Penrhyn Castle Railway Museum
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The Penrhyn Castle Railway Museum is a museum of industrial railway equipment, located at Penrhyn Castle near Bangor in Wales.
In the nineteenth century, Penrhyn Castle was the home of the Pennant family, owners of the Penrhyn slate quarry at Bethesda. The quarry was closely associated with the development of industrial narrow gauge railways, and in particular the Penrhyn Quarry Railway (PQR), one of the earliest industrial railways in the world. The PQR ran close to Penrhyn Castle, and when the castle was bequeathed to the National Trust in 1951 a small museum of industrial railway relics was created in the stable block.
The first locomotive donated to the museum was Charles, one of the three remaining steam locomotives working on the PQR. Over the years a number of other historically significant British narrow gauge locomotives and other artifacts have been added to the collection.
[edit] Locomotives
| Name | Gauge | Builder | Type | Date | Works number | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charles | 1 ft 103⁄4 in (578 mm) | Hunslet | 0-4-0ST | 1882 | 283 | Worked on the Penrhyn Quarry Railway |
| Hugh Napier | 1 ft 103⁄4 in (578 mm) | Hunslet | 0-4-0ST | 1904 | 855 | ex-Penrhyn Quarry locomotive, being restored to working order |
| Fire Queen | 4 ft (1219 mm) | Horlocks | 0-4-0 tender | 1848 | Worked on the Padarn Railway | |
| Watkin | 3 ft (914 mm) | DeWinton | 0-4-0VB | 1893 | ex-Penmaenmawr & Welsh Granite Co. | |
| Kettering Furnaces No. 3 | 3 ft (914 mm) | Black Hawthorne & Co | 0-4-0ST | 1885 | 859 | ex-Kettering Ironstone Railway |
| No. 1 | 4 ft 8½ in (1435 mm) | Neilson and Co. | 0-4-0 | 1870 | 1561 | ex Beckton Gas Works railway |
| Hawarden | 4 ft 8½ in (1435 mm) | Hudswell Clarke | 0-4-0ST | 1899 | 526 | ex Globe Ironworks, Stalybridge |
| Vesta | 4 ft 8½ in (1435 mm) | Hudswell Clarke | 0-6-0T | 1916 | 1223 | ex Hawarden Bridge steel works |
| Haydock | 4 ft 8½ in (1435 mm) | Robert Stephenson and Company | 0-6-0T | 1879 | 2309 | ex Haydock Foundry, St. Helens |
[edit] References
- (1982) Penrhyn Castle Industrial Railway Museum, 3rd. Edition, The National Trust.
