We are delighted to expand our range of OO9 Scale Quarry Hunslet 0-4-0ST locomotives with the addition of ‘Margaret’, built originally for the Penrhyn Quarry but now a popular member of the Vale of Rheidol Railway’s fleet.
Barely larger than a 9V battery, this diminutive model still packs a punch with its diecast boiler and running plate, accompanied by a wealth of separately fitted details including handrails, valves, springs, brake shoes and cab controls. The 0-4-0ST wheel formation is faithfully modelled, with authentically-profiled wheels running in metal bearings ensuring smooth running, powered by a coreless motor with flywheel, and with a 6 Pin DCC decoder socket for those wishing to use the models with a DCC system. NEM coupling pockets feature at both ends, into which standard OO9 scale couplings are fitted.
MODEL FEATURES:
- Bachmann Narrow Gauge OO9 Scale
- Era 3
- Locomotive is Preserved
- Pristine Early Penrhyn Quarry Lined Black livery
- Named ‘Margaret’
- Etched Name Plates and Works Plates included
- NEM Coupling Pockets
- Powerful Coreless Motor and Flywheel
- Detailed and decorated cab interior
- Accessory Pack
- Equipped with a 6 Pin DCC Decoder Socket – Requires a Micro Decoder (Recommended Decoder item No. 36-571)
- Length 58mm (over couplings)
DETAIL VARIATIONS SPECIFIC TO THIS MODEL
- Open Cab
- Deep Bufferbeams
- Straight Frames
- Short Chimney
- Riveted Water Tank
- Tank-mounted Injectors
- Salter Safety Valves
- Single Smokebox-mounted Lubricator
- Blower supply fitted to right hand side of locomotive
- Tank-mounted Tool Rests
QUARRY HUNSLET ‘MARGARET’ HISTORY
The Quarry Hunslet locomotives were built by the Hunslet Engine Company of Leeds. Rather than denoting a single design, the term Quarry Hunslet refers to several different locomotive types, each built to a similar design, but with specifics suited to their intended use. The first Quarry Hunslets were the Penrhyn Port Class, built for shunting duties at Port Penrhyn, the coastal port of Penrhyn Quarry – once the largest slate quarry in the world. These locomotives sported a 4ft wheelbase and the first example was delivered in 1883.
In 1886 the nearby Dinorwic Quarry, Wales’s second largest slate quarry, took delivery of its first Quarry Hunslet, named ‘Velinheli’. Smaller than the Penrhyn locos with a wheelbase of just 3ft 3in, the second Dinorwic loco, delivered in 1889 and originally named ‘Alice’, would lend its name to the locomotive type and by 1904 eleven Alice Class Quarry Hunslets had been delivered to the Dinorwic Quarry. All were built to fundamentally the same design, although details inevitably changed over the years, but a notable feature of the Alice Class locos was the angled frames and resulting shallow bufferbeams at the front and rear. At the quarry the locomotives were moved between the various galleries and to and from works via the steep inclined planes – straight frames would bottom out on these steep inclines, a problem avoided by building the locos with angled frames.
Five similar locomotives were built for use at Port Dinorwic during the same period, these shared much the same design as the Alice Class locos but had straight frames which resulted in them sporting much deeper bufferbeams. The Alice Class also provided the blueprint for six more engines which were built for smaller concerns; the Pen-Yr-Orsedd Quarry which took three, Moel Tryfan Quarry had two, and a single example was delivered to the Dorothea Quarry. The Penrhyn Quarry placed orders for four of these smaller 3ft 3in. wheelbase locomotives too – these became known as the Penrhyn Small Quarry Class to avoid any association with their rivals the Dinorwic Quarry. Penrhyn Quarry would later order another six Quarry Hunslets, but these reverted to the 4ft wheelbase used on the Penrhyn Port Class locos; whilst very similar in design, this final batch of Quarry Hunslets were different enough to be known instead as the Penrhyn Large Quarry Class.
‘Margaret’ was one of the four Penrhyn Small Quarry Class locomotives built for the Penrhyn Quarry and intended to replace the De Winton locomotives that were becoming life expired. Works number 605, ‘Margaret’ was completed in 1894 and worked in the quarries until 1950 when she was withdrawn. Once thought to be beyond restoration, in 1999 the Vale of Rheidol purchased ‘Margaret’, but it was not until 2015 that she returned to steam for the first time in 65 years. As part of the restoration ‘Margaret’ received a new boiler and became the first locomotive to be completed in the Railway’s new workshop, which had itself been completed a year earlier in 2014. Today ‘Margaret’ is proudly displayed in the Engine Shed Museum at Aberystwyth awaiting overhaul.
