The Festiniog Railway Little Wonder was a

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 locomot ...

built by

George England George England ( 1811–1878) was an English businessman and engineer. He founded George England and Co., a steam locomotive manufacturing business based in Hatcham, New Cross. Early life England was born around 1811, in Newcastle upon Tyne. ...

for the

Festiniog 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 an ...

in 1869.

Design

''Little Wonder'' was a

Double Fairlie A Fairlie is a type of articulated steam locomotive that has the driving wheels on bogies. The locomotive may be double-ended (a double Fairlie) or single ended (a single Fairlie). Fairlies are most famously associated with the Ffestiniog ...

type

articulated locomotive An articulated locomotive is a steam locomotive (rarely, an electric locomotive) with one or more engine units that can move independent of the main frame. Articulation allows the operation of locomotives that would otherwise be too large to neg ...

Robert Francis Fairlie Robert Francis Fairlie (either March 1831 or 5 April 1830, in Glasgow – 31 July 1885, in London) was a Scottish-born railway engineer. Early life Fairlie was born in Glasgow, the son of T. Archibald Fairlie (an engineer) and Margaret Fairlie ...

. It was the first Double Fairlie locomotive on the Festiniog Railway and the fourth Double Fairlie locomotive to be built. It was delivered to the railway in July 1869. It was an improvement on earlier designs because it had two fireboxes, instead of one, and this allowed it to steam more freely. In 1870, Fairlie invited guests to witness Little Wonder in a trial against the Festiniog Railway's existing locomotives Mountaineer and Welsh Pony. Amongst those in attendance were the second

Duke of Sutherland Duke of Sutherland is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom which was created by William IV in 1833 for George Leveson-Gower, 2nd Marquess of Stafford. A series of marriages to heiresses by members of the Leveson-Gower family made th ...

, the Imperial Russian Commissioners, the Commissioners of the Indian Government, and Captain Tyler of the Board of Trade. Little Wonder hauled a train of 112 wagons weighing 206 tones up the line at an average speed of 12 1/2 mph. Welsh Pony was only just able to haul a train of 26 wagons weighing 73 tons at a maximum speed of 5 mph.

Performance

''Little Wonder'' was hailed as a great success and attracted attention from around the world. However, various mechanical problems arose and the engine required frequent repairs. It was withdrawn from service in 1882.

References

External links

Festipedia page on Festiniog Railway locomotives
Ffestiniog Railway Narrow gauge locomotives of the United Kingdom George England and Company locomotives 0-4-4-0T locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1869 Scrapped locomotives Individual locomotives of Great Britain {{UK-steam-loco-stub

Design

Performance

See also

References

External links