Location within Gwynedd | |
Established | 1951 |
---|---|
Location | Llandygai, Gwynedd, Wales |
Coordinates | 53°13′35″N4°05′41″W / 53.2264°N 4.0947°W |
Type | Railroad museum |
Owner | National Trust |
Website | Penrhyn Castle Railway Museum |
The Penrhyn Castle Railway Museum (Welsh : 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 family (from 1840, the Douglas-Pennants), owners of the Penrhyn slate quarry at Bethesda. The quarry was closely associated with the development of industrial narrow-gauge railways, and in particular the Penrhyn Quarry Railway (PQR), one of the earliest industrial railways in the world. The PQR ran close to Penrhyn Castle, and when the castle was bequeathed to the National Trust in 1951 a small museum of industrial railway relics was created in the stable block.
The first locomotive donated to the museum was Charles, one of the three remaining steam locomotives working on the PQR. Over the years a number of other historically significant British narrow-gauge locomotives and other artifacts have been added to the collection. [1]
In early 2024, it was announced that the majority of the locomotives were to be moved to new homes, with the railway museum to become a new "Industrial Penrhyn" experience. [2]
Name | Image | Gauge | Builder | Type | Date | Works number | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Charles | 1 ft 10+3⁄4 in (578 mm) | Hunslet | 0-4-0 ST | 1882 | 283 | Worked on the Penrhyn Quarry Railway. To be retained as part of the planned "Industrial Penrhyn" museum. [2] | |
Hugh Napier | Hunslet | 0-4-0 ST | 1904 | 855 | ex-Penrhyn Quarry locomotive, moved to the Ffestiniog Railway and restored to working order at Boston Lodge in 2012. [3] | ||
Fire Queen | 4 ft (1,219 mm) | A. Horlock and Co | 0-4-0 tender | 1848 | Worked on the Padarn Railway. Moved to the Vale of Rheidol Railway in 2024. [2] | ||
Watkin | 3 ft (914 mm) | De Winton | 0-4-0 VBT | 1893 | ex-Penmaenmawr & Welsh Granite Co. | ||
Kettering Furnaces No. 3 | Black, Hawthorn & Co | 0-4-0 ST | 1885 | 859 | Ex-Kettering Ironstone Railway. [4] Donated to the Waterford and Suir Valley Railway in 2024. [5] | ||
No. 1 | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge | Neilson and Company | 0-4-0 | 1870 | 1561 | ex Beckton Gas Works railway. Moved to the Museum of Scottish Railways in early 2024. [6] | |
Hawarden | Hudswell Clarke | 0-4-0 ST | 1899 | 526 | ex Globe Ironworks, Stalybridge Donated to the Middleton Railway in 2024 where it is now on display. [7] | ||
Vesta | Hudswell Clarke | 0-6-0 T | 1916 | 1223 | ex Hawarden Bridge steel works Donated to the East Lancashire Railway in 2024 and is now on display in the Bury Transport Museum. [8] | ||
Haydock | Robert Stephenson & Co [9] | 0-6-0 T | 1879 | 2309 | Ex Haydock Collieries Railway. Moved to the Isle of Wight Steam Railway in 2024. [10] |
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 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 Penrhyn Quarry Railway was a narrow-gauge railway in Caernarfonshire, Wales. It served the Penrhyn quarry near Bethesda, taking their slate produce to Port Penrhyn, near Bangor. The railway was around six miles (9.7 km) long and used a gauge of 1 ft 10+3⁄4 in.
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.
Hudswell, Clarke and Company Limited was an engineering and locomotive building company in Jack Lane, Hunslet, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.
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 1 mile (1.6 km) long and 1,200 feet deep, and it was worked by nearly 3,000 quarrymen. It has since been superseded in size by slate quarries in China, Spain and the USA. Penrhyn is still Britain's largest slate quarry but its workforce is now nearer 200.
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.
Penrhyn Castle is a country house in Llandygai, Bangor, Gwynedd, North Wales, constructed in the style of a Norman castle. The Penrhyn estate was founded by Ednyfed Fychan. In the 15th century his descendant Gwilym ap Griffith built a fortified manor house on the site.
The Kettering Ironstone Railway was an industrial 3 ft narrow gauge railway that served the ironstone quarries around Kettering.
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 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.
Fire Queen is an early steam locomotive built by A. Horlock and Co in 1848 for the Padarn Railway. It is the only surviving locomotive from that railway, and it is preserved at the Vale of Rheidol Railway.
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.
Some industrial narrow-gauge railways in the United Kingdom and the Isle of Man were primarily built to serve quarrying, mining, and similar industries. Some of these narrow-gauge railways offered passenger services for employees or workmen, but they did not run public passenger trains. They are listed by the primary industry they served.
The Amberley Museum Railway is a 2 ft narrow gauge railway based at Amberley Museum, Amberley, West Sussex. It has a varied collection of engines and rolling stock ranging from 18 in gauge to 5 ft 3 in gauge. It operates passenger trains at the museum using a mixture of steam, internal combustion and battery-electric locomotives.
Waterford Suir Valley Railway (WSVR) is a registered charity operating on a 3 ft gauge railway track from Kilmeadan back towards Bilberry outside Waterford, Ireland.The line shares much of its route along the banks of River Suir with the Waterford Greenway. This walking and cycle path passes through the station which has car parking and a coffee shop for visitors.
A. Horlock and Co. was a marine and locomotive engineering company based in Northfleet in Kent.
Gloddfa Ganol was a museum dedicated to the Welsh slate industry and narrow-gauge railways, situated in the Oakeley slate quarry in Blaenau Ffestiniog. It opened in 1974 and closed in 1998 following an auction of its exhibits.