John Sam Evans

One of the last survivors of the old company, John Sam Evans died in 2007.

He was born in 1916 and brought up in Blaenau. His idol was John Ivor Jones who drove Welsh Pony§. He taught John Sam the art of firing before he left school. When he left school at the age of 12 he became an FR parcels clerk paid 4/6d per week. Part of his duties was escorting passengers between the stations in Blaenau Ffestiniog. He rose to be a fireman.

§ This seems unlikely. See John Ivor Jones

When the "new", "new", Welsh Highland commenced operations from Caernarfon, "Sam" would often go along to watch the trains come and go, and pestered the management to build a proper station.