Welcome to our 7mm/ft scale depiction of ‘Rhiw Goch’ .… a passing loop on the fabulous Ffestiniog Railway in the top left hand corner of Wales, a line which runs from its lower terminus at Porthmadog harbour to the historic slate mining town of Blaenau Ffestiniog in the heart of Snowdonia. Rhiw Goch is located between FR stations Penrhyn and Tan-y-Bwlch on the lower half of the line. Originally the site of stables when the line was horse drawn prior to the introduction of steam traction in the 1860’s, Rhiw Goch is now the location of the only regularly manned signal box away from the harbour station. As long-time members and regular visitors to the line, our aim when planning this small layout was to capture the spirit of an actual FR location, able to support prototypical operations in the limited space available to us. The locomotives and rolling stock which feature on this layout are all models of the actual FR fleet as they appear either in current times or liveries harping back to the last decade or more.

Work started on the layout in 2019 and progress continues to what we see today. It seems to have generated some interest from those who have seen it at the various exhibitions it has attended, and we are extremely grateful for all the kind comments we have received.

We must also thank some exceptionally supportive friends, who will know who they are, for their very significant assistance and guidance throughout our journey here.

Below is a map of the railway with an arrow pointing to our location the model is based upon. The layout might not be big, but it does pack a lot into such a small footprint.