The Penrhyn Main Line class is a class of three

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with Minimum railw ...

steam locomotives A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

built for the

Penrhyn Quarry Railway The Penrhyn Quarry Railway was a narrow-gauge railway in Caernarfonshire (now Gwynedd), Wales. It served the Penrhyn quarry near Bethesda, Gwynedd, Bethesda, taking their slate produce to Port Penrhyn, near Bangor, Gwynedd, Bangor. The railway w ...

(PQR). These locomotives were built by the

Hunslet Engine Company The Hunslet Engine Company is a locomotive building company, founded in 1864 in Hunslet, England. It manufactured steam locomotives for over 100 years and currently manufactures Diesel engine, diesel Switcher, shunting locomotives. The company ...

between 1882 and 1893 and supplied specifically to work the railway that connected the Penrhyn Quarry near Bethesda in north

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

Port Penrhyn Port Penrhyn () is a harbour located just east of Bangor in north Wales at the confluence of the River Cegin with the Menai Strait. It was formerly of great importance as the main port for the export of slate Slate is a fine-grained, foli ...

on the

Menai Strait The Menai Strait () is a strait which separates the island of Anglesey from Gwynedd, on the mainland of Wales. It is situated between Caernarfon Bay in the south-west and Conwy Bay in the north-east, which are both inlets of the Irish Sea. The s ...

Penrhyn Quarry Railway

The original locomotives to work the "main line" of the PQR were a series of horizontal boilered

De Winton De Winton & Co (1854–1901) were engineers in Caernarfon, Wales. They built, amongst other things, vertical boilered narrow gauge locomotives for use in Welsh slate mines and other industrial settings. At least six De Winton locomotives have ...

locomotives delivered in 1879. These proved inadequate for the task of moving substantial quantities of slate over the railway and in 1882 a more conventional locomotive was ordered from Hunslet to work the railway. This was the first of the "Main Line class" locomotives ''Charles''. Charles was joined in 1893 by two more locomotives to the same design but slightly enlarged, which were named ''Linda'' and ''Blanche''. These were the sole locomotives built to this design.

Preservation

All three locomotives were preserved after the closure of the PQR. ''Charles'' was donated to the

Penrhyn Castle Railway Museum The Penrhyn Castle Railway Museum () is a museum of industrial railway equipment, located at Penrhyn Castle near Bangor, Wales, Bangor in Wales. In the nineteenth century, Penrhyn Castle was the home of the Pennant family (from 1840, the Dougl ...

. ''Linda'' was loaned to the nearby

Ffestiniog Railway The Ffestiniog Railway () is a heritage railway based on Narrow-gauge railway, narrow-gauge, located in Gwynedd, Wales. It is a major tourist attraction located mainly within the Snowdonia#Snowdonia National Park, Snowdonia National Park. The ...

in July 1962. For the 1963 season the locomotive was regauged to the Ffestiniog's and purchased, along with ''Blanche'' at the end of the year. Both have since received extensive modifications including tenders,

pony truck A Bissell or Bissel truck (also Bissel bogie or pony truck) is a single-axle bogie which pivots towards the centre of a steam locomotive to enable it to negotiate curves more easily. Invented in 1857 by and usually then known as a ''pony truck'' ...

s and

superheater A superheater is a device used to convert saturated steam or wet steam into superheated steam or dry steam. Superheated steam is used in steam turbines for electricity generation, in some steam engines, and in processes such as steam reforming. ...

Technical specification

The following technical specification are for the locomotives as delivered from Hunslet and are from unless otherwise stated: File:Charles at Penrhyn Castle (geograph 4537381).jpg, ''Charles'' at Penrhyn Castle File:FR Blanche at TYG 05-08-12 11.jpeg, ''Blanche'' running on the Ffestiniog Railway as a 2-4-0 with tender

References

{{reflist 0-4-0ST locomotives 2-4-0 locomotives Hunslet narrow-gauge locomotives Preserved narrow-gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain Narrow-gauge locomotives of the United Kingdom Railway locomotives introduced in 1882 Industrial locomotives of Great Britain

Penrhyn Quarry Railway

Preservation

Technical specification

See also

References