 Lent £3,000 by his father, he obtained control in June 1954, and was appointed the company's Chairman.Preserved trains first ran over a short section in 1954, but after a diversion to avoid the new Ffestiniog Power Station reservoir, the line was fully reopened to passengers in 1982.A few years later it was carrying 200,000 passengers, the second largest Welsh tourist attraction after Caernarvon Castle.