Ffestiniog Travel was established in 1974. It is a sister company to the

Ffestiniog Railway The Ffestiniog Railway () is a heritage railway based on Narrow-gauge railway, narrow-gauge, located in Gwynedd, Wales. It is a major tourist attraction located mainly within the Snowdonia#Snowdonia National Park, Snowdonia National Park. The ...

(FR), both organisations being owned by the Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways Trust which is a

registered charity A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, Religion, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definitio ...

. Profits go to support the preservation of the FR and

Welsh Highland Railway The Welsh Highland Railway (WHR; ) is a restored Narrow-gauge railway, narrow-gauge heritage railway in the Welsh county of Gwynedd. It runs from Caernarfon to Porthmadog, and passes through a number of popular tourist destinations includi ...

(WHR).

History

Ffestiniog Travel's origins lie with the FR when its base at Harbour Station in

Porthmadog Porthmadog (), originally Portmadoc until 1972 and known locally as "Port", is a coastal town and community (Wales), community in the Eifionydd area of Gwynedd, Wales, and the historic counties of Wales, historic county of Caernarfonshire. It li ...

, North Wales, first became a train ticketing office for

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Comm ...

. The FR thus became more than just a

heritage railway A heritage railway or heritage railroad (U.S. usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) ...

, and also issued tickets for travel not only to other local railway stations but further afield. Ffestiniog Travel continues to provide a ticket only service today. In 1973, the FR was appointed by British Rail's Shipping and International Services Division to sell

Sealink Sealink was a ferry company based in Great Britain from 1970 to 1984, operating services to France, Belgium, the Netherlands, the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Wight and Ireland. Ports served by the company included: Dover, F ...

Ferries and Continental rail tickets. In order to meet BR's sales target, the FR decided to sell as many tickets as possible on the longest Sealink Ferries route which was

Harwich Harwich is a town in Essex, England, and one of the Haven ports on the North Sea coast. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the north-east, Ipswich to the north-west, Colchester to the south-west and Clacton-o ...

to the

Hook of Holland Hook of Holland (, ) is a coastal village in the southwestern corner of Holland, hence the name; ''hoek'' means "corner" and was in use before the word ''wikt:kaap#Dutch, kaap'' – "cape". The English translation using Hook is a false cognate of t ...

. To do this it devised a group holiday via the Hook of Holland to the narrow gauge railways of the

Swiss Alps The Alps, Alpine region of Switzerland, conventionally referred to as the Swiss Alps, represents a major natural feature of the country and is, along with the Swiss Plateau and the Swiss portion of the Jura Mountains, one of its three main Physica ...

for FR supporters. Hotel accommodation had to be arranged and onward rail journeys and a day-to-day itinerary established to ensure the tour included trips on the railway lines with Alpine scenery. This tour proved popular, with 68 bookings. And so, in October 1974, what was intended as a one-off tour to the Swiss Alps became the first of many rail holidays and Ffestiniog Travel was born.

Operations

A market was perceived for future tours and destinations.

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

followed in April 1975 and there was another tour to

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

in September. A milestone was passed in 1979 when the first long haul tour (to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

) was run. A new niche in independent rail travel was beginning to open up and in 1981 a small number of customers approached the company for tailor made arrangements. Ffestinog Travel was an integral part of the Commercial Department of the FR until 1992 when the decision was taken to make it a separate company, sister to the FR Company and wholly owned by the Festiniog & Welsh Highland Railways Trust. This was to give FT greater flexibility to develop its business beyond its traditional rail niche. The company is Ffestiniog Railway Holdings Ltd which trades as Ffestiniog Travel. Profits from FT's operations continued to be used solely to benefit the FR by being covenanted to the Trust and ploughed back to the railway in the form of capital grants. The total amount donated since 1993 amounts to £543k. This money has gone towards projects such as new carriages and renovation work at FR's Harbour Station. Today FT runs 30 escorted rail tours each year around the UK, Europe and worldwide as well as arranging bespoke tailor made rail holidays for hundreds of travellers every year. The company also undertakes a lot of contract work for other organisations who require help to arrange a number of Special Interest Tours. These organisations supply the expert tour leader to lead the itinerary and FT arranges transport and accommodation. FT's dedicated Ticket Only department also means the company is an authority on rail routes and rail operators around the world.

References

{{Tourism in the United Kingdom Travel and holiday companies of the United Kingdom Tourism in the United Kingdom Railtour operators of the United Kingdom