Another standard gauge Fairlie
WITH regard to the caption to the photograph of Mountaineer on page 85 of issue 289, the Burry Port & Gwendraeth Valley was not the only, or indeed the first, standard gauge railway to use a Fairlie locomotive, its Fairlie being delivered in 1870.
Four years prior to this , in 1865, the Neath & Brecon Railway took delivery of a Fairlie locomotive from James Cross of St Helens. The locomotive, called Progress, was an 04+40T but worked only until 1868.
A second Fairlie named Mountaineer (no relation to the BPGV engine) arrived in the second half of 1866, having worked for a few months on the Anglesey Central Railway before arriving at Neath. This locomotive was also not particularly successful and only appears to have worked until 1868, but remained in Neath & Brecon stock until 1880, when it was sold for scrap.
Robert M E Thomas, email