FR E-Group
The FR E-Group is an email group titled 'festiniograilway' which was founded in 2000, which is currently hosted on groups.io. In its early years, messages per month occasionally exceeded 700; however, numbers declined over the years as many members moved over to the "Friends of the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railways" Facebook group. In later years, messages per month rarely exceed 20, and there were often less than 5, mainly messages about the meetings of the various area groups. Nonetheless, it remains an important archive of the first decade of the 21st century.
Group description[edit]
This group is for supporters of the Ffestiniog Railway running from Porthmadog to Blaenau Ffestiniog, North Wales. The group is quite active with over 500 members. Many are active volunteers but don't let that put you off joining, we are very interested in the views of all supporters of the railway. If you are shy, join and see how the discussion develops before posting any emails yourself.
NOTE: Membership is restricted to members of the Ffestiniog Railway Society and other persons known to them. You will have to prove your credentials before your membership will be approved Verification and approval might take a day or two, longer at times. If you have any queries about joining, email the group owner and moderator, Jim Hewett, (festiniograilway+owner@groups.io) who will advise you what to do. Clearly mark any such mail as "festiniograilway" or it might get deleted as junk mail.
This is an unofficial discussion group and is not promoted by any official part of the Ffestiniog Railway.
Source: The FR e-group home page
Where the wiki makes use of quotes from the group, a link to the original is provided - usually in the form FR E-group posting xxxxx where xxxxx is the relevant message number. If you are a member of that e-group, then you will be taken to the relevant message.
Please note Usage, on this wiki, of quoted material should only be made by the person making the statement in the first instance, or by the person using it, gaining that persons permission, beforehand
Future[edit]
In October 2019, the future of the group came into question when the host, Yahoo Groups, announced that it would be removing the hosting of files and messages (essentially downgrading the service to an email distribution list). In the context of a gradual reduction of Yahoo Group functionality, it seemed that the group would be lost, along with its archive. Despite the low levels of activity, the group remains an important archive for the railway for the first decade of the 21st century. Peter Harrison successfully raised enough funds to transfer the group to the new host "groups.io" in November 2019.
FRS Announce[edit]
There was also a "broadcast" group specifically for "Official announcements notices of the Ffestiniog Railway Society from the Board Area/Functional Groups", called "frsannounce". Founded in 2002, it became less active over the years, with only 3 posts in 2018 and no further messages after that. It is expected to be permanently deleted as part of the Yahoo Group changes in December 2019.