Built in 1864 by Fletcher Jennings of Whitehaven,
Cumbria, as Works Number 42 - our No.1 “Talyllyn” is one of the oldest regularly working
Steam Locomotives in the world. She was built specifically for the
Talyllyn Railway to aid with the construction and running of the
line, arriving in early 1865. In her early days, Talyllyn was a
very different looking locomotive. No cab or weather protection was present, leaving
the crew to battle the elements on their own! She was originally of 0-4-0 configuration, and
this led to the engine being a rough rider. She would buck and bounce when at speed,
so she was sent back to Whitehaven in January 1867, a set of trailing
wheels were fitted below the footplate. Over the next 80 years, Talyllyn
was used heavily by the railway, but by 1945, she was completely worn out. When
No. 2, Dolgoch, was sent away for overhaul, the passenger service was suspended, but
Talyllyn continued to take the occasional mineral and goods trains operating on reduced
pressure. When Dolgoch returned later that year, Talyllyn was finally allowed a well-deserved
rest, only steamed in emergencies.
This happened sooner than expected as Dolgoch
derailed shortly after her return. Early volunteer John Snell recalled “Talyllyn was no longer a
locomotive; she was a self-propelled bomb!”. With the preservation of the Railway
in 1951 and the arrival of No.3 and 4, Sir Haydn and Edward Thomas – room in the
locomotive shed at Pendre ran out. Talyllyn was relegated to the old barn next to the passenger
station... and here she sat for 6 years.
While she rested, the railway was noticed by a certain
Reverend Awdry. He transformed the Talyllyn’s No. 1 into Skarloey in his Railway
Series books, and the later TV show, Thomas the Tank Engine. Skarloey, too, was
worn out, but sent away to be repaired and made really useful and this happened
to Talyllyn on the 24th March 1957. She was loaded onto a lorry and sent to
Gibbons Brothers in England for a complete overhaul. The General Manager, Eric Gibbons,
was a keen supporter of the railway and had arranged to have the engine overhauled at
his firm. The team at Gibbons Brothers, unfortunately, were not steam locomotive
engineers and their rebuild was not perfect. When Talyllyn returned in June 1958, it was clear
they had breathed new life into a tired little engine, but not quite enough as on her first test
run, she only reached Hendy Halt before running out of steam. It was discovered, amongst other
things, that there was no floor in the smokebox! The newly returned Talyllyn
proved a challenge to fire, was always shy of steam and
became the bane of many a crew. She was stripped down in 1968, and overhauled
at Pendre under the direction of John Bate. In 1972, Talyllyn returned to service and over
the next fifteen years the team resolved many of the problems that had arisen. By 1987, she
had gained a new reputation as one of the most reliable and well loved locomotives in the
fleet, along with being the most powerful! In 2014, however, shortly before her 150th birthday,
tragedy struck. A loose nut fell into Talyllyn’s cylinder causing the right hand connecting
rods to buckle and snap. This not only put an end to their 150 year-long career, but put Talyllyn
out of action at the worst possible time.
She was rapidly sent to the Ffestiniog Railway’s
Boston Lodge works for immediate repair where new rods were fabricated just in time for her
birthday celebrations on the 24th September 2014 The original rods, and the
extent of the damage done to them, can be seen on display in the Narrow
Gauge Railway Museum at Tywyn Wharf.
So where is she now? Talyllyn’s boiler ticket ran out in September 2018
at the end of the “Anything Goes” gala. As of May 2021, she is currently still under overhaul with
her boiler at the Mid-Hants Railway boilershop, being worked on by Talyllyn volunteers in the
area while her frames, cylinders, water tank and everything else is being
worked on in-house at Pendre. Like Bousted in the 19th
Century and Gibbons in the 20th, they’re breathing new life into this
Talyllyn pioneer for generations to come.
