TWO popular members of the Ffestiniog Railway’s loco fleet are on course to return to the roster – while the replica of an historic ‘lost’ Ffestiniog loco is taking shape in Darlington.
Hopes that Hunslet 2-4-0STT Linda, which last ran in March 2021, would return to action by Christmas (RM, October) were realised. The extensive overhaul, which included major rebuilding of the tender incorporating a new bunker and water tank, reached its conclusion late in November. In early December the loco was in steam at Harbour station providing footplate rides for Christmas visitors and participating in top-and-tail shuttles to Minffordd with ‘sister’ Hunslet 2-4-0STT Blanche.
The extensive overhaul of Single-Fairlie Taliesin at the railway’s Boston Lodge works was also making progress. The power bogie is being rebuilt (the first time it has received a major overhaul since Taliesin was completed in 1999) and the wheels have been reprofiled.
The boiler has been fitted with a new design of stays, which feature tell-tale holes in the firebox. New tubes and superheater flues are soon to be added followed by a hydraulic test. Taliesin has been out of service since 2020.
With these projects taking up the available space at Boston Lodge, England 0-4-0STT has not yet been brought into the works for investigation into the cause of
