Atomic Systems

The Padarn Railway from the quarrys to Port Dinorwic was actually worke d by 3 Hunslet 0-6-0s called Dinorwic, Amalthea and Velinheli. Cackler and Jerry M were obtained to replace two earlier hunslets Charlie and George that worked the tramroad as it was known at Dinorwic from the mills at Hafod Owen to the Padarn Railway exchange sidings. Both engines were much larger than any of the other 2ft gauge engines at Dinorwic.



Tim
__________________________________

timothy_elsby@yahoo.co.uk

Wow, they are more like Linda Blanche and Charles really... So was this intercahnge line from Gil Fach Ddu into the qaurries then?

Tim has drawn up a list of the lucky Quarry Hunslets that are going to be modelled, and as it stands we will get:

Velinhelli - Dinorwic 'Red'
Lady Madcap - Dinorwic 'Indian Red'
Holy War - Preservation 'Navy Blue'
Alice - Plain Red
Britomart - Thomas the Tank ( )
Irish Mail - Dinorwic 'reddish dirt with the grey lining'
Cloister - Dinorwic 'Orange/Brown/Red (ish) colour'

Velinhelli and Lady Madcap both have domed boilers...

Christian

Cackler and Jerry M weren't quite as big as Linda, Blanche and Charles they were more or less the same size as Lilla.

The line ran from the transhipment sidings that were on the present site of Gilfach Ddu station on the Llanberis Lake Railway through a tunnel next to Fire Queens shed to Hafod Owen where the quarries main slate finishing mills there job was to haul the finished slate to be transhiped onto the padarn railway.

I don't think the line ran into the quarries themselves, Cackler and Jerry M were to big to run in the quarries anyway.

Just one amendment to the list Britomart will be in its Preservation Thomas The Tank Engine blue livery.

Tim

Most, if not all, these locos survive in preservation, which is good. Can we put locations against them all? for starters:

Jerry M - Holycombe Steam Park, Liss, Hampshire

Is Alice the Alice at Leighton Buzzard? If so, I see it is going for a holiday on the Darjeeling Himilayan Railway next year. Wish I could get there too.

I know the Padarn Lake railway is home for quite a few, but not sure which ones off-hand.

Holy War - Bala Lake
Maid Marian - Bala Lake
Thomas Bach - Llanberis
Elidir - Llanberis
Dolbadarn - Llanberis
Una - Llanberis
Alice - Leighton Buzzard
Lilla - Festiniog
Britomart - Festiniog
Linda - Festiniog
Blanche - Festiniog
Charles - Penrhyn Castle Museum
Winifred - USA
Nesta - USA
Michael - USA ???
Alan George - Tefi
Cackler - Thursford Park
Cloister - Kew Bridge
Covertcoat - Launcaston
Doreathea - " "
Irish Mail - West Lancs
Jonathan - " "
Lady Madcap - Welsh Highland (Dinas) (Parts)
Lillian - Launcaston
Rough Pup - Narow Gauge Rly Museum Tywyn
Velinhelli - Launcaston

Please correct me if im wrong, this is what I can remember / find

Christian

Doreathea - Launceston
Jonathan - West Lancs
Lady Madcap - Welsh Highland (Porthmadoc) (Parts)
Sybil - Brecon Mountain Railway
Lady Joan - Bredgar Wormshill
Hugh Napier - Penrhyn Castle
George B - Teifi Valley
Pamela - Old Kiln
Sybil Mary - somewhere in Leicestershire
Gertrude - Ontario Science Centre, Toronto
Margaret - Aberystwyth
Elin - Yaxham Light Railway
Gwynedd - Bressingham
George Sholto - Bressingham
Edward Sholto - USA
King of the Scarlets - Canada

I think thats all the survivors.
These are the ones that didn't survive

George(Minstrel park) - Dinorwic
Charlie - Dinorwic
Louisa - Dinorwic
Tryfan - Moel Tryfan Quarry
Cadfan - Moel Tryfan Quarry
Most of Lady Madcap - Dinorwic

Tim

Is it worth noting that on the Llanberis lake only Dolbadarn carries the name it used at Dinorwic - Elidir was formerly Red Damsel (I think) - but noone was entirely sure which one she really was as she had such an amalgamation of parts from so many engines. It was thus decided to name her Elidir as the engine that had carried this name was scrapped (and IIRC not even a Hunslet!). Thomas/Tomos Bach was previously Wild Aster, and carried this name well into preservation until she was painted Britomart Blue and renamed to keep the kiddies happy.

Of course the locos had variations in design, originally the Hunslets had domeless boilers and straight frames, the frames were redesigned to get the locos up and down inclines easier, and domes were included on some boilers. As has been noted Velinhelli was the first "Alice" way back when, so should have straight frames and a domeless boiler - but no! Late design frames, a domed boiler - this loco (whatever it may claim) isn't Velinheli! Most seem to think that it is a combination of bits of King of the Scarlets and one other (I can't remember which) - but since both these engines (one of which really *is* Velinheli, both still exist then the names as withrawn in Dinorwic have been retained. Its damn confusing.

One point to note is that most of Lady Madcap still exists at Gelert's Farm in Porthmadog. Certainly having had a chat to the guys who are restoring I am convinced that all of the assembled bits are Lady Madcap, most are clearly stamped with her Makers No. The only bit that was properly scrapped was the frames - hence the listing of the loco as an ex-loco - all the rest was bought as spares for various other engines but never used. Therefore the vast majority of Lady Madcap is still around, and will soon be once more in steam.

John

i find the Dinorwic quarry locos quite interesting,
lol, but know little of them,
were there many non-Hunslets employed there?

There were a few other types of loco working there. Ones that come to mind are (manufacturer in brackets) :-

Elidir (avonside)
Sybil (bagnall)
No 70 (A Barclay & sons)

+ about 25 rail tractors (mainly Ruston & Hornsby)

The Penrhyn Quarries also had locos from manufacturers beside Hunslet:-

0-4-0 vertical boilers (De Winton & Co)
Sanford (bagnall)
Skinner (bagnall)
Glyder (A Barclay & sons)
Cegin (A Barclay & sons)
Ogwin (avonside)
Marchlyn (avonside)
Sgt Murphey (Kerr Stuart)
Stanhope (Kerr Stuart)
Jubilee 1897 (Manning, wardle & co.)
Eigiau (Orenstein & Koppell)
Bronllwyd (Hudswell Clarke & co)

+ 3 Baldwin 4-6-0 locos and many rail tractors.

This is not a definative list and I'm sure that I may have missed some off.

There is an example of the baldwin 4-6-0 in the download library as well as another type of larger Hunslet quarry loco, Lilla.

Hopefully, I shall also be making the locomotve Stanhope.

Cheers
Kevin

ok thanks for that kev,

i didn't realise Sgt Murphey was a Kerr Stuart, oh well there ya go you learn something every day , lol

Stanhope.... is that the 'tattoo' class? close relative to No 4 ?

Stanhope is a "Tattoo" class. It's basically an outside framed Corris no 4. When I finally get round to finishing No4/ET then It should be fairly simple to turn it into Stanhope.

Cheers
Kevin

gud gud

lol, you must feel like a marothon runner after having slogged through almost the whole tallylyn fleet,

I asked Kevin what he had done the other day and it stands at:
Quote:

"8 diesels
26 steam
30 coaches
25 goods vehicles

This comes to 89 vehicles ! (which doesn't count the extra 7 or 8 I did for the FR CD).

Theres also about 25 True scale patches as well.

And some of the buildings for the Ffes CD."

Chris

Plus some of this stuff built again for Trainz. I sometimes wonder if the more prolific modellers among us like Kevin and Tim Court haven't in fact invented time machines.

Well arguabley Kevins models hark back to an old era really, on a good route like the TR its almost like being back in time, but then thats the whole point of the sim. To recreate a world...

Chris