Fire Queen
Encyclopedia
Fire Queen is an early steam locomotive
built by A. Horlock and Co. in 1848 for the Padarn Railway. It is the only surviving locomotive from that railway an is preserved at the Penrhyn Castle Railway Museum
.
, which connected the Dinorwic Quarry
near Llanberis
in north Wales
with the port at Y Felinheli
. The railway was opened in 1840 using horse
s to pull the slate
trains. It replaced the even earlier Dinorwic Railway
which has opened in 1824.
The two locomotives, Fire Queen and Jenny Lind, were built by marine engineers A. Horlock and C.; they were the only railway locomotives built by this company. The locomotives were based on a paten
t of Thomas Crampton's of 1847, which specified a locomotive with driving wheel
s positioned at the ends of the boiler
driven by steeply inclined cylinders placed between the wheels. The locomotives lacked a frame, the wheels and cylinders were attached directly to the boiler.
They were delivered to the railway in 1848 and continued working until life expired in the late 1880s. Jenny Lind was scrapped, but Fire Queen was placed in a small shed at the quarry workshop, Gilfach Ddu. It stayed there until the quarry closed in 1969 at which time it was sold to John Smith MP and loaned to the nearby Penrhyn Castle Railway Museum
where it remains on display.
Steam locomotive
A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...
built by A. Horlock and Co. in 1848 for the Padarn Railway. It is the only surviving locomotive from that railway an is preserved at the Penrhyn Castle Railway Museum
Penrhyn Castle Railway Museum
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...
.
History
Fire Queen was one of two identical locomotives built for the Padarn RailwayPadarn Railway
The Padarn Railway was a narrow gauge railway line in Wales, built to the unusual gauge of . It was built to carry slate from the Dinorwic Quarry to Port Dinorwic. It opened in 1842, replacing the previous Dinorwic Railway. The Padarn Railway closed in 1961 .An unusual feature of the railway were...
, which connected the Dinorwic Quarry
Dinorwic Quarry
The Dinorwic Slate Quarry is a large former slate quarry, now home to the Welsh National Slate Museum, located between the villages of Llanberis and Dinorwig in north Wales. It was the second largest slate quarry in Wales, indeed in the world, after the neighbouring Penrhyn Quarry....
near Llanberis
Llanberis
Llanberis is a village in Gwynedd, North Wales, lying on the southern banks of Llyn Padarn in Snowdonia. It takes its name from Saint Peris, an early Welsh saint.According to the United Kingdom Census 2001, the population of Llanberis was 1,954...
in north Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
with the port at Y Felinheli
Y Felinheli
Y Felinheli is a village lying beside the Menai Strait between Bangor and Caernarfon in Gwynedd, north-west Wales. The population is about 2,200.-Etymology:...
. The railway was opened in 1840 using horse
Horse
The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
s to pull the slate
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering...
trains. It replaced the even earlier Dinorwic Railway
Dinorwic Railway
The Dinorwic Railway was an early narrow gauge industrial railway connecting the slate quarry at Dinorwic in Caernarvonshire with the coastal port at Y Felinheli.- History :...
which has opened in 1824.
The two locomotives, Fire Queen and Jenny Lind, were built by marine engineers A. Horlock and C.; they were the only railway locomotives built by this company. The locomotives were based on a paten
Paten
A paten, or diskos, is a small plate, usually made of silver or gold, used to hold Eucharistic bread which is to be consecrated. It is generally used during the service itself, while the reserved hosts are stored in the Tabernacle in a ciborium....
t of Thomas Crampton's of 1847, which specified a locomotive with driving wheel
Driving wheel
On a steam locomotive, a driving wheel is a powered wheel which is driven by the locomotive's pistons...
s positioned at the ends of the boiler
Boiler
A boiler is a closed vessel in which water or other fluid is heated. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications.-Materials:...
driven by steeply inclined cylinders placed between the wheels. The locomotives lacked a frame, the wheels and cylinders were attached directly to the boiler.
They were delivered to the railway in 1848 and continued working until life expired in the late 1880s. Jenny Lind was scrapped, but Fire Queen was placed in a small shed at the quarry workshop, Gilfach Ddu. It stayed there until the quarry closed in 1969 at which time it was sold to John Smith MP and loaned to the nearby Penrhyn Castle Railway Museum
Penrhyn Castle Railway Museum
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...
where it remains on display.
External links
- Fire Queen at the Industrial Railway Society archives (with photographs)