File:1972 Festiniog Calendar b Feb.jpg

Y Cambrian, Y Rhymni, Y Taff, Y Barri—atgofion pell a dogfennau llychlyd yw'r cwmniau rheilffyrdd Cymreig hyn yn awr. Ond mae'r hynaf ohonynt i gyd gyda ni o hyd—Lein Fach Ffestiniog, mam holl reilffyrdd culion y byd. Wedi blynyddoedd lawer o ddirywiad a chyfnod byr o segurdod llwyr, daeth gwaredigaeth yn 1954, a byth er hynny mae pethau'n gwella'n gyson.

The Cambrian, the Rhymney, the Taff Vale, the Barry . . . the Welsh railway companies are now nearly all distant memories and dusty files. But the oldest of them all is still with us—the Festiniog Railway, mother of the world's narrow-gauge lines. After many years of decline and a short period of closure, it was rescued in 1954 and has been on the mend ever since.

Blanche a'r tren yn mynd ar ei llwybr troellog am Borthmadog. Dyma'r Tro Mawr ac ymhen ychydig bydd y tren yn wynebu i'r cyfeiriad arall yn hollol. Adeiladwyd y lein fel hyn fel y ceid goriwaered cyson i wageni llechi redeg heb "injian”.

Cludo llechi oedd prif ffynhonnell elw i'r lein o ddydd ei hagor yn 1836 hyd 1940.

N. F. Gurley

Blanche and train head for Portmadoc by devious means: this is Whistling Curve and in a moment the train will be pointing directly away from its destination. The line was built thus to preserve a steady down gradient for slate trains running without locomotives, which remained the railway's chief money-earners from its opening in 1836 until 1940.