Online Catalogue last updated 25th of June 2012
The 0-4-0 saddle tanks produced by the Hunslet Engine Co. of Leeds, forever associated with the quarries of North Wales, have proven to be remarkable survivors. Much loved and admired, almost all entered preservation and examples work on heritage railways the length and breadth of the country. For the first time, these locomotives have been brought together in a single volume, regardless of the quarry where they spent their working lives.
The history of each locomotive is detailed, along with a description of the groups into which they fall. The reader will discover that these locomotives may appear similar, but are far from identical. The criteria for inclusion has been drawn as being narrow gauge, built as an 0-4-0ST by Hunslet and worked for a North Wales quarry. This includes locomotives built for the granite industry as well as slate. The definition has also allowed the inclusion of Penrhyn 'main line' locomotives. Notes are included to give a flavour of the past, based on interviews with ex-quarry loco drivers, along with extracts from maintenance logs. The narrative brings the story right up to date - even the project to re-create one of the very few of these locomotives not to survive intact is detailed. Some myths, legends and mysteries surrounding some of the locomotives are explored to provide as comprehensive a record as possible.
The lavish collection of archive photographs, including rare images from the Gwynedd Archive service and the work of the late Ivo Peters, is supplemented by comprehensive pictorial coverage in preservation by the author. Modellers will delight on the section which describes and illustrates the component parts of these locomotives, along with photographs of semi-dismantled examples undergoing overhaul.
The written and photographic work of the author is widely known through his six years as Heritage Railways News Editor for Railway World magazine and his series dealing with the current British narrow gauge since issue 1 of Narrow Gauge World. His previous book for The Oakwood Press, The Whipsnade and Umfolozi Railway and The Great Whipsnade Railway, received critical acclaim.
Code No. 009808, 256 pages, ISBN 0853615756, $80.00