| Maid Marian | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Maid Marian at Bala | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| |||||||||
| |||||||||
Maid Marian is a preserved narrow-gauge steam locomotive built in 1903, [1] currently based at the Bala Lake Railway in North Wales. [2]
| Maid Marian | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maid Marian at Bala | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| |||||||||
| |||||||||
Maid Marian is a preserved narrow-gauge steam locomotive built in 1903, [1] currently based at the Bala Lake Railway in North Wales. [2]
Maid Marian, works number 822 and subsequently named after a racehorse, was built in 1903 by the Hunslet Engine Company based in Leeds. [3] [1] It is a member of the Dinorwic Alice Class.
Maid Marian spent its entire industrial life working at the Dinorwic quarry in North Wales. [4] It operated alongside many Hunslet engines, including Holy War , Dolbadarn, George B, Red Damsel, Wild Aster, Alice and Irish Mail.
The Maid Marian Locomotive Fund was established in 1965 by a group of railway enthusiasts seeking to preserve a working locomotive from the Dinorwic Slate Quarry. [5] The Quarry Manager recommended Maid Marian as the best locomotive then available. [6] MMLF purchased the loco in 1965, taking possession in 1967. [7]
Maid Marian operated at the Bressingham Steam Museum from 1967 to 1971, before going to the Llanberis Lake Railway until 1975, [8] and then to the Bala Lake Railway. [7] It returned to Llanberis for the 2011 gala. [4]
Israel Newton built a new boiler in 2006. [9]
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 Bala Lake Railway is a narrow-gauge railway along the southern shore of Bala Lake in Gwynedd, North Wales. The line, which is 4+1⁄2 miles (7.2 km) long, is built on a section of the former standard-gauge Ruabon–Barmouth GWR route that closed in 1965. Another section of the former permanent way is used by the Llangollen Railway. The Bala Lake Railway, which runs on 600 mm -gauge preserved rolling stock, is a member of the Great Little Trains of Wales.
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. The railway is one of the Great Little Trains of Wales.
The National Slate Museum is located at Gilfach Ddu, the 19th-century workshops of the now disused Dinorwic quarry, within the Padarn Country Park, Llanberis, Gwynedd. The museum is dedicated to the preservation and display of relicts of the Slate industry in Wales.
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.
Manning Wardle was a steam locomotive manufacturer based in Hunslet, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.
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 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.
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.
The Dinorwic Alice Class is a class of eleven narrow-gauge 0-4-0ST 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.
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.
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.
Cliff Thomas is a British railway author and journalist, particularly known for his works on narrow-gauge railways.
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 compreise 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 cupola, blacksmiths shops, fitting shops, stores, engine sheds, a canteen, the chief engineer's 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.