Palmerston arrives at transformed VoR Aberystwyth station
Ffestiniog confirms plans for all its England engines.
FOLLOWING the move of Ffestiniog Railway’s (FR) George England 0-4-0STT Palmerston for initial display and, later this year, retubing and returning to steam (RM, March) Ffestiniog Railway general manager
Paul Lewin has confirmed the status of the FR’s other George England locos.
Princess is located in the far (Blaenau) end of the old loco shed at Boston Lodge, which will become part of the displays in the National Lottery Heritage Fund-backed Boston Lodge Redevelopment & Interpretation Project. There are no current plans to restore
Princess to operation.
Behind Princess on the shed’s No. 1 road, the life-expired ‘carcass’of Welsh Pony which remained after completion of its major overhaul in 2020, comprising the old boiler, frames and cylinder, will be displayed. This will represent a typical historic scene when a dismantled locomotive would usually be in this building.
Welsh Pony itself, which had clocked up 10,000 miles between returning to service in June 2020 (having last worked in 1940) and withdrawal last year when movement of a crank pin was noticed, is to shortly be lifted. Having removed the wheelsets, the crank pins will be taken out and replaced, with the valve gear to be overhauled while this work is in progress.
Work is due to commence as soon as preparation of the FR’s Double-Fairlies for summer services has been completed. Hopefully, Welsh Pony will return to service by the end of this year.
As anticipated (RM February), Prince, which last ran in September 2022, has been moved into Boston Lodge works for its overhaul to be progressed this year. While issues may arise during dismantling, the current assessment is that the chassis may not require extensive work and the boiler, although now 70 years old, is believed to be in reasonable condition. It is known that the saddle tank will require extensive attention. The objective remains of returning
Prince to action in 2025.
While not an England loco, updates on Single-Fairlie
Taliesin are that the power unit is currently being worked on and the boiler awaits retubing, although delivery of the superheater tubes was still awaited as winter turned to spring. The earliest that Taliesin will return to steam is the end of this year, possibly more likely in early 2025.