Duffws

Duffws
Duffws, 1968
Previous Station	Blaenau Ffestiniog
Status	Station Closed
Next Location	Rhiwbach Tramway
Next Station	None
Latitude	52:59:41.66N
Longitude	03:56:04.47W
Grid Reference	SH702459
Stations Locations	Harbour Station

NGR:SH702459 Lat / Long :52.99489 / -3.93466

Stamp - old company Parcels
Issue No.	old company Parcels
First Issued	unknown
Railway Letter Service

This entry refers to the Ffestiniog Railway station at Duffws. There was also a Festiniog and Blaenau Railway station Dolgarreg ddu, which was located near today's footcrossing in the car park.

The Duffws passenger station (referred to within the Wiki as 'FR Duffws') first opened in January 1866 and led a chequered existence until final closure in 1931. The building remains today as a council operated public convenience, across the main road from the Queen's Hotel. A slightly odd feature of the building is that it does not appear ever to have had any doors in the rear, only in the platform side. Passengers approaching from High Street would have had to cross all the sidings to get on to the (ground-level) platform.

There was a Refreshment Room on the opposite (North) side of the station which appears in the background of many early photos of locos at Duffws, but it was probably not a railway-owned facility as it was outside railway premises, being separated from the station by the running lines, the mineral lines, a fence, and a public road (Dolgareg-ddu). Later pictures show it as the shop of J. Jones, Tailor, and still later ones show it boarded up. It was demolished by 1968.

There was also a large goods shed, of which no trace now remains.

Over time there have been at least 3 different spellings of the name: - Diphwys, Dyffws, Duffws.

In 1872 the station staff were as follows:-

John S Fraser, Station Master

William Williams, Telegraph Clerk

Richard Jones, Porter

Rees Williams, Porter

John Roberts, Oilman

and in June 1920 they were:-

Henry Griffith Griffiths, Station Master (also of Blaenau Junction)

Ivor Price Jones, Clerk

John Roberts, Clerk

David Owen, Porter

R.Pugh, Oilman

W.E. Richards, Signalman

Owen Jones, Porter/signalman

Jonah Jones, Porter/signalman

Alongside the terminating lines in the station there were through mineral lines connecting to two inclines to the east, one of which serves Diphwys Casson and Votty And Bowydd quarries, and the other connected to Maenofferen Quarry and the Rhiwbach Tramway. See Quarries.

Since 1979 a small diesel loco (Hunslet 2207) and two wagons have been on display here - the display was refurbished and slightly relocated in 2012 as part of a major regeneration scheme for the town, which included alterations to the car park area and construction of slate-built decorative features as memorials to the slate industry.

Duffws in the 1880s, with Little Giant, Welsh Pony and Taliesin (FR archives).
Note the Ashbury carriage and quarrymen's carriages on the left while straight ahead between the locomotives is the storage shed used to stable quarrymen's carriages during the week

Welsh Pony at Duffws water tower, 1906. Note Ashbury four-wheelers behind.

Duffws in 1968. After the closure of Duffws passenger and goods station in 1931 the site was cleared of most of the track, and part of it became a car park. The tracks visible here were retained to connect to the quarry inclines, but were walled off from the rest of the site. Beyond the fence to the left of the mineral lines is the site of a building once a Refreshment Room and later a shop (J. Jones, Tailor), that appears in the background of many old photos of locos at this spot. This picture was taken from the Queens Bridge (which carried Church Road over the line) and in the 1950s a quarry-owned diesel shunter was stabled under the bridge.

Duffws in 2011. The quarry lines were removed in October 1968 and the wall has since been demolished and the car park extended. The fence to the left of the mineral lines has also gone. Queens Bridge has now been removed, so this was taken from ground level. Compare also with the 1880s picture above, the viewpoint is similar.

From the opposite direction the view looked like this. Further changes have been made since these last two pictures.

See also

• Stations