Ffestiniog awarded £3.1 million grant
BOSTON LODGE, the world’s oldest continuously used railway workshop, is to benefit from a £3.1 million grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
The £3,144,000 grant, awarded to the Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways, will fund the restoration and conservation of Boston Lodge Works and boost the railways’ plan to attract 250,000 visitors annually by providing a high-quality tourism experience, as well as funding work, training and volunteering opportunities for the community of Porthmadog. F&WHR supporters will be providing an additional £900,000 in match funding for the three-and-a-half-year project.
The news comes after the Ffestiniog Railway – along with the Talyllyn Railway – was awarded UNESCO World Heritage status in July when the slate landscape of North Wales was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site (SR522).
F&WHR general manager Paul Lewin said: “We are a Welsh railway and our history has been intertwined for 200 years with the local community.
We want to build on those existing links so that the local community can have pride in and be involved in the heritage of the Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways and Boston Lodge.
“Our railway has survived by adapting and embracing technology, and thanks to this investment from The National Lottery Heritage Fund we will do that again now to make sure that we offer a high-quality tourism experience that brings real benefit to the North Wales economy.”
Andrew White, director of NLHF in Wales added: “This £3.1m investment will allow the Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways to provide work and training opportunities for the local community and boost the economy of north-west Wales by bringing an additional 50,000 visitors to the area every year.
“As well as the many economic and employment benefits, this project is a great example of how heritage can help us understand who we are and where we come from, and how the communities we are part of have been shaped by the past by bringing history to life.”