| Hunslet Alice Class | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Irish Mail on the Welsh Highland Heritage Railway, August 2005 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||
The Dinorwic Alice Class is a class of eleven narrow-gauge 0-4-0 ST steam locomotives built specifically for the Dinorwic quarry. These locomotives were built by the Hunslet Engine Company between 1886 and 1904, and were designed and supplied specifically to work the many galleries of the quarry at Llanberis, North Wales.
After earlier experiences with vertical boilered De Winton locomotives, the quarry company decided they needed more powerful locomotives to run on heavier, double-headed rail in chaired track on its more intensively worked quarry galleries. To improve transport of cut slate to the mills and waste to the slag tips, a standard locomotive design that was powerful, lightweight and had a short wheelbase was required. [1]
In 1870, the quarry placed an order with the Hunslet Engine Company of Leeds for a prototype locomotive. They produced Dinorwic (works number 51 of 1870), which is a clear precursor to the Alice class. This locomotive proved a success and two further locomotives were ordered in 1877 to an improved design.
Hunslet continued to evolve the design, and when the quarry ordered a fourth locomotive in 1886, Hunslet delivered the first of the Alice Class engines, named Velinheli (No. 409 of 1886). The class name was derived from the second example of this class of engine to be built, named Alice later King Of The Scarlets (No. 492 of 1889). This was done to avoid confusion with the Port organisation (Port Dinorwic or Y Felinheli) which was separate from the quarry operation. [1]
11 locomotives of this class were built for the Dinorwic Slate Quarry, with all surviving into some form of preservation. Hunslet allocated the telegraphic codename VELIN to this class, named after the first locomotive. [1]
| First name / No. | Second name | Year built | Works number | Working location at Dinorwic (Gallery name or Port) | Image | Disposal | Current location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Velinheli | ~ | 1886 | 409 |
|  | Sold May 1965 | Ffestiniog Railway [2] |
| Alice | King Of The Scarlets | 1889 | 492 |
|  | Sold June 1965 | Statfold Barn Railway |
| Enid | Red Damsel / Elidir | 1889 | 493 |
|  | Dismantled, parts sold 1969 | Llanberis Lake Railway |
| No.1 | Rough Pup | 1891 | 541 |
|  | Moved To NGRM, 1968 | Narrow Gauge Railway Museum at Tywyn |
| No.2 | Cloister | 1892 | 542 |
|  | Sold August 1962 | Statfold Barn Railway |
| Wellington | George B | 1898 | 680 |
|  | Sold October 1965 | Bala Lake Railway |
| No.3 | Holy War | 1902 | 779 |
|  | Sold November 1969 | Bala Lake Railway |
| No.4 | Alice | 1902 | 780 | Australia |  | Sold January 1969 | Bala Lake Railway |
| No.5 | Maid Marian | 1903 | 822 |
|  | Sold 1965 | Bala Lake Railway |
| No.6 | Irish Mail | 1903 | 823 |
|  | Motion parts sold 1969 | West Lancashire Light Railway |
| No.7 | Wild Aster / Thomas Bach | 1904 | 849 |
|  | Dismantled, parts sold 1969 | Llanberis Lake Railway |
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 owns a substantial fleet of Industrial and depot shunting locomotives which are available for hire. The company is part of Ed Murray & Sons Ltd.
The West Lancashire Light Railway (WLLR) is a 2 ft narrow gauge railway that operates at Hesketh Bank, situated between Preston and Southport in North West England. The distance between the stations on the railway is 430 yards (393 m), though track extends eastwards beyond Delph station on ledge above the old clay pit which is too narrow to contain a run round loop. An extension of up to 435 metres (1,427 ft), running along the north bank of the fishing lake has been proposed. The railway has seven steam locomotives, three of which are in operating condition; two are currently being rebuilt and another is on static display. There are also two electric locomotives and many IC locomotives.
The Llanberis Lake Railway is a 1 ft 11+1⁄2 in narrow gauge heritage railway that runs for 2.5 miles (4 km) along the northern shore of Llyn Padarn in north Wales in the Snowdonia National Park. The starting point is the village of Llanberis at the eastern end of the lake, with the western terminus at Pen Llyn in the Padarn Country Park. The return journey takes around 60 minutes.
A cable railway is a railway that uses a cable, rope or chain to haul trains. It is a specific type of cable transportation.
The Padarn Railway was a narrow-gauge railway in North Wales, built to the unusual gauge of 4 ft. It carried slate seven miles (11 km) from Dinorwic Quarry to Port Dinorwic. The line opened on 3 March 1843, replacing the Dinorwic Railway. It initially used horses, but was converted to steam haulage on 23 November 1848. The railway was formally titled the Dinorwic Quarries Railway or Dinorwic Quarry Railway, but informally "Padarn Railway" was widely used.
Russell is a narrow gauge steam locomotive originally built in 1906 for the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways (NWNGR), but most famously associated with the original Welsh Highland Railway (WHR), and now based at the Welsh Highland Heritage Railway in Porthmadog.
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 been preserved. But these quarry tramway locomotives, for which in the 21st century they are largely remembered, were just a small part of this company's engineering output.
Dinorwic quarry is a large former slate quarry, now home to the Welsh National Slate Museum, located between the villages of Llanberis and Dinorwig in Wales. At its height at the start of the 20th century, it was the second largest slate quarry in Wales, after the neighbouring Penrhyn quarry near Bethesda. Dinorwic covered 700 acres (283 ha) consisting of two main quarry sections with 20 galleries in each. Extensive internal tramway systems connected the quarries using inclines to transport slate between galleries. Since its closure in 1969, the quarry has become the site of the National Slate Museum, a regular film location, and an extreme rock climbing destination.
The Inny Valley Railway was a private narrow gauge railway located at Trebullett, near Launceston in Cornwall, England. The railway was established by James Evans and ran around a field adjoining a workshop for the railway and a mill. Steam locomotives based at the railway were Velinheli built by Hunslet in 1886 and Sybil built by W.G. Bagnall in 1906, both previously in use at the Dinorwic Quarry. There was also a diesel locomotive built by Motor Rail and a passenger carriage built using redundant church pews. After closure the steam locomotives and carriage went to the Launceston Steam Railway whilst the diesel locomotive went to Alan Keef
The Penrhyn Main Line class is a class of three narrow gauge steam locomotives built for the Penrhyn Quarry Railway (PQR). These locomotives were built by the Hunslet Engine Company between 1882 and 1893 and supplied specifically to work the railway that connected the Penrhyn Quarry near Bethesda in north Wales to Port Penrhyn on the Menai Strait.
The Penrhyn Port Class is a class of three narrow gauge steam locomotives built for the Penrhyn Quarry Railway (PQR). These locomotives were built by the Hunslet Engine Company between 1883 and 1885 and supplied specifically to work at Port Penrhyn near Bangor, north Wales. They were a variant of the standard Dinorwic Alice Class design.
A vertical boiler is a type of fire-tube or water-tube boiler where the boiler barrel is oriented vertically instead of the more common horizontal orientation. Vertical boilers were used for a variety of steam-powered vehicles and other mobile machines, including early steam locomotives.
Alice is an 0-4-0ST steam locomotive. It was built in 1902 by the Hunslet Engine Company for the Dinorwic quarry at Llanberis, in North Wales. It was originally called No. 4; there was an earlier locomotive called Alice which was built in 1889 and later renamed King of the Scarlets.
Holy War is a preserved narrow gauge steam locomotive built in 1902, based at the Bala Lake Railway in North Wales. It was the last steam locomotive to operate in a Welsh slate quarry.
Maid Marian is a preserved narrow-gauge steam locomotive built in 1903, currently based at the Bala Lake Railway in North Wales.
Gilfach Ddu (LLR) railway station is an intermediate station on the Llanberis Lake Railway (LLR), located in Llanberis, Gwynedd, Wales.
Cei Llydan is an intermediate railway station on the Llanberis Lake Railway (LLR), located in Llanberis, Gwynedd, Wales.
Penllyn (LLR) railway station is the northern terminus of the Llanberis Lake Railway (LLR), located near Llanberis, Gwynedd, Wales. The station has no platform, but passengers are allowed to alight.
Gilfach Ddu are a series of well preserved Grade I listed industrial buildings built to serve the Dinorwic slate quarry near Llanberis in Caernarfonshire, North Wales. The workshops are a complex of repair and maintenance buildings, that were built in 1870 to build and maintain the machinery used in the quarry. The complex includes saw sheds, patternmaking shops, a foundry with copula, blacksmiths shops, fitting shops, stores, engine sheds, a canteen, the chief engineers house, a hand operated crane and two waterwheels which provided the site with its power. Since 1972 the buildings have housed the National Slate Museum.
