WELSH PONY RIDES AGAIN
Ffestiniog ‘Large England’ prepares to return to steam for first time in 80 years
It is 1993. A crowd of enthusiasts gather on the platform at Porthmadog Harbour station to witness a truly extraordinary event – the return to steam of Ffestiniog Railway ‘Small England’ Palmerston, after 56 years out of traffic.
Just a few yards away, sitting unloved and unkempt on a plinth outside the station, exposed to the vagaries of the often-inclement North Wales weather, is an engine which few back then could have imagined achieving a similar feat: Welsh Pony. But those who declared that Welsh Pony would never rejoin the Ffestiniog’s operational ranks have been proven wrong, for 27 years after Palmerston returned to steam, its hitherto maligned classmate is following in its footsteps.
OLD PONY, NEW TRICKS
Welsh Pony last turned a wheel in anger 80 years ago. For many of those years, the sole remaining ‘Large England’ sat on the sidelines, slowly deteriorating with no real plan for its future. Unsurprisingly, many decreed that it would probably never steam again.
What you see here on these pages is the culmination of six years’ hard work, the realisation of a project to resurrect a locomotive which, owing to its mistreatment at the hands of past management, required a substantial ground-up rebuild. The result is, ironically, perhaps the most authentic operational George England locomotive the revived Ffestiniog Railway has had in its entire 66-year history; ironic because, strictly speaking, the engine you see here is not Welsh Pony.
If you abide by the convention that a locomotive’s identity is tied to its frames, then the ‘real’ Welsh Pony is currently residing in the Waggon Tracks shed in Minffordd Yard. The engine in these photographs is, some would argue, a replica, for not only does it boast new frames, but a new boiler, new cylinders, new wheels, a new tender and a host of scratch built components. Yes, certain, key, parts from the original have been incorporated, but most of what purports to be Welsh Pony today dates from the second decade of the 21st century.
The scale of the renewal alone is evidence of the poor condition Welsh Pony was in when thought was first given to restoring it around ten years ago. As such, there will doubtless be many people who feel that, owing to the level of renovation required to return Welsh Pony to steam, it should have been left alone and cosmetically restored instead.
The counter argument is that Welsh Pony’s rebuild is merely perpetuating standard operating and maintenance practices, replacing worn components with new material as and when they become life-expired.
Very little of Welsh Pony dates from 1867; just the wheel centres, inside motion and tank handrails, according to the Conservation Management Plan drawn up prior to the start of its restoration in 2013.
Furthermore, it was comprehensively overhauled in 1891 and fitted with a new Vulcan Foundry-built boiler, a full cab, a new saddle tank, smokebox, cylinders and, most importantly, frames, arguably resulting in a new Welsh Pony to replace the 1867 original. It was fitted with yet another new boiler, from Adamson, in 1915; thus, by the time it was officially withdrawn in 1938 (though FR records show that it briefly ran in February 1940), Welsh Pony was comprehensively knackered.
Says Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways general manager Paul Lewin: “Welsh Pony is on its third set of frames and cylinders, and the fourth boiler. As became evident during the current overhaul, it was literally run into the ground prior to withdrawal, patched and quite frankly bodged by the works staff of the day to keep it running.”
That being the case, how much was there to conserve in the first place? Furthermore, with ‘Small England’ Princess conserved in as-withdrawn state as a static exhibit, does it matter quite so much if the other England engines are rebuilt? And Welsh Pony’s old frames have been kept for eventual display in the Old Engine Shed at Boston Lodge (see SR503). Meanwhile, the FR has gained a working locomotive that it wouldn’t have had otherwise, and one whose rebuild has paid close adherence to design authenticity. What we have then is a compromise – a ‘new’ locomotive which reuses as many parts from the original as possible, while retaining the ‘heart’ of the old engine.
As Paul says: “There are in fact two Welsh Ponies: the carcass of the 1890 engine, with its 1915 boiler on it, and the revived version.”
MAKING HISTORY
Welsh Pony is arguably one of the most historically significant locomotives in the FR’s fleet. Built by George
England & Co. at the firm’s Hatcham Iron Works in South London in 1867, Welsh Pony and fellow ‘Large England’ Little Giant were designed as improved versions of the original ‘Small England’ quartet of Prince, Princess, Palmerston and Mountaineer, delivered to the FR in 1863. Whereas those engines were originally built with side tanks, a vestigial weather board and square sandboxes, the new ‘Large Englands’ had a longer wheelbase to improved their ride; a saddle tank containing 75% more water which improved their range and adhesion; bigger cylinders; and a beefier boiler with an increased working pressure, from 130lb/sq in to 150lb/sq in.
These enhancements resulted in engines which were more powerful and more sure-footed than their predecessors and, as a result of Welsh Pony and Little Giant’s success, three of the original four locomotives were subsequently rebuilt along similar lines (Mountaineer was scrapped in 1879 and thus never modified), resulting in the distinctive, dumpy England shape we all know and love.
Welsh Pony is also historically significant in a broader aspect; in 1870, it was pitted against the FR’s first double Fairlie, Little Wonder, in a series of trials attended by representatives from all over the world to demonstrate the advantages of Robert Fairlie’s innovative design over conventional narrow gauge locomotives. With Welsh Pony weighed down by an unreasonably heavy train, Little Wonder proved its superiority with ease and thus the FR adopted double Fairlies as its premier form of motive power, relegating the England locomotives to a secondary – albeit still vital – role.
The trials also showed the world the advantages of narrow gauge, leading to an exponential growth in such lines across the globe, so it is perhaps remarkable that it took the Ffestiniog so long to get around to restoring this engine, which twice played a pivotal role in the history of narrow gauge steam, to its proper glory.
‘FOREVER THE BRIDESMAID…’
It has been a long time coming for Welsh Pony. When the preservationists came to restore the railway in 1954, Prince was largely complete and had an overhauled boiler ready and waiting to be fitted, so naturally it was the first to return to steam. Though it had donated some parts to Prince as part of the latter’s rebuild, the FR’s then manager, Allan Garraway, identified Welsh Pony as a prime candidate for the next overhaul.
Alas, the double Fairlies were deemed more iconic and more useful to the rapidly growing railway, thus Merddin Emrys and Taliesin (better known today as Livingston Thompson) jumped the queue. Then came the ill-fated purchase in 1957 of the ex-Harrogate Gasworks Peckett 0-6-0ST ‘Volunteer’ (which, in the end, was never restored by the FR), and the acquisition of the former Penrhyn ‘Ladies’ Linda and Blanche in 1962 to supplement the fleet during a motive power crisis, as well as the arrival in 1967 of ALCo 2-6-2PT ‘Mountaineer’, so Welsh Pony continued to slip down the overhaul queue. It was a classic case of ‘forever the bridesmaid, never the bride’.
Instead, Welsh Pony suffered the indignity of being stored outside in Glan-y-Mor yard at Boston Lodge (during which time its tender, ex-Little Giant, was removed, widened and donated to Linda) until 1985 when the England engine was given cosmetic attention and placed on a plinth outside Harbour station, where, says Paul: “The sea air did the worn out machine no favours at all, adding heavy corrosion to the list of woes.”
It wasn’t until 2002 that the first moves were made to arrest Welsh Pony’s deterioration, when it was removed from the plinth to make way for car park improvements and placed in under-cover storage in Glan-y-Pwll yard near Blaenau Ffestiniog. Paul adds: “It was officially described as being retained in original condition as a museum piece but, in reality, its condition was rapidly deteriorating. One couldn’t help but wonder what other heritage line would leave an 1867 locomotive, original to that line, outside and largely uncared for, for so long.”
As a result of this neglect, when thoughts turned towards doing something with Welsh Pony, the FR was placed in a quandary. The current management had inherited a locomotive that was in poor condition, and the options outlined in the Conservation Management Plan for its future – whether it was restoring it to its as-built state, or its 1915-38 guise, performing a cosmetic restoration, taking no action or building an as-built replica – all had their pros and cons.
A wheelbarrow’s full of rust fell from the engine, swept up and tipped into a skip in dust
PAUL LEWIN
Restoration to its 1867 condition had “much appeal as none of the surviving locomotives are in this form” but was rejected because it “would inevitably be very costly… It would also produce a locomotive of more limited practical use than the 1938-era version.”
Cosmetic repair was ruled out because of concerns over where to display Welsh Pony, while taking no action was dismissed because it was feared that further corrosion “could damage the locomotive to the point where any possibility of a return to traffic is lost.” Producing an as-built replica was also rejected because it would “produce a locomotive of negligible historical value and limited practical use.”
It was decided instead to restore Welsh Pony in its latter day, post-1915 guise, but even this was fraught with problems. “In broad terms, we managed to stick to the spirit of the plan,” says Paul. “We have had to change more than we had imagined, but we have stayed true to the aim of putting it back into 1939 condition.
“Dismantling revealed a lot of information about the engine and how it had been treated; sadly, the engine was much further gone than was ever imagined. For example, the cylinder, although still oily on the inside, had corroded through from the outside largely due to some cosmetic cladding being applied in the 1980s which trapped in salt-laden moisture.
“When we lifted the saddle tank, a wheelbarrow’s full of rust fell from the engine, swept up and tipped into a skip in dust. I then tried to repair the smokebox by welding it, but because it was three layers of patch upon rust, it was just being hacked about.
“My only big disappointment is that we had to replace the coupling and connecting rods. We tried to repair the ones it had from around 1869/1870, but they were so thin in the corners they couldn’t be reused. Even if we could, the connecting rods are different lengths on either side, which then didn’t fit the engine after we’d squared it all up with new frames.
“They must have been bodged and other things changed to accommodate over a long time.
“What we took apart was a massively tired engine. The new rods were made at Boston Lodge, so in that sense we couldn’t have done much more.
“Should we have done it?”, Paul ponders more generally, following this most extensive of rebuilds.
“I am more convinced than ever that we did the right things,” he affirms. “Had we left it for another ten or 20 years, the engine would have broken its back, sagged and rusted away. The salt from the sea air would have rotted it away forever. It’s what happens when engines are allowed to corrode near the sea.”
Originally expected to cost around £120,000, the overhaul has taken “more than twice this amount and indeed a very long time,” he concedes.
And yet Welsh Pony’s poor condition had an unexpected silver lining; it gave the FR the opportunity to do a thorough, authentic rebuild, most notably with the frames. As built, the fireboxes in all the England engines were a stressed member, with the rear frames bolted directly to the backhead. When Prince and Palmerston were restored, the frames were routed around the firebox to relieve the stresses on it; on Welsh Pony, however, the rear frames have been attached to the firebox in the traditional manner.
There are other little details too, such as the water gauge in the cab that shows the level in the tank – a feature unique to Welsh Pony.
Though a significant proportion of Welsh Pony is new, “the patina that goes with an old engine is there and plain to see however, looking very much like it did in the 1930s,” says Paul. “The Boston Lodge staff did, however, draw the line at the very poorly repaired dome cover that the locomotive sported in its latter years. Nicknamed ‘The Wonky Donkey’, the engine has become a real favourite of the team at Boston Lodge and much care has gone into the restoration.”
Welsh Pony still needs final painting and lining out before it can enter service. It will initially be outshopped in the distinctive deep plum livery worn by the FR’s heritage carriages, but will eventually be painted in 1950s lined bronze green in honour of Allan Garraway, who first considered Welsh Pony for restoration and who made the first donation towards its rebuild in 2013.
It will also carry its wooden ‘5’ nameplates (fitted in honour of its original FR fleet number) until circumstances allow FR volunteers and supporters to attend a formal naming ceremony.
It is indeed poignant to think that Welsh Pony marks the end of an era – being the last of the surviving FR engines that will ever be restored to return to steam.
STAR OF THE YEAR?
Even so, its return to steam has not stuck to the script. Welsh Pony should have been the star of the Ffestiniog’s ‘Fairlie Eventful’ gala on June 19-21, since cancelled like so many other events across the country owing to the Covid-19 outbreak, so instead, it will be steamed for the first time via an online livestream on June 27 “as a thank you to all the volunteers, members and supporters who have put so much effort into the railway both over many years and of course during the lockdown.”
Paul adds: “Our volunteers, staff and supporters have been so loyal and devoted to our railway that we felt we needed to give something to lift their spirits in lockdown.
“We would like to thank everyone who has donated or volunteered on the loco. As ever with locomotive projects there is a very long list.”
Details can be found on Facebook by looking for the ‘Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways Insider’ page or by going to the website www.festrail.co.uk. It is expected that lighting up will stream live at 10am, followed by first lifting of the safety valves at 1pm. “There may be further firsts at 4pm if all goes well,” teases Paul.
In a year in which the devastating and far-reaching effects of the pandemic have all but crippled Britain’s railways and placed our beloved movement into jeopardy, Welsh Pony’s restoration is a timely and welcome reminder that, despite these distressing times, we cannot give up as there are still things to achieve and milestones to reach. Whatever your view of the ethical merits of its rebuild, here is a sure-fire contender for ‘moment of the year’; an engine and a project worthy of plaudits and accolades at next year’s Heritage Railway Association awards. Whatever else happens – regardless of how we will look back upon this year – Welsh Pony will forever stand as something to be proud of.