Factfile: Quarry Hunslet 0‑4‑0ST
The Quarry Hunslet was the workhorse of several North Wales slate quarries, and their survival (sometimes by the slenderest of financial margins) into the late 1960s and early 1970s made the quarries and their antiquated equipment particularly attractive to steam-starved enthusiasts once BR had eliminated steam. As a result, many of the Quarry Hunslets survived, providing vital motive power for embryonic narrow gauge railways such as the Bala Lake Railway.
The prototype of our Bachmann sample, Nesta, is Hunslet works No. 704 of 1899, one of four ‘Small Quarry’ class Hunslets owned by Penrhyn Slate Quarries Ltd and all named after the owner's family members. It is virtually identical in dimensions to the Dinorwic ‘Alice’ class, of which Holy War is one. The length over couplers is 13ft, over buffer beams 11ft 6¼in, its width 5ft 4in, height from rail to chimney top 7ft 3in, gauge 1ft 10¾in, wheel diameter 1ft 8in, wheelbase 3ft 3in, cylinders 7in by 10in, and it ran Salter-type safety valves. Nesta worked in the quarry until the end of steam at Penrhyn in 1965 and was sold with others to C.B. Arnette and shipped to the USA in that year. It was rescued from a swamp in Puerto Rico, and repatriated in 2016. It seems to have never received any attention since it left the UK, and possibly never ran while abroad. It was in an unrestored state at the Bala Lake Railway Heritage Centre in early 2020, but is normally based at the Vale of Rheidol in Aberystwyth.
There is often confusion in the railway press about which locomotives were at Penrhyn and which were at Dinorwic, partly owing to the multiplicity of ‘fairground’ liveries carried in preservation. When at the quarries, Penrhyn engines were always black, originally with red and tan lining, later red and blue as on the model. Dinorwic locomotives were always shades of red, from near orange to almost chocolate brown (officially ‘Midland Railway’ maroon), sometimes with just thin red lining. Those at Pen-yr-orsedd and Dorothea quarries were always green.
problems but, as usual, the happy customers don’t generally post on forums. In this case, had I been a paying customer, I would have been very happy with my purchase. I set up the oval track that I had last used for Heljan’s Lynton & Barnstaple Lyn, cleaned the track and hooked up the Gaugemaster Model D controller borrowed from my ‘OO’ layout.
GOOD RUNNER
The comments I had read suggested Nesta might need a nudge with a finger to start. She didn’t. After several circuits of the track, I began to think George must have run her in before handing her over to me (I hadn’t! – Ed). Nesta proved generally positive on starting and only required a finger-nudge a couple of times in ten minutes or so of running in both directions. This was usually when reversing direction. The tiny model was exceptionally smooth in operation forwards and reverse. Indeed, it was much better than some ‘OO’ models I’ve tested recently!
Short of ‘OO9’ rolling stock of a suitable kind, I ran Nesta with the two RNAD wagons which had also come in for review (see page 98). I then added two of Peco’s Lynton & Barnstaple coaches before subsequently obtaining four packs of Bachmann slate wagons.
Nesta managed to haul all 12 vehicles comfortably on the flat, but on the slightest gradient the load had to be reduced to nine – still more than adequate for a small quarry layout.
Without the wagons in tow, Nesta managed no fewer than three of the L&B coaches quite comfortably. I would expect that a dozen loaded slate wagons would have been the most expected of these locomotives in service, as they were designed primarily as shunting engines. (CJL)