FR Locomotives as found

Hello

Maybe some of the guys who post on here can help with this question or questions. This might be aimed at roger dimmick, Ron fisher or Geoff plumb seen as I have seen a lot of your pictures from the early days of the festiniog railway preservation.

My question is when the preservationists took over at boston lodge which locomotives were parked where? By this I mean which locomotives that the original company owned were in the works, old shed and long shed etc.

Also I've read that remains of little giant, James spooner and talisin (1st) where scrapped in the early days... Just wondered what parts were remaining?

Cheers

Dan

 

Just off the top of my head, I believe Princess and Merddin Emrys were in the old Boston Lodge engine shed from when they had last worked in 1946. The boiler and power bogie of Moel Tryfan may also have been in there. Prince (dismantled) was in the works - also Taliesin (aka Livingston Thompson) I think. Palmerston was dumped in the yard - not sure where Welsh Pony was. An interesting question Dan, I'll have to get the books out! Ray.

 

I had a brief flick through Boyd - there is a photo of ME and MT in 'Boston Lodge shed' which at a rough guess might mean the Loco Shed which was demolished later (?).

 

The old loco shed still exists, recently refurbished, the long shed ( where the long shed pit is) was demolished.

Regards

Peter

 

I think I have seen somewhere a picture of Palmerston outside the blacksmiths shop, still piped to the steam hammer as it was being used as a stationary boiler.

 

http://s294.photobucket.com/user/Roger_Dimmick/media/BostonLodgeOldEngineShedInterior195.jpg.html

 

'Welsh Pony' was in the Goods Shed at Portmadoc when I first saw her in 1961.

R553. Welsh Pony at Portmadoc. April,1961. by Ron Fisher, on Flickr

Where she was when the new company took over I've no idea.

'Palmerston' was a rotting hulk down by the gunpowder sheds at the far end of Glan y Mor yard in 1960 :

R105 PALMERSTON B L 17Apr1960 by Ron Fisher, on Flickr

Doesn't really answer your question though, does it?!

 

Who cares, fascinating pics either way Ron, Palmerston looks far more of a wreck than Welsh Pony did back then.

 

Probably a left-field question, born of having small children!

In the Thomas book "Duke the Lost Engine", there is a story in which Duke is rediscovered in his shed by the fat and thin clergymen (Teddy Boston and Rev. Awdry) falling through the roof. Is there any truth in that story, or is it a conflation with another story, or what? Quite a lot of TtTE has a basis in real stories, so I wondered what the story or stories were behind that one?

Also, which real engine is Duke based on? Palmerston?

Tom

 

This small child would prefer this conversation taken to PM to prevent any illusions being shattered…

;-)

Simon

 

From what I can find on line, I don't think Teddy Boston fell through a shed roof but he did find his loco 'Pixie' in an abandoned shed at a stone quarry. There's an article on it half way down this page…

http://www.pegnsean.net/~railwayseries/msrhistory.htm

Having just pulled my… sorry my kids (!) copy of 'Duke' off the shelf there is a footnote on the to the introduction saying 'Duke looks like a real engine called Prince. You can see Prince running on his own railway at Portmadoc in Wales'.

 

It rings a bell in the back of my mind that the falling through the shed roof incident was based on a loco being found in South America (not Lew sadly).

 

So sounds the Duke story is an amalgamation of 2/3 stories than 1 outright ?, given the other two loco's from the same railway as Duke were based on Sir Haydn and Edward Thomas, do I read into that a Corris element ?.

 

Also.... 'Duke' (The fictional loco) was built in the same year as the original 'Mountaineer' (The real George England loco) was dismantled....

 

Both Corris Railway engines were dumped outside the old CR station in Machllyneth in the open, sheeted over and easy to view.

 

According to http://ttte.wikia.com/wiki/Duke_the_Lost_Engine the forword says:

Does anyone know more about the South American loco? A quick search on Google has revealed ........ nothing!

 

Teddy Boston and Wilbert Awdry were always quite clear that the story of falling through a shed roof was one of the very few complete fictions in the Railway Series stories.

 

One would guess that for preservationists (and others) going into Boston Lodge and finding the FR locomotives dormant would be quite an exciting and remarkable event, hence the translating of it into a simple story like 'Duke' wouldn't be stretching the imagination to far.

 

The artwork of the shed building where Duke was found is based on Snailbeach shed, while the location is based on Boot on the Ravenglass & Eskdale.

"Duke the Lost Engine" was published in 1970, a year after the re-discovery of Fire Queen from the Padarn Railway at Dinorwic, and I suspect that may have partly inspired the story.

I reckon the book weaves together elements of Corris, Snailbeach, Padarn, Ffestiniog and Ravenglass & Eskdale, all in a Sodor setting.

Richard

 

I didn't know that FIRE QUEEN was ever undiscovered :

R0735. FIRE QUEEN at Dinorwig. August, 1961. by Ron Fisher, on Flickr