Narrow Gauge Track Record FR’s Welsh Pony back after 80-year absence
THE Ffestiniog Railway’s (FR) 1867-built England 0-4-0STT Welsh Pony returned to steam on June 27 after last working in 1940.
As previously reported, when stripped for overhaul seven years ago its condition proved worse than anticipated.
With Wales still under tight lockdown, a public unveiling of
was not possible. However, the FR held a series of Facebook Live events on June 27, showing a fire being lit through to test runs around Boston Lodge, reaching an audience of more than 1,200 people.
Welsh Pony has initially been painted in the deep purple used for FR’s Victorian carriages. It is also unlined and carries a temporary ‘No. 5’ nameplate, pending official launch.
In about a year it will be re-finished in ‘Garraway Green’, in tribute to the first general manager of the restored FR, the late Allan Garraway, who made the initial donation to start the restoration fund in 2013.
Welsh Pony had already been heavily overhauled and completely rebuilt several times. This overhaul has seen it receive new frames, cylinders, boiler and a replica tender.
Having originally spent 72 years in service, followed by an 80-year hiatus, Welsh
Pony hauled the FR’s first postlockdown passenger train from Porthmadog to Tan-y-Bwlch on July 20. This train was for FR members; public services between the two stations started the next day.
With Welsh Pony completed, England 0-4-0STT Palmerston is now in the works for attention to a knock caused by excess play in the axle boxes, causing the crank pins on the leading wheelsets to touch the back of the crossheads.