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Alice (locomotive)
''Alice'' is an steam locomotive. It was built in 1902 by the Hunslet Engine Company (works number 780) for the Dinorwic slate quarry at Llanberis, in North Wales. It was originally called ''No. 4''; there was an earlier locomotive called ''Alice'' which was built in 1889 (works number 492) and later renamed ''King of the Scarlets''. Alice Class There were eleven engines of Dinorwic 'Alice' class supplied between 1886 and 1932, the first of which was Velinheli (Works No. 409 of 1886), but the class was named after the first ''Alice'' (Works No.492 of 1889) to avoid confusion with the separate Port Dinorwic organisation. Over 46 years a number of changes were made to the design, some so substantial as to warrant an unofficial sub-class known as the Port Class. ''Alice'' no. 780 ''Alice'', in common with most of the class, did not have a dome but a steam chamber produced by the firebox outer shell being raised some six inches above the boiler barrel. It was not usual to fit ...
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Hunslet Engine Company
The Hunslet Engine Company is a locomotive-building company, founded in 1864 in Hunslet, England. It manufactured steam locomotives for over 100 years and currently manufactures diesel shunting locomotives. The company is part of Ed Murray & Sons. History The early years 1864–1901 The company was founded in 1864 at Jack Lane in Hunslet by John Towlerton Leather, a civil engineering contractor, who appointed James Campbell (son of Alexander Campbell, a Leeds engineer) as his works manager. The first engine was completed in 1865. It was ''Linden'', a standard gauge delivered to Brassey and Ballard, a railway civil engineering contractor as were several of the firm's early customers. Other customers included collieries. This basic standard gauge shunting and short haul "industrial" engine was to be the main-stay of Hunslet production for many years. In 1871, James Campbell bought the company for £25,000 (payable in five instalments over two years) and the firm remained ...
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Bala Lake Railway
The Bala Lake Railway ( Welsh: ''Rheilffordd Llyn Tegid'') is a narrow-gauge railway along the southern shore of Bala Lake in Gwynedd, North Wales. The line, which is long, is built on a section of the former standard-gauge Ruabon–Barmouth GWR route that closed in 1965. Another section of the former permanent way is used by the Llangollen Railway. The Bala Lake Railway, which runs on -gauge preserved rolling stock, is a member of the Great Little Trains of Wales. The railway now has the largest collection of historic narrow-gauge quarry locomotives built specifically for the slate industry in North Wales by the Hunslet Engine Company in Leeds. History Standard Gauge The narrow-gauge Bala Lake railway uses the permanent way of the former standard-gauge GWR Ruabon–Barmouth line. The railway, which opened in August 1868, was built by the Bala and Dolgelley Railway Company. Its original route ran between the Corwen & Bala Railway at and Cambrian Railways' station at ...
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Dinorwic Alice Class
The Dinorwic Alice Class is a class of eleven narrow-gauge steam locomotives built specifically for the Dinorwic Slate Quarry. These locomotives were built by the Hunslet Engine Company between 1886 and 1904, and were designed and supplied specifically to work the many galleries of the quarry at Llanberis, North Wales. History After earlier experiences with vertical boilered De Winton locomotives, the quarry company decided they needed more powerful locomotives to run on heavier, double-headed rail in chaired track on its more intensively worked quarry galleries. In order to improve transport of cut slate to the mills and waste to the slag tips a standard design of locomotive which was powerful, lightweight and with a short wheelbase was required. In 1870, the quarry placed an order with the Hunslet Engine Company of Leeds for a prototype locomotive. They produced ''Dinorwic'' (works number 51 of 1870), which is a clear precursor to the Alice class. This locomotive proved a ...
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Steam Locomotive
A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomotive's boiler to the point where it becomes gaseous and its volume increases 1,700 times. Functionally, it is a steam engine on wheels. In most locomotives, the steam is admitted alternately to each end of its cylinders, in which pistons are mechanically connected to the locomotive's main wheels. Fuel and water supplies are usually carried with the locomotive, either on the locomotive itself or in a tender coupled to it. Variations in this general design include electrically-powered boilers, turbines in place of pistons, and using steam generated externally. Steam locomotives were first developed in the United Kingdom during the early 19th century and used for railway transport until the middle of the 20th century. Richard Trevithick ...
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Llanberis
(; ) is a village, community and electoral ward in Gwynedd, northwest Wales, on the southern bank of the lake and at the foot of Snowdon, the highest mountain in Wales. It is a centre for outdoor activities in Snowdonia, including walking, mountaineering, climbing, mountain biking and pony trekking, as well as water sports such as scuba diving. The community includes Nant Peris. Llanberis takes its name from , an early Welsh saint. It is twinned with the Italian town of in Lombardy. History The ruins of Castle, which were painted by Richard Wilson and J. M. W. Turner, stand above the village. The 13th century fortress was built by the Great and is a grade I listed building. The church of St is grade II* listed, as is the chapel of . In the 18th century was the home of the legendary strong woman Marged ferch Ifan. Demographics According to the United Kingdom Census 2011, the population of was 1,844, with 74.7% of those aged 3 years and over able to speak Welsh ...
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Port Dinorwic
Y Felinheli (), formerly known in English as Port Dinorwic, is a village and community beside the Menai Strait ( cy, Y Fenai or ''Afon Menai'') between Bangor and Caernarfon in Gwynedd, northwest Wales. History Toponymy Etymologically, its name comes from the Welsh ''y'' meaning the, ''melin'' meaning mill and ''heli,'' meaning brine/salt-water/sea. An alternative interpretation is from ''Y Felin Heulyn'', "the mill on the River Heulyn", which refers to the river that runs into the village. Origins Y Felinheli has its origins in two hamlets, Tafarngrisiau near St Mary's Church and Aberpwll to the north-east where there was a mill on the Afon Heulyn. The mill was rebuilt closer to the sea in 1633 and gave its name to the settlement. The area was largely agricultural until the area was transformed by slate quarrying in the 19th century. A new dock was built in 1828 when lime was extracted at Brynadda and slate and lime were loaded and culm (coal dust or anthracite slack) was ...
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Ffestiniog Railway
The Ffestiniog Railway ( cy, Rheilffordd Ffestiniog) is a heritage railway based on narrow-gauge, located in Gwynedd, Wales. It is a major tourist attraction located mainly within the Snowdonia National Park. The railway is roughly long and runs from the harbour at Porthmadog to the slate mining town of Blaenau Ffestiniog, travelling through forested and mountainous terrain. The line is single track throughout with four intermediate passing places. The first mile of the line out of Porthmadog runs atop an embankment called ''the Cob'', which is the dyke of the polder known as Traeth Mawr. The Festiniog Railway Company, which owns the railway, is the oldest surviving railway company in the world. It also owns the Welsh Highland Railway, which was re-opened fully in 2011. The two railways share the same track gauge and meet at Porthmadog station, with occasional trains working the entire route from Blaenau Ffestiniog to Caernarfon. History The railway company is prope ...
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Leighton Buzzard Light Railway
The Leighton Buzzard Light Railway (LBLR) is a light railway in Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire, England. It operates on narrow-gauge track and is just under long. The line was built after the First World War to serve sand quarries north of the town. In the late 1960s the quarries switched to road transport and the railway was taken over by volunteers, who now run the line as a heritage railway. History Sand extraction A bed of Lower Cretaceous sand across Bedfordshire has been quarried on a small scale for centuries. The most significant occur around Leighton Buzzard. In the 19th century sand was carried by horse carts from quarries south of the town to be shipped on the Dunstable- Leighton Buzzard railway. The carts damaged roads and resulted in claims for compensation against the quarry owners from Bedfordshire County Council. At the end of the century steam wagons were introduced which increased the damage to roads. The outbreak of the First World War cut off supp ...
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Doll (locomotive)
''Doll'' is a gauge steam locomotive based at the Leighton Buzzard Narrow Gauge Railway in Bedfordshire. History Industry ''Doll'' was built by Andrew Barclay Sons & Co. in 1919 (works number 1641), and was one of three identical engines built for Hickmanas at Sydenham ironstone quarries, near Banbury in Oxfordshire. The quarries were closed in 1925 following the takeover by Stewarts & Lloyds Minerals in April 1925, and the three engines (named after Hickmans daughters) were transferred to Bilston steelworks, near Wolverhampton. The other two engines were ''Winifred'' (AB1424/1915) and ''Gertrude'' (AB1578/1918). ''Gertrude'' and ''Doll'' worked at Bilston until they were withdrawn from service in 1959, but ''Winifred'' seems to have been scrapped before 1939. Preservation In 1960, after some negotiations through the avid steam preservationist, Max Sinclair, ''Doll'' was moved to the Burton Green & District Light Railway near Kenilworth in Warwickshire, where she was retu ...
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