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BS: the littlest steam engine? Wales
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Subject: BS: the littlest steam engine? Wales From: GUEST,leeneia Date: 15 May 12 - 11:07 PM A friend who is interested in Welsh culture sent me links about the restored steam engine, which once worked in a slate quarry. I believe it is the smallest (and cutest) working steam engine I have ever seen. Take a look. Show the kids. Hugh the engine I have just returned from a trip to Pennsylvania, where I saw a slate quarry, steam engines, and a Welsh flag flying over the street, so the news about the engine seems particularly apt today. (The Welsh flag was in Jim Thorpe, PA.) The TV people don't seem to understand that it's derigeur (sp) to give the number of wheels. Is Hugh a 2-2-2 or what? |
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Subject: RE: BS: the littlest steam engine? Wales From: Paul Burke Date: 16 May 12 - 02:08 AM It's an 0-4-0ST (saddle tank- that hump on top of the boiler is full of water). And small as it is, it's by no means the smallest, even excluding miniatures and models. For example, before the Hunslets, the De Wintons were popular in thge quarries. Glad you enjoyed it though, but are there any other Welsh engines for him to talk to- descendants of the ones Prince Madoc took over perhaps? |
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Subject: RE: BS: the littlest steam engine? Wales From: Desert Dancer Date: 16 May 12 - 02:19 AM Cute! Have to share with my son who grew up with Thomas & Co. ~ Becky in Tucson |
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Subject: RE: BS: the littlest steam engine? Wales From: Bert Date: 16 May 12 - 02:25 AM ll the teachers |
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Subject: RE: BS: the littlest steam engine? Wales From: Bert Date: 16 May 12 - 02:29 AM Bugger! my post just vanished. Let's try again, in dialect. During the war me skinnan an' me was evacuated to Wales. 'er teachers were really pissed that she was the only one is the 'ole school who knew what the "Draig Goch" was. Good job about the train though. |
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Subject: RE: BS: the littlest steam engine? Wales From: Megan L Date: 16 May 12 - 02:48 AM I remember visiting some of the little trains when i was about 16 they were just like Glaswegians small strong and inclined to be noisy A whole page of the little blighters |
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Subject: RE: BS: the littlest steam engine? Wales From: Leadfingers Date: 16 May 12 - 07:17 AM Especially for NON UK folk , in kent there is a complete Railway full of Small Steam Engines |
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Subject: RE: BS: the littlest steam engine? Wales From: Bert Date: 16 May 12 - 07:30 AM Way back in the late Fifties I took a ride on a narrow gauge railway from Devil's bridge, If my memory serves me right it took us into Aberystwyth. |
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Subject: RE: BS: the littlest steam engine? Wales From: GUEST,leeneia Date: 16 May 12 - 10:54 AM Thanks for the info and the links. I'd like to go to Wales and see the trains and the mountains and the music. Trouble is, there's 1000 miles of continent and a huge pond to get over first. I return from European trips absolutely exhausted. I'm trying to convince the DH that when he retires, we should sneak up on Europe by travelling there in stages. I visualize Montreal, Iceland, then hopping the rest of the pond. He doesn't think it will help. Bert, what's a skinnan? (I know what a Draig Goch is.) |
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Subject: RE: BS: the littlest steam engine? Wales From: Newport Boy Date: 16 May 12 - 12:54 PM The Vale of Rheidol is the one, Bert - runs from Aberystwyth to Devil's Bridge. Phil |
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Subject: RE: BS: the littlest steam engine? Wales From: Paul Burke Date: 16 May 12 - 03:26 PM leenia - don't use stages, they aren't very waterproof and the horses can't swim very well when they are pulling them. Skinnan blister - sliming rhang. The Draig Goch is the Welsh Red Dragon. |
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Subject: RE: BS: the littlest steam engine? Wales From: GUEST,leeneia Date: 16 May 12 - 03:29 PM Excellent advice about the stages, Paul. I hadn't thought of that. |
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Subject: RE: BS: the littlest steam engine? Wales From: Bert Date: 16 May 12 - 05:18 PM A skinnan is a sister from the rhyming slang 'Skin and Blister' Very often in rhyming slang the part that actually rhymes is omitted. A few examples... Use your loaf (Loaf of bread - head) What's the bird? (Bird lime - time) Wotcha me ol' china (China plate - mate) He's a bit of a Berk (Berkshire hunt - c**t) She's got a nice pair of Bristols (Bristol Cities - titties) |
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Subject: RE: BS: the littlest steam engine? Wales From: ChanteyLass Date: 16 May 12 - 06:17 PM Huff. Puff. Chuff. TOOT! Loved it. |
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Subject: RE: BS: the littlest steam engine? Wales From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 16 May 12 - 09:21 PM me, too, I've send the thread to a train buff friend sandra |
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Subject: RE: BS: the littlest steam engine? Wales From: frogprince Date: 16 May 12 - 11:15 PM Wot a fun thread. Apart from locomotives,if you'll forgive: an old master machinist in the closest little town to the farm where I grew up made a fully functional farm threshing engine that was less than a foot high. He would run it in little local parades, pulling him in a little wagon. It took him years of his spare time. I can't remember what he called the very small chunk-or-pellet coal he used; pea coal, perhaps? He said he would never do one that small again; he had to make up any number of tools to use to make some of the parts. He made at least a couple of one-fourth scale versions for other people after that. |
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Subject: RE: BS: the littlest steam engine? Wales From: Paul Burke Date: 17 May 12 - 02:17 AM Hugh and the de Winton run on narrow gauge track- just two feet between the rails, very suitable for quarries and the like. But Gazelle of the Shropshire and Montgomeryshire Railway- now this ran on full size track, over twice as wide. She could have shared a siding with a UP Big Boy. |
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Subject: RE: BS: the littlest steam engine? Wales From: GUEST,leeneia Date: 17 May 12 - 08:23 AM Sharing a siding is one thing, but... I was thinking it would be nice to have a Gazelle of my own, but then I realized that getting out of the way of a speeding modern locomotive would be a nightmare. Some years ago, we took Amtrak across the northern plains and timed ourselves using the one-mile grid of fields. We were going 90 mph. Bert, thanks for the slang. I was already familiar with 'loaf' and 'berk.' The others were new. |
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Subject: RE: BS: the littlest steam engine? Wales From: Dead Horse Date: 18 May 12 - 08:14 AM http://www.narrow-gauge.co.uk/ Lots of stuff to shake your stick at there. The Narrow Guage has a very interesting history and was the testing ground for many innovations. It was also used to increase mobility during WW1 by laying track in muddy, crater strewn fields of France & Belgium. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3s01i3aa7w |
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Subject: RE: BS: the littlest steam engine? Wales From: Edthefolkie Date: 18 May 12 - 01:26 PM There are twenty or so of these little Hunslet engines - see the link. http://www.quarryhunslet.mste.co.uk/public/intro.php Just to confuse everybody, new versions have been built over the last twenty years or so, and several engines have made their way back to the UK from the States and Canada recently. Notably "Winifred" - see this SUPERB shot. http://www.flickr.com/photos/40011/7204350436/in/photostream There's no decision yet as to whether "Winifred" is to be left as she is or restored. It would be nice to leave her alone as she's just as she was when she left the quarry for Indianapolis etc. in 1965. |
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Subject: RE: BS: the littlest steam engine? Wales From: Desert Dancer Date: 18 May 12 - 02:13 PM Music content! Ivor the Engine soundtrack (themes and sound effects) are available on iTunes! (Change the "gb" in the url to "us" if that applies to you as it does to me.) Psshticoff! (Sorry, this makes me very happy.) ~ Becky in Long Beach |
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Subject: RE: BS: the littlest steam engine? Wales From: Eric the Viking Date: 18 May 12 - 04:27 PM Last summer Mrs Viking and I did all the railways of Wales (and 13 castles) in a four week tour in our Romahome. I am actually going to build a 7mm narrow gauge model railway in our new home. I have most of the models ready to build packed safely away. Megan forgot to mention the "Sanday Light railway" which was the most Northerly narrow gauge in Britain until it closed down a few years ago. |
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Subject: RE: BS: the littlest steam engine? Wales From: GUEST,Pete from Wales Date: 18 May 12 - 05:17 PM Glad you guys found the link to my picture of Winifred. Draig goch is actually "Ddraig Goch" meaning red dragon as on our flag. If you are looking for small engines though, try this, on the Welshpool and Llanfaircaereinion Railway. http://www.flickr.com/photos/40011/6348370068/in/set-72157627486386347 All the best from rainy Wales. |
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Subject: RE: BS: the littlest steam engine? Wales From: Eric the Viking Date: 18 May 12 - 05:20 PM Terry, you forgot to mention the Sittingbourne and Kemsley Down light railway at Sittingbourne, also in Kent. Steam................doncha just luv it ? |
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Subject: RE: BS: the littlest steam engine? Wales From: ChanteyLass Date: 18 May 12 - 10:23 PM Dougal looks like it could be the basis for a new Little Engine That Could story. Becky, I changed gb to us and still couldn't get the link to work. Sigh. Edthefolkie, nice photos at those links. |
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Subject: RE: BS: the littlest steam engine? Wales From: Edthefolkie Date: 19 May 12 - 06:16 AM Pete from Wales, for some reason I can't get that Flickr link to work. Never mind, your shots of "Winifred" are still superb! Missed the Penryhn working by 4 years, so it's great to see one of the engines just as it was back in the Sixties. For those of you who ask "But what were those little engines FOR?", there are loads of websites and warehouses full of books about Welsh slate. This site for instance is really fantastic - Dave Sallery seems to have been everywhere with his camera! http://www.penmorfa.com/Slate/ |
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Subject: RE: BS: the littlest steam engine? Wales From: GUEST,leeneia Date: 19 May 12 - 09:20 AM Thanks for the pictures of the engine Dougal, Pete. |
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Subject: RE: BS: the littlest steam engine? Wales From: Desert Dancer Date: 20 May 12 - 01:09 AM ChanteyLass, sorry, my link had a glitch. Try this iTunes link for Ivor music and sound effects (and Pogles, too): GB£ or US$. ~ Becky in Long Beach |
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Subject: RE: BS: the littlest steam engine? Wales From: ChanteyLass Date: 20 May 12 - 08:01 PM Got it, Becky. Fun listening. Thanks! |
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Subject: RE: BS: the littlest steam engine? Wales From: Dave the Gnome Date: 21 May 12 - 09:29 AM I don't think anyone has mentioned the beautiful L'il Ratty - The Ravenglass and Eskdale 15" gauge. Not as long as some but Eskdale realy is a beautiful place and, for all it's proximity to Sellafield, Ravenglass is well worth a visit. Enjoy :-) Cheers DtG |
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Subject: RE: BS: the littlest steam engine? Wales From: Dave the Gnome Date: 21 May 12 - 09:30 AM Oh - And it is the only place I have seen an engine named after my Mother - Muriel :-) |
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Subject: RE: BS: the littlest steam engine? Wales From: GUEST,leeneia Date: 21 May 12 - 04:00 PM Thanks, Dave. Those are such dapper little engines! |
