Ffestiniog Railway Welsh Pony

[John L Dobson]

There's a rather nice animated sequence giving a brief history of this locomotive, and announcing then start of her restoration, on the FR's Facebook site at: https://www.facebook.com/festrail

[John L Dobson]

The new boiler for Welsh Pony, part-assembled and tack-welded, is currently in the Welding Shop at Boston Lodge, waiting for the insurance company's boiler inspector to approve the work that has been done so far, and for him to authorise the FR's coded welder to finish-weld the seams. The steel inner firebox and foundation ring are in the foreground, The brass bezel is an original part from the 1890s, and the chalk circles on the backhead show where the pop-marks for drilling stay holes are located.

[James Patten]

Not doing copper fireboxes anymore?

[John L Dobson]

Not doing copper fireboxes anymore?

Apart from the old boilers we inherited in 1954, we haven't used copper fireboxes on the FR since the railway reopened in 1955. They are extremely expensive and not really necessary. Even the Adamsons boiler ordered by the 'Old Company' during WW2, and which was delivered in 1945 for Prince, but which stood unused until 1955, had a steel firebox.

[John Kokas]

Most likely steel was substituted since copper was considered a "strategic" metal for wartime construction.

[John L Dobson]

Most likely steel was substituted since copper was considered a "strategic" metal for wartime construction.

Almost certainly – cost would have been a factor by that stage as well.