Boston Lodge/Buildings

Boston Lodge is the heart of the engineering on the Ffestiniog Railway. Here are the railway's engineering workshops, locomotive shed and carriage works.

It is situated a mile from Harbour Station at the far end of Madocks' Great Embankment ('The Cob') across the Glaslyn estuary and was the location of one of the quarries which provided the stone for the construction of the Cob.

The first building on the site was a barracks for many of the 150 men working from the Merioneth side on the construction of The Cob. Built in 1808 and originally called 'Penrhyn Cottage' it was renamed 'Boston Lodge' in 1811 after Boston, Lincolnshire, the parliamentary seat of William Madocks, the proprietor of the land reclamation venture. Here there were also stables and smithies for the horses and waggons used to carry the stone which was quarried on the site, creating most of the space now occupied by buildings. Later with the coming of the horse drawn Festiniog Railway, the stables and smithies were brought back into use from 1836 onwards and there has been almost continuous development of the site for railway purposes since. There were major developments in 1847-8 when the Company agreed to make their own components for waggon repairs, in the 1860s with the coming of locomotives, and the late 1870s when the Company started to build their own locomotives. The years of dereliction 1946-1954 took their toll on the site but since the revival renovations were done and new developments continue to the present day, including renovation and interpretation of the historic buildings as well as functional developments to support the operation of the Railway and to maintain the site's role as a centre of engineering excellence.

The original barracks building still stands, much modified, and is now known as Nos 1 and 2 Boston Lodge, but the Boston Lodge name is also used to mean the whole Works complex.

More information on Boston Lodge can be found here. For the houses on the site see Boston Lodge Residences. For buildings that no longer exist see Boston Lodge: Former buildings.

The buildings that make up the Boston Lodge complex are reviewed in the order that they appear on the Register as follows:-

No	Name	Terry Corner's ID	Operational	Description	Listing Status	History, Character and Significance	Current Use	Current Condition	Urgent Repairs Required	Other Repairs Required	Wish List for Improvements
not on plan	No 4 Boston Lodge	?	^No	House, rented out	Grade 2	Not assessed	Rented house	Not assessed	Not assessed	Not assessed	Not assessed
86	No 3 Boston Lodge	BL001	^No	House, rented out	Grade 2	Not assessed	Rented house	Not assessed	Not assessed	Not assessed	Not assessed
86a	Garage	BL001	No	Garage on old turntable	Not known	Loco turntable of historic interest	Not assessed	Not assessed	Not assessed	Not assessed	Not assessed
88	Halt Room	BL002.01	Yes	Stone walls, slate roof. Conjoined to 1863 Loco Shed	Grade 2	Old Weigh house from 1856-1873	Waiting Room/store room	Not assessed	Not assessed	Not assessed	Not assessed
89	Old Engine Shed	BL002.02	Yes	Engine shed - stone walls, slate roof. Side extension corrugated iron	Grade 2	Highly significant as built for first locos in 1863	Engine and carriage shed	Recently restored	None	Workshop end to be restored for display	To be used for historic locos
90	Plas Smart	BL003	No	Former superintendent's office	Grade 2	Part of building dating from 1842	Unused	Ext repairs 2014 inc. original chimney stack etc.	Internal restoration started 2024	.	installation of floor; electrics
91	Brown 20ft container now removed	BL004	No	Removed
92	Old S&T Office now scrapped	BL005	No	Scrapped
93	S&T Workshop now scrapped	BL006	No	Old Tunnel Mess - scrapped 2015
94	Britomart Shed	BL007	No	1960s Corrugated iron. Demolished
95	Brown MDX Cabin now removed	BL008	No	Scrapped
96	20ft container now removed	BL009	No	Scrapped
97	Telephone Exchange	part BL010?	No	Rendered blockwork walls under single pitched roof	unknown	Built 1970	Demolished 2024
97a	Old Oil Store	BL010	No	Solid stone walls under a duo pitched slate roof	Grade 2	Originally oil store, later S&T stores	To be cleared for repairs	general repairs done 2024	.	.	To become IT room
98	Old Brass Foundry	BL011	Yes	Solid stone walls under duo pitched slate roof.	Grade 2	Built 1838 as Smithy	Store, previously Workshop and stores for brass items	general repairs to be done	.	To be conserved	Future store and display area
99	Blacksmiths Shop	BL012	Yes	Stone walls, duo pitched roof of Welsh Slate	Grade 2	Major part of historic workshop complex	Waggon repairs	Major ext repairs completed 2020		Chimneys restored	Restoration of hearths, in hand
100	No 2 Machine Shop originally Foundry	BL012	Yes	Stone walls under a duo pitched slate roof	Grade 2	Originally Iron Foundry	Store	Current Condition	Urgent Repairs Required	To be conserved	To be historic workshop area
101	Den (mess room)	BL014	No	1970s rendered blockwork	Not listed	Modern (1977), some asbestos	Staff amenities	Demolished Feb 2023	-	-	Replacement by new larger building within envelope of old Sawmill
102	No 1 Boston Lodge	BL015	No	Prominent 2 storey building with white painted stone walls under duo pitched roof covered with Welsh slate	Grade 2	Originally built in 1808 as a barracks for the workers building the Cob embankment	under renmovation 2024	General renovation 2024	See main article	See main article	See main article
103	No 2 Boston Lodge	BL016	No	As No 1 Boston Lodge	Grade 2	As No 1 Boston Lodge	Under renovation 2024	As No 1 Boston Lodge	As No 1 Boston Lodge	As No 1 Boston Lodge	As No 1 Boston Lodge
104	Electrical workshop (Old Den) originally Carpenters' Shop	BL017	No	Stone walls, duo pitched slate roof hipped one end	Grade 2 listed	Part of historic workshop complex	previously mess room, Stores, Electrical workshop and locker room	General Repairs in hand	.	.	To be Den once again (mess room, locker room, staff amenities)
105	Oil Store	BL018	No	Stone walls, metal roof. Attached to 104	Listing Status probably as 104	Originally part of old Sawmill	Rebuilt, roof removed 2023, new roof 2024	.	.	.	Rebuilt in the form of old Sawmill, to accommodate staff amenities.
106	Former S&T Workshop behind Foundry	BL019	?	Modern (1970s?) flat roof, rendered walls	unlikely	unknown	unknown	unknown	unknown	unkown	unknown
107	Electricity Sub Station	BL020	Yes	Rendered blockwork walls, flat roof	Listing Status	Built 1974^[1]	Electricity substation	Extension to office built on top	-	-	-
107a	Compressor House	-	Yes	Description	Listing Status	History, Character and Significance	Compressor House	Current Condition	Urgent Repairs Required	Other Repairs Required	Wish List for Improvements
108	Gas Store	BL021	Yes	Description	Listing Status	History, Character and Significance	Gas store	Current Condition	Urgent Repairs Required	Other Repairs Required	Wish List for Improvements
109	No 1 Machine Shop, Works Office over	BL022	Yes	Solid stone walls, render, glass 'blocks', under a duo pitched slate roof. 2 storey.	Grade 2	High. See main article	Machine Shop, Office above	Current Condition	General Repairs Required	To be conserved	Wish List for Improvements
110	Old Erecting Shop	BL023	Yes	Stone walls, slate roof	Grade 2	high. See main article	Construction, maintenance and repair of rolling stock	Current Condition	Urgent Repairs Required	Other Repairs Required	Wish List for Improvements
111	New Erecting Shop	BL024	Yes	Atcost pretressed concrete building	Listing Status	Built 1973	Construction, maintenance and repair of rolling stock	Current Condition	Urgent Repairs Required	Other Repairs Required	To be replaced by larger building
112	Loco Shed	BL025	Yes	Steel frame, corrugated cladding (front), stone (rear)	Listing Status	Modern front, stone former carriage shed (rear)	Loco Shed	Cladding renewed 2019	Due for rebuild in current plans	none	General rebuilding
113	Brown MDX Carriage now removed	BL026	No	Removed
114	Carriage Works	BL027	Yes	Atcost prestressed concrete frame, corrugated cladding	not listed	Modern (1973-4)	Carriage Works	Good	-	-	-
115	Carriage Shed	BL028	Yes	Steel frame, corrugated cladding	not listed	Modern	Carriage Shed	Good	none	none	Extended 2019-21, 3 extra roads (20-22) not shown on plan
116	HLF Workshop (Roads 11,12 & 15 extension to Carriage Works)	BL029	Yes	Steel frame, corrugated cladding	not listed	Modern	Carriage Workshop	Good	None	not known	-
117 (not on plan)	Carriage Works Wood Store	BL030	yes	Removed 2022. This and the adjacent triangular space now roofed and have become part of the main Carriage Works building	not listed	Modern	Carriage workshop and store		-	-	-
117a	C2 Shed	-	Yes	Steel frame, corrugated cladding	not listed	Modern	Locomotive workshop	Good	-	-	-
not on plan	New Small Locomotive Shed	-	No	Steel frame, corrugated cladding	not listed	Modern, 2022-3	Loco shed and display area	under construction	-	-	Pit & foundations built 2022-3, cladding 2023, completed 2024
not on plan	Heritage Carriage Shed	-	Yes	Steel frame, corrugated cladding	not listed	Modern, 2016	Rolling stock storage	Good	-	-	Additional ventilation
118 (not on plan)	Crane	BL031	No	Cast iron, stone base	not known	Historic	Still in original position (2023)	Jib and other parts missing	-	-	-
N/A	Wall on Quarry edge	N/A	No	Dry stone wall	Not listed	Significant as this wall has been present since the early days of the railway.	N/A	-	Wall removed 2023 due to decay of the rock face	-	To be rebuilt at later date, fence ni place.

See also[edit]