RD27381.  FIRE QUEEN.
RD27381. In 1848 a company called A. Horlocks &amp; Co., marine engineers of Northfleet in Kent, built two steam locomotives for the 4 foot gauge Padarn Railway which transported slate from the Dinorwic Quarry at Llanberis in North Wales.  

They were 0-4-0 tender locomotives based on Thomas Crampton's patent of 1847.  One was called JENNY LIND and the other was called FIRE QUEEN.  They were withdrawn in 1886 and  JENNY LIND was scrapped.  FIRE QUEEN however, was tucked into a shed at Gilfach Ddu at the Dinorwic Quarry end of the line and remained there until the quarries were closed down in 1969. 

 At that stage she was removed to the Penrhyn Castle Museum near Bangor in North Wales and she was kept there until 2024 when she was transferred to the new museum on the Vale of Rheidol Railway at Aberystwyth in Mid-Wales.  

Having seen FIRE QUEEN hidden away in her shed at Gilfach Ddu in August, 1961, I was anxious to see – and photograph - her again, so made a detour via Aberystwyth on my way home from a holiday in North Wales.  

Saturday, 11th May, 2024.  Copyright © Ron Fisher 2024.
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