(Intro)
Die Ffestiniog Railway (Rheilffordd Ffestiniog in walisischer Sprache) ist eine Schmalspurbahn mit einer Spurweite von 1 ft 11½ in (597 mm) im walisischen County Gwynedd. Gegründet 1832, ist sie die älteste aktive Schmalspurbahn und zugleich älteste noch existierende private Eisenbahngesellschaft weltweit.
Geschichte
Vorgeschichte und Bau
Mit der Industriellen Revolution und dem Wachstum der Städte Europas stieg der Bedarf an feuerfestem Dachmaterial. Schiefer hatte sich zu diesem Zweck bestens bewährt und die mächtigen Lagerstätten in Nordwales, insbesondere in Snowdonia führten Anfang des 19. Jahrhunderts zum Entstehen zahlreicher lokaler Bergbauzentren, so auch in Blaenau Ffestiniog, ca. 20 km von der Küste entfernt in den Bergen gelegen.
Zur gleichen Zeit an der Küste:
Dieser Damm war 1811 fertiggestellt. Am nördlichen Ende gründete er den Ort Porthmadog und ließ einen Hafen anlegen.
Die Pferdebahn
Man wählte eine Spurweite von 1 ft 11½ in, die bereits in den Minen zur Anwendung gekommen war. Spurweiten von ungefähr 2 Fuß (bzw. ca. 60 cm) hatten sich im Bergbau bereits gut bewährt: Einerseits war der Abstand zwischen den Schienen breit genug für ein Pferd, anderseits war er schmal genug für enge Stollen und kleinste Bogenradien.
Dampfbetrieb
Auf der FR wurde letztendlich der Beweis erbracht, das auch Bahnen mit einer Spurweite deutlich kleiner als die Normalspur, in der Lage sind, Transportaufgaben als vollwertiger Verkehrsträger zu erfüllen.
Niedergang im 20. Jahrhundert
Rennaissance als Touristenattraktion
Der Parlamentsbeschluss von 1832, der den Bau genehmigte, enthielt keine Vorgaben zu einer allfälligen Betriebsstilllegung oder Abtragung der Strecke. Der Betrieb ruhte somit, Fahrzeuge, Immobilien und die Gleise waren dem Verfall und Vandalismus preisgegeben.
Das Projekt "Welsh Highland Railway"
Streckenbeschreibung
Fahrzeuge
The railway is about 13.5 miles (21.5 km) long and runs from the harbour at Porthmadog to the slate mining town of Blaenau Ffestiniog. The line travels through spectacular mountainous scenery and has a track gauge of Vorlage:1ft11.5in. The first part of the line runs along "the Cob", which is the dyke of the Traeth Mawr "polder".
The railway company is properly known as the "Festiniog Railway Company" and this contemporary spelling (correct for the period) is still the official title of the company as defined by the Act (2 William IV cap.xlviii) that created the railway. It is the oldest surviving railway company in the world, having been founded by the Act of Parliament on 23 May 1832 with capital mostly raised in the Dublin area. Most British railways were amalgamated into four large groups in 1921, and then into British Railways in 1948, but the Festiniog Railway Company, in common with most narrow gauge railways, remained independent: in 1921 this was due to political influence, whereas in 1947 it was left out of British Railways because it was closed for traffic despite vigorous local lobbying for it to be included.
The line was constructed between 1833 and 1836 to transport slate from the quarries around the inland town of Blaenau Ffestiniog to the coastal town of Porthmadog, where it was loaded onto ships. The railway was graded so that loaded wagons could be run by gravity downhill all the way from Blaenau Ffestiniog to the port. The empty wagons were hauled back up by horses, which travelled down in special 'dandy' wagons. There is good evidence for tourist passengers being carried as early as 1850, without the blessing of the Board of Trade. In October 1863 steam locomotives were introduced, to allow longer slate trains to be run, and this also enabled the official introduction of passenger trains in 1865: the Ffestiniog was the first narrow-gauge railway in Britain to carry passengers. In 1869 the line's first double Fairlie articulated locomotive was introduced, and these double-ended machines have since become one of the most widely recognised features of the railway.
By the 1920s the demand for slate as a roofing material dropped owing to the advent of newer materials and to the loss of the overseas trade in World War I. As a result, the railway suffered a gradual decline in traffic. In 1923, the FR was linked with the new Welsh Highland Railway (WHR), which went bankrupt in 1933, and the FR leased it. The WHR proved to be a financial liability and closed in 1937. Ordinary passenger services ceased on the FR on 15 September 1939, shortly after the outbreak of World War II. The workmen's passenger service ran for the last time on Saturday 16 September 1939 and slate traffic ceased on 1 August 1946, apart from the section from Duffws to the North Western yard through Blaenau Ffestiniog town centre, which was leased on 7 October 1946 to the quarry owners and provided the railway company, that retained the services of a resident manager at Porthmadog, with a small income throughout the moribund years.
The original Act of Parliament which permitted the building of the line made no provision for its closure or abandonment. Although the line had ceased functioning, the company could not dismantle the railway, so the track and infrastructure were left in place. However without any maintenance, it soon became overgrown and unusable.
From 1949, various groups of rail enthusiasts attempted to revitalise the railway. Eventually, in 1954 a group of volunteers funded by Alan Pegler purchased the company to run it as a tourist attraction, and gradually restored the line to working order. This was not helped by a decision by the CEGB (Central Electricity Generating Board) in 1954 to build the Ffestiniog Pumped Storage Scheme, including the Tan y Grisiau reservoir (Llyn Ystradau), which flooded part of the northern end of the line. The Festiniog Railway Company was able to obtain compensation in 1972, after the second-longest legal battle in British legal history, having taken eighteen years and two months. Two years later, as a result of the case, the British Parliament passed the Land Occupancy Act 1973.
Between 1965 and 1978, a 'Deviation' route from Dduallt to Tan y Grisiau, including the only rail spiral in Britain and a tunnel, was built around the reservoir largely by volunteer labour. The through route to Blaenau Ffestiniog was completed in 1982; the group building this deviation were officially called the Civil Engineering Group, but were usually called the Deviationists.
In the late 1980s the Festiniog Railway Company was involved in a highly controversial plan to stop the neighbouring Welsh Highland Railway being rebuilt. The plan would have involved the Company buying the original track bed of the Welsh Highland Railway from the old company's receiver and giving it to Gwynedd County Council, as long as no railway-related developments were allowed on the land. This, and other actions, put back the rebuilding of the Welsh Highland Railway for 5 to 10 years.
In 2009 the Festiniog Railway will reconnect with the Welsh Highland Railway, comprising parts of the former London and North Western Railway (1867), North Wales Narrow Gauge Railway (1877-81), Portmadoc, Beddgelert and South Snowdon Railway and Welsh Highland (1922-3) Railway when the RhE is completed from Caernarfon to Porthmadog. The link would join the FR at Harbour Station, with the WHR at Pen-Y-Mount Station, north of Porthmadog.
Siehe auch