Ffestiniog Railway slate

The Ffestiniog Railway was built to transport freshly quarried slate from Blaenau Ffestiniog, then a remote and mountainous part of Wales utterly devoid of any transport infrastructure, to the port of Porthmadog from where it was shipped around the world.

Completed in 1836, it transformed the industry allowing it to compete on a global level thanks to the high quality of Welsh slate. 

The Welsh slate mining industry is now a shadow of its former self. The quality is as high as ever, but cheap slate from abroad means that it is too expensive for most people to use as a building material. 

So the steam train hauls tourists now along the 13-mile track; and standing at the entrance to Blaenau Ffestiniog station are intricately constructed pillars of local slate, reminding us of the material that sustained - and frequently took - life in this bleak part of Wales.