Linda
The FR's Hunslet 2-4-0ST+T, originally an 0-4-0ST when on the Penrhyn Railway, operated three of the six daily return trips. There is an interesting "old" WHR connection in that the loco's pony truck wheelset, added in the 1970s, is older than Linda and started life on the trailing bogie of the NWNGR/WHR Single Fairlie Moel Tryfan, one of the few components to survive its scrapping in 1954.
The other axle spent much of 1999 at WHR(C) under Blanche, but the axle under Linda has become the first part of Moel Tryfan to return to the original WHR route.
Linda is seen below with a five-coach train on May 25th, including FR observation car no. 11, making another visit to WHR(C). The load is quite substantial given that Blanche generally only worked three coaches on the Caernarfon-Dinas section. The variety in roof lines highlights the difference between pre-WW2 FR and 21st-century WHR loading gauges.
Stanhope
This "Tattoo" class 0-4-2ST was part-built for stock by Kerr Stuart of Stoke-on-Trent in 1915, as the first "Tattoo" to be built with outside Hackworth valve gear replacing inside Stephenson's. It was outshopped in 1917 (works no. 2395), and sold to contractor Holloway Bros who used it building housing in Rosyth (1917-8) and Swanley roadworks (1922-4). At some point in 1930-2 it passed to Durham County Water Board, for whom it worked on the Burnhope reservoir project, building the dam and associated works for the last of a series of reservoirs completed since the 1870s. No fewer than twenty-one 2' gauge steam locos (and two petrol) worked on this job between 1930 and 1936, including five older "Tattoos", and it was here that Stanhope gained its name. Stanhope then came to North Wales, one of five Burnhope locos bought by Penrhyn Quarries, and the only one not to have its name changed by its new owners. The others were two Avonsides and two Barclays; later, Dinorwic Quarries also acquired two ex-Burnhope locos (an Avonside and a Barclay) in 1948-9, after they had passed through other hands.
At Penrhyn, Stanhope's boiler was lowered in a bid to improve stability on quarry trackwork, a change which has been undone in its restoration - which involved many new components, including a new boiler (the original was fitted to Hudswell Clarke Bronllwyd when what was left of Stanhope was at Bressingham Gardens), and recovery of parts sold off by Penrhyn after Stanhope joined the line of withdrawn locos at Coed-y-Parc; cylinders and valve gear had gone to the Talyllyn Railway as spares for their ex-Corris "Modified Tattoo" Edward Thomas. The story of the restoration is told at Stanhope's own site. Privately owned, the loco is based at the West Lancashire Light Railway, but is becoming quite widely travelled.
Stanhope is seen below on "Drive an Engine" duties at Dinas. The loco was suffering a little after over-exertion with slate wagons at the Ffestiniog, with weeping tubes and a crosshead which had required a running repair, but it was performing its duties without difficulty; an evening run to Waunfawr was anticipated at some point during its visit. Stanhope cannot work WHR(C) trains, as it does not have continuous brakes.
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