1.

Porthmadog Station is the western terminus of the narrow-gauge (600mm) Festiniog (latterly Ffestiniog) Railway (nprn 34660). The Festiniog Railway Company is the world's oldest independent railway company, established in 1832 by Act of Parliament. From 2009 the station became the southern terminus of the rebuilt Welsh Highland Railway (nprn 91420).

B.A.Malaws, RCAHMW, 18 April 2005 & 06 August 2013.

2.

The lower terminus and headquarters of the Festiniog Railway (NPRN: 34660), situated on a quay and stone breakwater initially developed for the slate-quarry tenant Samuel Holland in 1834-5 as part of Porthmadog harbour (NPRN: 306317) over the previous years. It opened for passenger service in 1865, closed in 1939 and re-opened in 1955. From 1923 to 1936 and again from 2009 it has also served as the terminus of the Welsh Highland Railway from Caernarfon. Track and signalling arrangements have undergone many changes. The principal structures are the main station building (NPRN: 546128), an extension built in 1975 (NPRN: 546129) and the former goods shed, now a bar (NPRN: 546130). Train movements are controlled by a signal box (NPRN: 420590) and locomotives are watered and fuelled at a coaling stage and water-tower (NPRN: 546131).

Statement of Significance:

Significant as the lower terminus of the Festiniog Railway and as a narrow-gauge railway station set out on a considerable scale.

This site is part of the Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales World Heritage Site, Component Part 5: Ffestiniog: its slate mines and quarries, slate town and railway to Porthmadog Inscribed July 2020.   

Sources:

Hannah Genders Boyd, RCAHMW, March 2022

Site Record

Portmadoc; Porthmadog Harbour Railway Station, Ffestiniog Railway and Welsh Highland Railway