PROPOSED: FFEStiniOg Railway ‘Small EnglanD’ 0‑4‑0tt no. 3
Mountaineer
Britain’s newest new-build project is arguably its most significant, particularly from an historical point of view.
As exclusively revealed elsewhere in this edition of Steam Railway, plans are afoot to resurrect Ffestiniog Railway ‘Small England’ 0-4-0TT No. 3 Mountaineer – believed to have been the first of the four original locomotives delivered to the FR in 1863, and the only one not to have been rebuilt into saddle tank form.
So, why is the Mountaineer project so important? Although a small number of steam locomotives designed to run on track gauges narrower than standard had been built prior to 1863, the introduction of the George England locomotives on the Ffestiniog Railway and their subsequent success conclusively proved the viability of narrow gauge steam, and paved the way for everything that followed.
The arrival of steam on the FR not only elevated the railway to a level at which hitherto it had been unable to operate with only horses and gravity, but also showed that narrow gauge steam railways could open up areas of the world previously thought inaccessible. Although they were superseded by the double Fairlies, the growth of the FR – and narrow gauge railways in general – was entirely down to the original quartet of England 0-4-0TTs.
Ironically, despite the survival of Prince, Princess and Palmerston, owing to their extensive rebuilding over the last 150 years, there is very little in the way of steam to authentically represent these pioneering early years. Mountaineer will fill that gap.
The project is still in its very early stages, but like the Corris ‘Falcon’ and Southwold Blyth schemes, the plan is to build the boiler first in order to demonstrate the project’s credibility, then formally launch the project at the Warley National Model Railway Exhibition in November.
It is intended to build Mountaineer as authentically as possible, including Salter safety valves and bolting the frames to the firebox so that it forms a stressed member – as on the original England engines – while the tanks will be traditionally hot-riveted.
Although it is resurrecting a Ffestiniog locomotive, this is not an official Ffestiniog project; instead it is being spearheaded by traction engine owner and York Model Engineers chairman David Wood, whose siblings are involved with the ‘G5’ No. 1759 project at Shildon. However, the FR is supplying patterns and drawings, and it is hoped it will be possible to loan surviving original components from Mountaineer from the line’s heritage group, so the new version could incorporate authentic material.
Blyth’s builders, North Bay Railway Engineering Services, will be building the boiler, and the YME will be fabricating and hot-riveting the water tanks, while former National Railway Museum director Richard Gibbon is on board as consulting engineer. Mountaineer’s completion will be dependent on fundraising and contractors’ timescales, but it could be in three years’ time with an estimated total cost of around £200,000.
It is very early days for this embryonic project, but like every other current narrow gauge new-build scheme, there seems little doubt it will steam sooner rather than later.
the plan is to build the boiler first in order to demonstrate the project’s credibility