied for the day in front of the workshops where it was born 144 years ago alongside Lyd, the most recent product of the shops completed in 2010. After picking up the 10-car train - about a third of which was reserved for passengers from the "Great Britain XV" railtour that was laying over in nearby Llandudno that day - Merddin headed across the Cob to load up at Harbour Station and then headed up into the mountains. Merddin Emrys is the Welsh name for the legendary wizard known in English as Merlin, and the red locomotive certainly cast a spell as it chuffed through the striking landscape of Snowdonia. I chased the train all the way up to Blaenau Ffestiniog and then down to Tan-y-bwlch, where I stopped to enjoy lunch at the station's Tea Room - only getting a shot with my phone, so please forgive the poor stabilization. All in all it was lovely if short day and I am grateful to have had the chance to spend some more time at one of my favorite railways.
On April 17, 2023 I returned to the wonderful Ffestiniog Railway in Porthmadog, Wales. Being an off-season Monday the railway was running a limited service, with only a single Mountain Spirit to Blaenau Ffestiniog, the two daily Woodland Wanderers to Tan-y-bwlch and no trains on the Welsh Highland Railway. To my delight, the train to Blaenau was headed by Merddin Emrys, the first locomotive to be built by the Ffestiniog's Boston Lodge Works back in 1879 and the only operational pre-preservation Double Fairlie locomotive. I began the day at Boston Lodge, watching the Fairlie being readied for the day in front of the workshops where it was born 144 years ago alongside Lyd, the most recent product of the shops completed in 2010. After picking up the 10-car train - about a third of which was reserved for passengers from the "Great Britain XV" railtour that was laying over in nearby Llandudno that day - Merddin headed across the Cob to load up at Harbour Station and then headed up into the mountains. Merddin Emrys is the Welsh name for the legendary wizard known in English as Merlin, and the red locomotive certainly cast a spell as it chuffed through the striking landscape of Snowdonia. I chased the train all the way up to Blaenau Ffestiniog and then down to Tan-y-bwlch, where I stopped to enjoy lunch at the station's Tea Room - only getting a shot with my phone, so please forgive the poor stabilization. All in all it was lovely if short day and I am grateful to have had the chance to spend some more time at one of my favorite railways.
