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.
Charles of the Penrhyn Quarry Railway | |
Location within Gwynedd | |
| Established | 1951 |
|---|---|
| Location | Llandygai, Gwynedd, Wales |
| Coordinates | 53°13′35″N 4°05′41″W / 53.2264°N 4.0947°W |
| Type | Railroad museum |
| Owner | National Trust |
| Website | Penrhyn Castle Railway Museum |
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.
Locomotives
| Name | Gauge | Builder | Type | Date | Works number | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charles | 1 ft 10+3⁄4 in (578 mm) | Hunslet | 0-4-0ST | 1882 | 283 | Worked on the Penrhyn Quarry Railway |
| Hugh Napier | Hunslet | 0-4-0ST | 1904 | 855 | ex-Penrhyn Quarry locomotive, restored to working order at Boston Lodge in 2012[1] | |
| Fire Queen | 4 ft (1,219 mm) | A. Horlock and Co | 0-4-0 tender | 1848 | Worked on the Padarn Railway | |
| Watkin | 3 ft (914 mm) | De Winton | 0-4-0VBT | 1893 | ex-Penmaenmawr & Welsh Granite Co. | |
| Kettering Furnaces No. 3 | Black, Hawthorn & Co | 0-4-0ST | 1885 | 859 | ex-Kettering Ironstone Railway[2] | |
| 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 |
| Hawarden | Hudswell Clarke | 0-4-0ST | 1899 | 526 | ex Globe Ironworks, Stalybridge | |
| Vesta | Hudswell Clarke | 0-6-0T | 1916 | 1223 | ex Hawarden Bridge steel works | |
| Haydock | Robert Stephenson & Co[3] | 0-6-0T | 1879 | 2309 | ex Haydock Collieries Railway |
See also
References
- ^ "Hugh Napier steam engine back on track after 50-year restoration". BBC News. 11 May 2012.
- ^ Quine, Dan (2016). Four East Midlands Ironstone Tramways Part Two: Kettering. Vol. 106. Garndolbenmaen: Narrow Gauge and Industrial Railway Modelling Review.
- ^ Alexander, Colin; Siton, Alon (15 October 2018). The Stephenson Railway Legacy. Amberley Publishing Limited. ISBN 978-1-4456-7655-5.
- Penrhyn Castle Industrial Railway Museum (3rd. ed.). The National Trust. 1982.
External links
- National Trust