Firedrake files No.7 - Festiniog Fairlies
Merddin Emrys at Porthamdog station, June 2012 I've always been mildly fascinated by articulated steam locomotives. How do they keep the steam leaking out when they go round corners? But - having been brought up on the Rev Awdry's railway stories - Fairlie engines bothered me a bit. They were siamese versions of the twin engines and would surely be arguing all the time and not much of a Really Useful Engine. Or would that be engines? However, now that the Skarloey Railway has its own Double Fairlie in the shape and form of Mighty Mac, I am more comfortable with engines that are literally a steam locomotive equivalent of Dr Doolittle's push-me-pull-you and was recently lucky enough to see both Double and Single varieties in action on the Festiniog Railway . The Festiniog is the spiritual home of the Fairlie locomotive. Although the prototype Fairlies ran in the UK, they were most successful abroad where steep and windy conditions prevailed. The Festiniog was the ...