The Penrhyn Main Line class was a class of three

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller struc ...

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 locomo ...

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, taking their slate produce to Port Penrhyn, near Bangor. The railway was around long and used a gauge ...

(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 shunting locomotives. The company is part of Ed Murray ...

between 1882 and 1893 and supplied specifically to work the railway that connected the

Penrhyn Quarry The Penrhyn quarry is a slate quarry located near Bethesda, North Wales. At the end of the nineteenth century it was the world's largest slate quarry; the main pit is nearly long and deep, and it was worked by nearly 3,000 quarrymen. It has ...

near Bethesda in north

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

Port Penrhyn Port Penrhyn ( cy, Porth 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 from the Penrh ...

on the

Menai Strait The Menai Strait ( cy, Afon Menai, the "river Menai") is a narrow stretch of shallow tidal water about long, which separates the island of Anglesey from the mainland of Wales. It varies in width from from Fort Belan to Abermenai Point to from ...

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 h ...

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 ( cy, Amgueddfa Rheilffordd Castell Penrhyn) is a museum of industrial railway equipment, located at Penrhyn Castle near Bangor in Wales. In the nineteenth century, Penrhyn Castle was the home of the Pennant ...

. ''Linda'' was loaned to the nearby

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

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

superheating In thermodynamics, superheating (sometimes referred to as boiling retardation, or boiling delay) is the phenomenon in which a liquid is heated to a temperature higher than its boiling point, without boiling. This is a so-called ''metastable sta ...

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

Penrhyn Quarry Railway

Preservation

Technical specification

See also

References