Sixties Festiniog
This article first appeared on the company website back in 2000/1, and reappears here with permission from the company, and John Dobson, the photographer. The photographs below were taken in the early 1960s by him, and show some scenes of the early restoration of the railway.
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Merddin Emrys, operational but not complete, seen here. The locomotive was currently undergoing restoration. Seen here at the end of the platform at Harbour Station - 1962
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The "Flying Flea" at Tan y Bwlch hauled by Taliesin. The locomotive is actually Livingston Thompson, which was renamed Taliesin in 1932 when the single Fairlie of that name was withdrawn. - early 1962. The loco was cosmetically restored in the 80s and is now on display in the National Railway Museum at York. The "Flying Flea" was a relief train run in the sixties when passenger numbers outstripped the capacity of the service trains.
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Moelwyn, Earl of Merioneth and Merddin Emrys at Harbour Station in 1962. The stone building on the right is the Britannia Foundry, since replaced by a modern building, offices for the Inland Revenue. - 1962
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Linda seen here with a coal train at Minffordd, the first train she hauled, the day after her arrival on the FR. She is seen in her original Penrhyn Quarry Railway form, without a tender. - 1962