FFESTINIOG MOUNTAINEER TO BE REBORN IN REPLICA FORM

First Ffestiniog locomotive ever to be withdrawn will be recreated in new-build form.

One of the Ffestiniog Railway’s long-lost original locomotives – ‘Small England’ Mountaineer

– is to be resurrected, 140 years after it was withdrawn and subsequently dismantled.

York-based traction engine owner and narrow gauge enthusiast David Wood – chairman of the York Model Engineers and whose three brothers are all involved with the new-build NER ‘G5’ project – is in the preliminary stages of building a replica of the 1863-built 0-4-0TT. It was the first of the four ‘Small England’ 0-4-0TTs, in addition to Prince, Princess and Palmerston, delivered to the Ffestiniog Railway in July 1863. Mountaineer was the only member of the quartet not to be rebuilt into saddle tank form, and was thus the only ‘Small England’ to remain in as-built form throughout its career.

Following the successful introduction of Little Wonder and subsequent double

Fairlie locomotives from 1869, Mountaineer was used increasingly

sparingly until it became the first FR engine to be withdrawn, in 1879, after which its parts were used to keep its classmates running. Eventually, what remained of the locomotive was dismantled.

Mr Wood plans to replicate Mountaineer as closely as possible, complete with frames attached to the firebox so that it forms a stressed member (in the same manner as under-restoration ‘Large England’ 0-4-0STT Welsh Pony), dome and Salter safety valves, and has engaged the services of North Bay Railway Engineering Services of Darlington – the firm which completed newbuild Bagnall ‘Sipat’ Otter for the Groudle Glen Railway earlier this year and which is currently building replica Southwold Railway Sharp, Stewart 2-4-0T No. 3 Blyth – to build the boiler, for which funding is already available. It is hoped that the boiler, backhead and throatplate for which are currently being made by Israel Newton & Sons Ltd, will be complete in time for the project’s official launch at the Warley National Model Railway Exhibition in Birmingham on November 23/24.

Mr Wood estimates Mountaineer will cost in the region of £250,000 and, should funding be available, it could take less than three years to steam, although no timescale has been set for Mountaineer’s completion.

Former National Railway Museum director Richard Gibbon is on board as consulting engineer, while the project also has support from the Ffestiniog Railway, which will be supplying drawings and patterns. Mr Wood already has patterns for the cylinders and glands, Salter valves, turret, axleboxes, safety valve shroud and several others.

It is hoped to loan and incorporate surviving original components from Mountaineer in the replica, if and when they can be identified and should they be made available. It is also proposed that the York Model Engineers will build the tanks themselves, using traditional hot riveting.

Although Mountaineer will run at the FR and is potentially being fitted with vacuum brakes in order to haul the FR’s passenger stock, it will not be based exclusively at Porthmadog and will be available for hire to other railways.

Mr Wood said: “Mountaineer will finally complete the FR’s heritage train. I don’t want this to be one railway’s engine, I want this to be a huge club so everyone can enjoy Mountaineer.”

For more information and to contribute, visit: www.1863moutaineerloco.co.uk

●● See page 82 for more details.

F&WHR JONATHAN CLAY It is this scene, of original George England 0‑4‑0TT No. 1 Princess at Duffws circa 1872, that the replica of its classmate, Mountaineer, aims to recreate. The new Mountaineer will not feature the full spectacle plate, which was a later addition to the original locomotives.

an artist’s impression of 1863‑built ‘Small England 0‑4‑0TT Mountaineer, which is now the subject of a new‑build project. The blue livery is the suggestion of chris Jones, who co‑authored Little Giants: A History of the Ffestiniog Railway’s Pre‑Revival Locomotives, considered to be the definitive work on the subject.