The train business is effectively known as the "Festiniog Railway Provider" and this anglicised current spelling is the official name of the business as determined by the Action (2 William IV cap. xlviii) that developed the railway.

It is the oldest surviving railway company in the globe (although certainly not the oldest working - a record which visits the Middleton Railway), having definitely been founded by the Action of Parliament on 23 Could 1832 by having capital mainly raised in Dublin by Holly Archer, the company's very first executive secretary and regulating director.

A lot of British railways were amalgamated into 4 huge parties in 1921 and into British Railways in 1948 yet the Festiniog Railway Business, in typical by having a lot of slim gauge trains, continued to be independent. In 1921, this was due to political impact whereas, in 1947, it was overlooked of British Railways since it was closed for traffic regardless of brisk local lobbying for it to be included.