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Colour of the Ffestiniog by John Stretton Railways in Focus 3 Soft Cover
Colour of the Ffestiniog by John Stretton Railways in Focus 3
Soft Cover
60 pages
Copyright 2001
CONTENTS
Porthmadog Harbour Station
Tan-Y-Bwlch
The 1970s
Pen Cob
Penrhyn Crossing
Harbour Station
DDuallt
The Deviationists
Tan-Y-Grisiau
The 1980s
Onwards to Blaenau
Blaenau Ffestiniog
Destination Blaenau
The Mountain Prince
The 1990s
Boston Lodge Halt
Tan-Y-Bwlch
Porthmadog Arrival
The Magnificence of the Moelwyns
Au Revoir Ffestiniog
INTRODUCTION
The Ffestiniog Railway abounds in superb photographic opportunities and throughout its near-fifty years of resurrected life, there have been thousands - if not millions!?! - of pictures taken. The earliest days saw predominantly b&w, but colour has become ever more popular, with greater latitudes in emulsions and immensely enhanced quality since the mid-Fifties. Both b&w and colour have their own unique characteristics and there are points where one most definitely scores over the other, but what colour slides or prints do have, of course, is....colour! Where liveries are concerned, this can be a vital ingredient; there have been many historians, figuratively tearing their hair out, trying to guess at the possible colour combinations of a past view with only a b&w image to help them. In this book I have attempted to show just some of the examples and changes of livery and basic colour ideas on the railway, but, in addition, my emphasis has been on the 'visual treat' and what makes the FR so special.
There is much more to the railway than mere colour. There are a myriad of things that perhaps do not reach the public eye or ear, but which have profound influence on the shape and fortunes of the railway. As well as attempting to present aesthetic images - pretty pictures! - I have also tried to include other facets of the railway's day-to-day life. Hence, there are views of volunteers, stock awaiting attention, accidents, 'behind-the-scenes' developments, special events and, of course, the service trains.
As the story unfolds, with the book progressing chronologically from the early days of restoration through to the end of the century, it will be seen that an appreciation of colour developed, along with the urge to provide the travelling public with as fulfilling as possible an experience. From the relatively utilitarian all-over green, to the 'day-glo' Funkey Vale of Ffestiniog, the FR has mirrored society's move away from the immediate postwar years to the multi-coloured, multi-faceted, multi-disciplined era that ended the twentieth century. The railway has never been slow to identify and react to changes in our society's habits and their resultant demands. As a leisure industry, this has been essential for survival. Gone are the heady days of young volunteers 'playing trains', succeeding against all odds. Today, the railway is nothing if not professional, but it still retains a place for the amateur and an appreciation of enthusiasm and commitment.
Selecting the images found in this book has been incredibly difficult. We all have our favourite locomotive, colour, location, etc. There have been a vast number of photographs, both slide and print, that truly have deserved a place, but have been squeezed out through a lack of space coupled to a desire to show a number of differing facets, rather than a collection of chocolate box images. So, whittling down from around 1000 originals has been a nightmare, but one born of an embarrassment of riches.
There has been no attempt to present anything approaching a history of the railway - that has been done in other places and, no doubt, will be done again - but relevant data and comment has been included with the factual in compiling the captions. I hope the reader will find much to enjoy within these pages and some views that will particularly satisfy. I also hope and trust they will forgive any perceived omissions and accept my indulgences. The images are all appropriately credited to the sometimes farsighted photographers, with those shown as MJS being my own.
M JOHN STRETTON January 2001
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