That was the year that...
Narrow gauge news stories from the archives and their legacy...
From 60 years ago
Guinness Brewery, Dublin, Ireland
The famous William Spence locos are still to be seen, but all traffic on the 2ft 10in gauge system is being worked by the Planet diesels, the remaining steam locos being used in the 5ft 3in gauge conversion bogies.
No 15 has been fully restored and is on permanent display with three tiny ‘back-to-back’ four-wheel coaches used for touring the brewery in earlier days. The loco shed has a number of diesels in for shopping and in one corner were the remains of no 22 awaiting scrap, its marine-type boiler having already been removed. No 21 was found near the end of the famous spiral tunnel, still intact but expected to be scrapped soon.
After traversing 2½ turns of the spiral tunnel to the 5ft 3in gauge section no 23 was seen under the lifting gear ready for mounting in a broad-gauge haulage wagon, while no 17 and 23 were in steam on haulage wagons for shunting broad-gauge stock. (NGN, October 1961) Ron Redman, who wrote the NGN report, recommended a visit to the eight-mile system, both for its engineering interest and the fact that you would no doubt be asked to sample the ‘product’. The broad gauge system would last only four more years though the narrow-gauge survived with diesel haulage until 1975. Thankfully several of the distinctive steam locos are preserved, including the 1921-built no 23, initially at Brockham, today at Amberley.
From 50 years ago
Aberllefenni Slate Quarries, Merioneth (Gauge 2ft 3in)
Bad news - the 4wBE loco converted from ‘Taffy’, an 0-4-0T built by Vulcan (810/1878) has been ‘lost’. It was involved in an accident while tipping underground when it went out of control and was dragged over the buffers by the wagon it was braking.
The driver, who made frantic efforts to stop it, fortunately jumped clear just before the loco fell an estimated 240ft. It is now of course totally inaccessible and is being buried by slate waste.
This rebuild, which incorporated the main frame of the original loco, was the last remaining example of a narrow gauge loco built by Vulcan Foundry in the British Isles. (NGN, October 1971) An alarming tale! We assume that the unfortunate locomotive is still down there at the now long-silent Aberllefenni quarry, deep in a mid Wales mountain... Andrew C writes: We dropped a bit of a clanger in the last issue’s ‘That was’ – the first item on the Groudle Glen Railway was from September 1961, 60 years ago not 50, and the second item on ‘Rheilfford Llyn Llanberis’ from the September 1971 edition of Narrow Gauge
News, not as recorded ten years earlier. Apologies for the errors.