One of the stars at the Fairbourne Railway’s Steam and Diesel Gala over the late-May bank holiday will be an American-style 2-6-2 steam locomotive, No. 24.
Weighing about 7 tons and with state-of-the-art lubrication and braking systems, it was designed in a private house in Bontddu near Barmouth, not far from the Fairbourne’s home on the opposite side of the Mawddach estuary, and constructed in 1990 in the Fairbourne’s locomotive works. It is based on a locomotive from the Model of the Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes Railroad in the USA.
In 1992, No. 24 was sold to the Bure Valley Railway in Norfolk, where it was re-gauged to 15 in (381 mm) gauge and received an improved layout of fire tubes, and later purchased by a group from the Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway in Lincolnshire, from where it is revisiting its birthplace at Fairbourne.
Another star of the Gala will be Rachel, an 0-6-0 diesel locomotive built by Guest Engineering in 1961 for the Shillingstone Railway in Dorset. The Shillingstone is a 101⁄4 in. (260 mm) gauge line, but the locomotive eventually emerged as a 15 in. (381 mm) gauge locomotive, and like No. 24, is visiting the Fairbourne from the Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway.
The Fairbourne Railway is working with the Littlehampton Miniature Railway and the Ruislip Lido Railway on a project to restore the historic Fairbourne locomotive Tony and return it to operational use.
Fairbourne is on the Mid-Wales coast, halfway between Tywyn and Dolgellau.
RailAdvent has available for purchase a three-disc DVD set of the Fairbourne Railway’s 2024 Steam Gala, featuring visiting locomotives Count Louis and Mad Bess, the latter making its first visit to the railway from the Ruislip Lido Railway. The set is available for purchase here.
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