The Ffestiniog Railway has a wide selection of
carriages, from Victorian heritage right up to modern
'corridor' stock. The following is a quick run-down of
the different types and a little about their background.
Bug Boxes
These are a collection of
five small 4-wheel carriages, the earliest carriages on
the railway, dating from as far back as 1864. The use of
the term 'bug box' is thought to have started in the
1950s, copying a term used for old 4 and 6-wheelers on
the North Eastern Railway.
15 & 16 - the first
revenue-earning bogie coaches in the British Isles, and
now the oldest in existence
Built in 1872, these
virtually identical bogie coaches have both been
expertly restored and are in regular passenger service.
Carriage 16 carries a 1930's green appearance, a
contrast with the highly ornate livery of No.15, which
with the help of Heritage Lottery Funding, was recently
restored to its Victorian splendour, with fabulous hand
lining and gold leaf paint!
Other early bogie
carriages
Van 2, a Brown Marshall
bogie van of 1873, rebodied in 1920-1 and restored in
1991. It now sports a 1920's Colonel Stephens livery.
Van 4, initially built in
1880, converted to an observation carriage in 1957/8 and
now runs in the green and ivory livery carried in the
1950's and early 1960's.
Van 5, also built in 1880,
converted in 1963 to be slightly longer than its
'sister' van 4 and now also runs in the green and ivory
livery carried in the 1950s and early 1960s.
An ex-Lynton and
Barnstaple Railway saloon
Built in 1897 in Bristol
for the Lynton & Barnstaple (L&B) Railway in Devon as a
3rd class passenger brake. The L&B closed in 1935, but
the coach survived in private use at Snapper Halt. In
1959 it was purchased and completely rebuilt as Buffet
Car number 14, entering service in 1963. Coach 14
currently carries a variation of the FR standard
maroon/cream livery and sports an on-board bar!
'Bowsiders'
These four bogie coaches
(Nos.17-20) are known as 'bowsiders' due to the shape of
their sides and were built between 1876 and 1879. No.17
runs in the 1950s/60s green and ivory livery, No.18 in a
Victorian 'cream and blackberry', No.19 has recently
been overhauled and also carries the 'cream and
blackberry' livery, and No.20 carries the 1920s "Colonel
Stephens" livery.
Other Heritage vehicles
include No. 22, built in 1896, but significantly altered
in 1967 and 1984 and No.26, rebodied in 1986, bearing
little resemblance to its 1894 initial build.
Open coaches
A set of three open
coaches currently operate on the FR, added to service
trains in good weather. Two of these were built in 1971
at Boston Lodge with No. 37 sporting the standard livery
of maroon and cream and No. 38 a green and ivory livery.
The third is a replica 'Hudson toastrack' vehicle,
completed in 1992 and in a green livery.
Modern corridor coaches
Coaches 100-107 are
affectionately known as 'Barns' as they share a similar
roof profile to coach 14, ex Lynton and Barnstaple
Railway. No. 102 is a first-class observation saloon and
has now been joined by a newly-built No.100 (the old
No.100 becoming a mess coach for WHR rebuilding work).
103 is a buffet car and 105 was recently refitted with a
toilet compartment.
The second type of modern
corridor stock on the FR is the 'push-pull' set, named
as it allows a locomotive to be driven remotely from the
end of the train, avoiding the need for the locomotive
to run around the train when wishing to turn back. There
are 6 such coaches on the FR at the moment, with No.111
having the remote cab.
No. 116 has a prototype
aluminium coach body and is unique in that regard and
was the first FR passenger coach to be fitted with
inward opening doors which became standard for all
newly-constructed coaches.
Completing our current set
are 5 coaches built in the late 1970's and early 1980's
on underframes purchased from the Isle of Man Railway (IoMR)
and a further coach, No. 124, also on an IoMR chassis,
but recently significantly rebuilt as a service coach
and soon to enter service.
First class travel
You can travel in luxury
in our first class Observation Carriages (Nos. 111 or
102) - or the First Class compartments in many of our
other carriages - for an additional charge of only £4.00
single or £8.00 return per person. (Concession £3.60
single or £7.20 return)
Oh, and the railway also
has a 'flying bench' and a 'boat' on rails, but that's
another story!
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