Boston Lodge
Encyclopedia
This article is about the locomotive works. For the station see Boston Lodge Halt.
Boston Lodge is situated at Penrhyn Isa, Minffordd
, Penrhyndeudraeth
, on the A487 road
about 1 mile SE across the Afon Glaslyn
causeway
from Porthmadog
, Gwynedd
in north-west Wales
.
It has a station on the Ffestiniog Railway
and is the location of the railway's main engineering workshops, locomotive
shed and carriage
works. The Boston Lodge address and postcode is shared by the works with four cottage
dwellings (mostly occupied in connection with the railway) and with the former tollgate
cottage at the end of the causeway. The original 'Penrhyn Isa' cottage (now the railway works office) was renamed 'Boston Lodge' after Boston, Lincolnshire
, the parliamentary seat of William Madocks
, the proprietor of the land reclamation
venture.
land reclamation scheme, was 24 feet (7.3 m) wide at the top (where the railway now runs), 180 feet (54.9 m) wide at the base, 21 feet (6.4 m) deep and about 1 miles (1.6 km) in length. The quarrying created both the Britannia Terrace site at Porthmadog and the railway workshops site at Boston Lodge.
The site at Boston Lodge first held barracks for many of the 150 men working from the Merioneth side on the embankment construction, together with stables and smithies
for the horses and wagons used to carry the stone. Later with the coming of the horsedrawn Festiniog Railway, the stables and smithies were brought back into use from 1836 onwards and there has been almost continuous development of the site for railway purposes since that time.
and non-ferrous foundries, a pattern
making shop, a blacksmith
's shop, a carpenter
's shop, and an engine house in which a steam engine
provided power for machinery in a sawmill
, pattern shop and machine shops. In the 1870s further construction provided a paint shop, joiner's shop and erecting shop in which in 1879 and 1885 the double Fairlie
engines Merddin Emrys and Livingston Thompson were built. Prior to 1915 the works employed about 30 men. During World War I
most of the works was used as a munitions factory (largely staffed by women) from 17 September 1915 until early in 1919. The fortunes of the railway and its works declined from the mid 1920's with total closure from March 1947 to September 1954.
The works reopened on 20 September 1954, since when many of the original buildings have been extensively repaired and their usage altered. Machinery has been updated and modern materials and techniques have been introduced. Additional workshops have been built as well as new locomotive servicing facilities and carriage storage depots. The works undertakes the restoration and preservation of the railway’s historic locomotives, carriages, wagons and features of all descriptions. It also builds new steam locomotives and passenger carriages, and undertakes the ongoing maintenance of the Ffestiniog Railway's expanding fleet of railway vehicles.
In 1977, Boston lodge works undertook the design and installation of oil-firing equipment on the British Railways locomotive "Owain Glyndwr" on the Vale of Rheidol Railway
. This was probably the first of numerous outside contracts that the works has undertaken over the years. These outside contracts have included restoration work on steam engines and the complete construction of various replica narrow-gauge passenger coaches.
In December 1998, a £375,000 Heritage Lottery Fund Grant was awarded to the FR Trust and this provided, amongst other things, for the construction of an extension to the carriage workshop at Boston Lodge to form a ‘Heritage Centre’ that would be a permanent home for the restoration of historic vehicles in a secure environment. Restoration to a very high standard has included most of the surviving Ffestiniog Railway Victorian era passenger coaches and a carefully selected rake of about 50 slate wagons representing most of the variant types characteristic of the local slate operations.
From 1993 onwards Boston Lodge works has undertaken extensive locomotive restoration work for the Ffestiniog Railway owned Welsh Highland Railway
(Caernarfon
). Recently the works is undertaking the construction of new passenger carriages for service between Caernarfon and Porthmadog.
In the aerial photograph at right, at the end of the embankment (this end being called locally 'Pen Cob') is the junction into the railway works yard. To the forefront of the works site is the large white building that is Nos: 1 and 2 Boston Lodge Cottages. Next to which, on the right, is the original 'Penrhyn Isa Cottage/Boston Lodge' now the works offices. All the rest in that area is railway works and storage buildings.
Below the railway is the A487 road and in front of that is the 1836 tollgate cottage. Prior to the coming of the Ffestiniog Railway, the road was on the top of the embankment, but in 1836 the present carriageway was constructed on the landward side at the lower level. This lower road was less than 18 feet (5.5 m) wide and quite narrow for a major road. In 2002 it was widened to over 22 feet (6.7 m) with, in addition, a separate cycleway and footpath on the landward side.
Trust", which continued to levy the same toll and distributed its profits to local charities. At 3:00pm on Saturday 29 March 2003, the tollgate and its cottage having been bought from the Rebecca Trustees by the Welsh Assembly Government
, the toll (still just five pence per day) ceased to be levied.
Minffordd
Minffordd is a village within the Welsh county of Gwynedd. It is situated on the A487 road between Porthmadog and Penrhyndeudraeth....
, Penrhyndeudraeth
Penrhyndeudraeth
Penrhyndeudraeth is a village and community in the Welsh county of Gwynedd. It is located between Traeth Mawr , the now largely reclaimed estuary of the Afon Glaslyn, and Traeth Bach , the estuary of the Afon Dwyryd. The village is close to the mouth of the Afon Dwyryd on the A487 from...
, on the A487 road
A487 road
The A487 is a trunk road in Wales, running up the western side of the country from Haverfordwest in the south to Bangor in the north.It starts at Merlin's Bridge near Haverfordwest, from where it travels north west to St David's, then switches back north east through Fishguard, Cardigan, Aberaeron,...
about 1 mile SE across the Afon Glaslyn
River Glaslyn
The Afon Glaslyn is a river in Gwynedd, north-west Wales. Whilst not of great significance in terms of its length , it is one of Gwynedd's primary rivers, and has greatly influenced the landscape in which it flows....
causeway
Causeway
In modern usage, a causeway is a road or railway elevated, usually across a broad body of water or wetland.- Etymology :When first used, the word appeared in a form such as “causey way” making clear its derivation from the earlier form “causey”. This word seems to have come from the same source by...
from Porthmadog
Porthmadog
Porthmadog , known locally as "Port", and historically rendered into English as Portmadoc, is a small coastal town and community in the Eifionydd area of Gwynedd, in Wales. Prior to the Local Government Act 1972 it was in the administrative county of Caernarfonshire. The town lies east of...
, Gwynedd
Gwynedd
Gwynedd is a county in north-west Wales, named after the old Kingdom of Gwynedd. Although the second biggest in terms of geographical area, it is also one of the most sparsely populated...
in north-west Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
.
It has a station on the Ffestiniog Railway
Ffestiniog Railway
The Ffestiniog Railway is a narrow gauge heritage railway, located in Gwynedd, Wales. It is a major tourist attraction located mainly within the Snowdonia National Park....
and is the location of the railway's main engineering workshops, locomotive
Locomotive
A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...
shed and carriage
Carriage
A carriage is a wheeled vehicle for people, usually horse-drawn; litters and sedan chairs are excluded, since they are wheelless vehicles. The carriage is especially designed for private passenger use and for comfort or elegance, though some are also used to transport goods. It may be light,...
works. The Boston Lodge address and postcode is shared by the works with four cottage
Cottage
__toc__In modern usage, a cottage is usually a modest, often cozy dwelling, typically in a rural or semi-rural location. However there are cottage-style dwellings in cities, and in places such as Canada the term exists with no connotations of size at all...
dwellings (mostly occupied in connection with the railway) and with the former tollgate
Toll bridge
A toll bridge is a bridge over which traffic may pass upon payment of a toll, or fee.- History :The practice of collecting tolls on bridges probably harks back to the days of ferry crossings where people paid a fee to be ferried across stretches of water. As boats became impractical to carry large...
cottage at the end of the causeway. The original 'Penrhyn Isa' cottage (now the railway works office) was renamed 'Boston Lodge' after Boston, Lincolnshire
Boston, Lincolnshire
Boston is a town and small port in Lincolnshire, on the east coast of England. It is the largest town of the wider Borough of Boston local government district and had a total population of 55,750 at the 2001 census...
, the parliamentary seat of William Madocks
William Madocks
William Alexander Madocks was a landowner and Member of Parliament for the town of Boston in Lincolnshire from 1802 to 1820, and then for Chippenham in Wiltshire from 1820 to 1826...
, the proprietor of the land reclamation
Land reclamation
Land reclamation, usually known as reclamation, is the process to create new land from sea or riverbeds. The land reclaimed is known as reclamation ground or landfill.- Habitation :...
venture.
Early history
Construction of the causeway, known locally as ‘The Cob’, linking Penrhyn Isa on the Merioneth shore with the small rocky island called Ynys Towyn (where Britannia Terrace now stands in Porthmadog) near the Caernarfonshire shore, started in 1807 and was completed in 1811 during which time large quantities of stone was quarried and extracted from both ends. The embankment, which was the final stage of the Traeth MawrTraeth Mawr
The Traeth Mawr is a polder near Porthmadog in Gwynedd in Wales. It was formerly the tidal estuary of the Afon Glaslyn, and many travellers sank in its quicksands trying to cross it. Much of it is between high mountains...
land reclamation scheme, was 24 feet (7.3 m) wide at the top (where the railway now runs), 180 feet (54.9 m) wide at the base, 21 feet (6.4 m) deep and about 1 miles (1.6 km) in length. The quarrying created both the Britannia Terrace site at Porthmadog and the railway workshops site at Boston Lodge.
The site at Boston Lodge first held barracks for many of the 150 men working from the Merioneth side on the embankment construction, together with stables and smithies
Forge
A forge is a hearth used for forging. The term "forge" can also refer to the workplace of a smith or a blacksmith, although the term smithy is then more commonly used.The basic smithy contains a forge, also known as a hearth, for heating metals...
for the horses and wagons used to carry the stone. Later with the coming of the horsedrawn Festiniog Railway, the stables and smithies were brought back into use from 1836 onwards and there has been almost continuous development of the site for railway purposes since that time.
Festiniog Railway
In the years from 1847 to 1851 the Works was considerably developed by the construction of ferrousFerrous
Ferrous , in chemistry, indicates a divalent iron compound , as opposed to ferric, which indicates a trivalent iron compound ....
and non-ferrous foundries, a pattern
Pattern
A pattern, from the French patron, is a type of theme of recurring events or objects, sometimes referred to as elements of a set of objects.These elements repeat in a predictable manner...
making shop, a blacksmith
Blacksmith
A blacksmith is a person who creates objects from wrought iron or steel by forging the metal; that is, by using tools to hammer, bend, and cut...
's shop, a carpenter
Carpenter
A carpenter is a skilled craftsperson who works with timber to construct, install and maintain buildings, furniture, and other objects. The work, known as carpentry, may involve manual labor and work outdoors....
's shop, and an engine house in which a steam engine
Steam engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be...
provided power for machinery in a sawmill
Sawmill
A sawmill is a facility where logs are cut into boards.-Sawmill process:A sawmill's basic operation is much like those of hundreds of years ago; a log enters on one end and dimensional lumber exits on the other end....
, pattern shop and machine shops. In the 1870s further construction provided a paint shop, joiner's shop and erecting shop in which in 1879 and 1885 the double Fairlie
Fairlie
A Fairlie is a type of articulated steam locomotive that has the driving wheels on bogies. The locomotive may be double-ended or single ended...
engines Merddin Emrys and Livingston Thompson were built. Prior to 1915 the works employed about 30 men. During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
most of the works was used as a munitions factory (largely staffed by women) from 17 September 1915 until early in 1919. The fortunes of the railway and its works declined from the mid 1920's with total closure from March 1947 to September 1954.
Preservation era
In 1977, Boston lodge works undertook the design and installation of oil-firing equipment on the British Railways locomotive "Owain Glyndwr" on the Vale of Rheidol Railway
Vale of Rheidol Railway
The Vale of Rheidol Railway is a narrow-gauge gauge heritage railway that runs for between Aberystwyth and Devil's Bridge in the county of Ceredigion, Wales...
. This was probably the first of numerous outside contracts that the works has undertaken over the years. These outside contracts have included restoration work on steam engines and the complete construction of various replica narrow-gauge passenger coaches.
In December 1998, a £375,000 Heritage Lottery Fund Grant was awarded to the FR Trust and this provided, amongst other things, for the construction of an extension to the carriage workshop at Boston Lodge to form a ‘Heritage Centre’ that would be a permanent home for the restoration of historic vehicles in a secure environment. Restoration to a very high standard has included most of the surviving Ffestiniog Railway Victorian era passenger coaches and a carefully selected rake of about 50 slate wagons representing most of the variant types characteristic of the local slate operations.
From 1993 onwards Boston Lodge works has undertaken extensive locomotive restoration work for the Ffestiniog Railway owned Welsh Highland Railway
Welsh Highland Railway
The Welsh Highland Railway is a long restored narrow gauge heritage railway in North Wales, operating from Caernarfon to Porthmadog, and passing through a number of popular tourist destinations including Beddgelert and the Aberglaslyn Pass. At Porthmadog it connects with the Ffestiniog Railway...
(Caernarfon
Caernarfon
Caernarfon is a Royal town, community and port in Gwynedd, Wales, with a population of 9,611. It lies along the A487 road, on the east banks of the Menai Straits, opposite the Isle of Anglesey. The city of Bangor is to the northeast, while Snowdonia fringes Caernarfon to the east and southeast...
). Recently the works is undertaking the construction of new passenger carriages for service between Caernarfon and Porthmadog.
Works layout
Below the railway is the A487 road and in front of that is the 1836 tollgate cottage. Prior to the coming of the Ffestiniog Railway, the road was on the top of the embankment, but in 1836 the present carriageway was constructed on the landward side at the lower level. This lower road was less than 18 feet (5.5 m) wide and quite narrow for a major road. In 2002 it was widened to over 22 feet (6.7 m) with, in addition, a separate cycleway and footpath on the landward side.
Toll road
From its construction in 1811, a toll was levied on users of the embankment. Subsequent to the construction of the Ffestiniog Railway, a new toll road and toll house was built on the landward side adjacent to the embankment but at a lower level. For motor cars, for many years, the toll was a modest one shilling per day (regardless of how many times the vehicle used the road). After the introduction of decimal currency in 1971 the toll became five pence. In the late 1970s the ownership of the tollgate and its cottage was acquired by a specially established local charitable trust called "The RebeccaRebecca Riots
The Rebecca Riots took place between 1839 and 1843 in South and Mid Wales. They were a series of protests undertaken by local farmers and agricultural workers in response to perceived unfair taxation. The rioters, often men dressed as women, took their actions against toll-gates, as they were...
Trust", which continued to levy the same toll and distributed its profits to local charities. At 3:00pm on Saturday 29 March 2003, the tollgate and its cottage having been bought from the Rebecca Trustees by the Welsh Assembly Government
Welsh Assembly Government
The Welsh Government is the devolved government of Wales. It is accountable to the National Assembly for Wales, the legislature which represents the interests of the people of Wales and makes laws for Wales...
, the toll (still just five pence per day) ceased to be levied.
Locomotives
A number of locomotives have been built for the Ffestiniog Railway at Boston Lodge works| Number | Name | Image | Wheel arrangement | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | Merddin Emrys |  |
0-4-0+0-4-0T | 1879 | In service. The oldest operating Double Fairlie Fairlie A Fairlie is a type of articulated steam locomotive that has the driving wheels on bogies. The locomotive may be double-ended or single ended... on the railway. Named after the 6th century Welsh poet Myrddin Emrys. Received new Hunslet Boiler in early 1970s; converted to oil burning in 1972/73; major restoration and rebuild 1986/7; reverted to coal firing during the winter 2006/07. |
| 11 | Livingston Thompson |  |
0-4-0+0-4-0T | 1886 | Withdrawn and restored as a static display at the National Railway Museum National Railway Museum The National Railway Museum is a museum in York forming part of the British National Museum of Science and Industry and telling the story of rail transport in Britain and its impact on society. It has won many awards, including the European Museum of the Year Award in 2001... in York York York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence... . |
| - | Earl of Merioneth Earl of Merioneth The title Earl of Merioneth was created in the Peerage of the United Kingdom in 1947 along with the Dukedom of Edinburgh and the Barony of Greenwich for Sir Philip Mountbatten , the soon-to-be-husband of Queen Elizabeth II.... |
 |
0-4-0+0-4-0T | 1979 | In service. The first Double Fairlie Fairlie A Fairlie is a type of articulated steam locomotive that has the driving wheels on bogies. The locomotive may be double-ended or single ended... built by the restored Ffestiniog Railway. Construction started in 1972 following delivery of the boiler. Designed for coal burning, oil tanks and oil burning equipment were fitted in 1978 before the boiler was first steamed. Converted to coal firing in 2007. |
| 12 | David Lloyd George David Lloyd George David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor OM, PC was a British Liberal politician and statesman... |
 |
0-4-0+0-4-0T | 1992 | In service. The most recent Double Fairlie Fairlie A Fairlie is a type of articulated steam locomotive that has the driving wheels on bogies. The locomotive may be double-ended or single ended... in the world. |
| 9 | Taliesin |  |
0-4-4T | 1999 | In service. The railway's only Single Fairlie Fairlie A Fairlie is a type of articulated steam locomotive that has the driving wheels on bogies. The locomotive may be double-ended or single ended... . The original 1876 locomotive was severely damaged after colliding into Welsh Pony and scrapped in the 1935 and a replica built in 1999 using a few parts from the original. Named after the 6th century Welsh poet Taliesin Taliesin Taliesin was an early British poet of the post-Roman period whose work has possibly survived in a Middle Welsh manuscript, the Book of Taliesin... . |
| 14 | Lyd Lyd (locomotive) Lyd is a steam locomotive built by the Ffestiniog Railway in their Boston Lodge shops and took 15 years to build.Lyd is based on the design of the Lynton & Barnstaple Locomotive E188 Lew which was built by Manning Wardle in 1925 for the Southern Railway, who owned the former independent line at the... |
2-6-2T | 2010 | Replica of a Manning Wardle Manning Wardle Manning Wardle was a steam locomotive manufacturer based in Hunslet, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.- Precursor companies :The city of Leeds was one of the earliest centres of locomotive building; Matthew Murray built the first commercially successful steam locomotive, Salamanca, in Holbeck, Leeds,... locomotive of the Lynton and Barnstaple Railway Lynton and Barnstaple Railway The Lynton & Barnstaple Railway opened as an independent railway in May 1898. It was a single track narrow gauge railway slightly over long running through the rugged and picturesque area bordering Exmoor in North Devon, England. Although opened after the 1896 Light Railways Act came into force,... . |