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Monarch is a narrow gauge steam locomotive, built by W.G. Bagnall Ltd., Stafford in 1953. It is currently on public display at the Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway. It is the last industrial narrow gauge locomotive to be built for commercial use in the UK and is constructed to a modified Meyer articulated design. It is the last of seven locomotives built to a similar design, the other six being built to 2 ft (610 mm) gauge and delivered to sugar estates in South Africa.
The Meyer design for articulated locomotives uses two swivelling power bogies, with the boiler, water and coal supplies on a rigid frame above this, similar to how most large diesel or electric locomotives are now constructed.
A drawback to the Meyer design is the limited space between the bogies for the firebox. Bagnall avoided this with their modified design by using the Bagnall boiler, which they already used for small contractor's locos. This has a cylindrical rear drum, with a cylindrical firebox and ashpan within this. None of the firebox or ashpan needs to protrude below footplate level, avoiding interference with the rear bogie.
The engine was built to work on the Bowaters Paper Railway in Sittingbourne, now the Sittingbourne and Kemsley Light Railway in 1953 by W.G. Bagnall (works number 3024). [1] Monarch was delivered on 31 July 1953 and worked for a mere 13 years until being purchased by the Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway in 1966. [2]
When Monarch arrived it required considerable overhaul. When the locomotive was finally overhauled, it proved less useful than was hoped. It was found difficult to drive, in particular crews of the time found it difficult to adapt to its marine-style firebox, and proved challenging on the steep gradients of the line. By 1992, the Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway had acquired more locomotives and Monarch became surplus to requirements and was sold to the Ffestiniog Railway. [2]
The Ffestiniog Railway bought Monarch with the intention of overhauling and cutting down the size of the engine for use on the narrower (2 ft gauge) railway. The engine was dismantled for this purpose but then priorities changed, and despite later thoughts of using it on the Welsh Highland Railway the loco was left in parts whilst it slowly rusted. The locomotive was then repurchased by the Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway. [2]
Monarch was bought with no intention of being used on the railway, since previously it had proved less useful than other engines, but was instead bought as a display piece and has been cosmetically restored for display at Welshpool. [2]
The Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway (W&LLR) is a 2 ft 6 in narrow gauge heritage railway in Powys, Wales. The line is around 8.5 miles (13.7 km) long and runs westwards from the town of Welshpool via Castle Caereinion to the village of Llanfair Caereinion.
Mason Bogie locomotives are a type of articulated tank locomotive suited for sharp curves and uneven track, once commonly used on narrow-gauge railways in the United States. The design is a development of the Single Fairlie locomotive.
A Fairlie locomotive is a type of articulated steam locomotive that has the driving wheels on bogies. The locomotive may be double-ended or single ended. Fairlies are most famously associated with the Ffestiniog Railway in North Wales.
An articulated locomotive is a steam locomotive with one or more engine units that can move independently of the main frame. Articulation allows the operation of locomotives that would otherwise be too large to negotiate a railroad's curves, whether mainlines or special lines with extreme curvature such as logging, industrial, or mountain railways.
In the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotive wheel arrangement, an 0-4-4-0 is a locomotive with no leading wheels, two sets of four driving wheels, and no trailing wheels. The arrangement is chosen to give the articulation of a locomotive with only the short rigid wheelbase of an 0-4-0, but with its weight spread across eight wheels, and with all the weight carried on the driving wheels; effectively a flexible 0-8-0. Articulated examples were constructed as Mallet, Meyer, BMAG and Double Fairlie locomotives and also as geared locomotives such as Shay, Heisler, and Climax types. A similar configuration was used on some Garratt locomotives, but it is referred to as 0-4-0+0-4-0. In the electric and diesel eras, the Bo-Bo is comparable and closest to the Meyer arrangement of two swivelling bogies.
A Meyer locomotive is a type of articulated locomotive that has two separate bogies, upon which the boiler and firebox swivel. The design was never as popular as the Garratt or Mallet locomotives. It can be best regarded as 19th Century competition for the early compound Mallet and also the Fairlie articulated designs. Most single cab modern trains are of a similar design such as power cars, freight diesel locomotives, and some passenger locomotives.
Kerr, Stuart and Company Ltd was a locomotive manufacturer in Stoke-on-Trent, England.
W. G. Bagnall was a locomotive manufacturer from Stafford, England which was founded in 1875 and operated until it was taken over in 1962 by English Electric.
There were more than a thousand British narrow-gauge railways ranging from large, historically significant common carriers to small, short-lived industrial railways. Many notable events in British railway history happened on narrow-gauge railways including the first use of steam locomotives, the first public railway and the first preserved railway.
The Sierra Leone Government Railway operated in Sierra Leone from 1897 to 1974. It was unusual in that it formed a national railway system constructed solely to a 2 ft 6 in narrow gauge, whereas in other countries, gauge of such a narrow width was usually confined to feeder railways.
The Golwé was a type of articulated steam locomotive manufactured in Belgium for use in French West African colonies.
Moel Tryfan was a narrow gauge steam locomotive built for use on the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways (NWNGRs) in 1874/5. The locomotive was an 0-6-4T single Fairlie locomotive built by the Vulcan Foundry near Manchester. It spent its entire working life on the NWNGRs and its successors the Welsh Highland Railway (WHR) and the Ffestiniog Railway (FfR).
A launch-type, gunboat or horizontal multitubular boiler is a form of small steam boiler. It consists of a cylindrical horizontal shell with a cylindrical furnace and fire-tubes within this.
The South African Railways Class FC 2-6-2+2-6-2 of 1925 was an articulated steam locomotive.
The South African Railways Class GEA 4-8-2+2-8-4 of 1946 was an articulated steam locomotive.
Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway No. 1 The Earl and No. 2 Countess are narrow gauge steam locomotives. They were built by Beyer Peacock & Co. Ltd. at the Gorton Foundry, Manchester in 1902. They were delivered new to the Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway in 1902, as No.1 The Earl and No.2 The Countess, where they continue to run today.
Dougal is a 2 ft 6 in narrow gauge 0-4-0T steam locomotive, built by Andrew Barclay Sons & Co. Ltd., Kilmarnock in 1946. It is currently running on the Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway.
The W. G. Bagnall New Standard 180-6-0ST is a type of industrial steam locomotive manufactured at W. G. Bagnall's Castle Engine Works and designed by Harold Wood at W.G. Bagnall in 1951. The class was specifically designed for the Port Talbot Steelworks, and ran from 1951 to 1973 in industrial service. Two locomotives, the former Longbridge locomotives, are preserved.
St. Nicholas Abbey Heritage Railway (SNAHR) is a 1.5 kilometres (0.9 mi) long heritage narrow gauge railway with a 2 ft 6 in gauge, in the parish of Saint Peter on the Eastern Caribbean island of Barbados.
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