Ffestiniog Railway, Wales

[f1hondafan]

That's a great locomotive... it's...ummm, well... doublesided! Anyone have any info on it?

[railenthusiast88]

Hi. Its what's known as a double fairlie design. It is actually effectively two 0-4-0 engines back to back but on one set of frames but pivoted bogies. The first one at the start of the clip I helped clean last time I was there. The reason they were built was to cope with the steep gradients and they also needed to be powerful. The down side is there isnt a lot of room firemans side in the cab and firing can be interesting! Got a couple of clips of these in action.

[Taranau]

Are all Welsh trains this size?Does it have to do with the terrain.Some American trains are smaller when they're in mountainous regions.

[gofthick]

There are various gauges in operation in Wales, the Ffestiniog runs on 597 mm.

The line was built to collect slate, and quite often railways of this purpose were built in narrow gauge.

As for the terrain, it's a fairly steep climb which is why they have some pretty big locomotives.

[edwardianeccentric]

Standard gauge is the norm in Wales as in the rest of the UK. However there were many Narrow gauge railways in Wales, largely indeed due to the mountains, and generally built for industrial purposes. Most common was 2ft gauge, but 2ft 3" and 2ft 6" were also used occasionally. A number of railways in Wales today are narrow gauge but on old standard gauge trackbed, these originate in the tourist industry. The Ffestiniog is not one of them though, being the oldest narrow gauge railway in Wales!