David Lloyd George
From Festipedia, hosted by the FR Heritage Group
David Lloyd George is the name of a Fairlie loco on the Ffestiniog Railway. For information on the person whose name it takes, please refer to the David Lloyd George page.
This 0-4-4-0 Double Fairlie is the fourth steam locomotive to be built by the Festiniog Railway Company in its own workshops at Boston Lodge and was completed in 1992. It carries its name David Lloyd George (after the former Liberal Prime Minister who was brought up locally and travelled on the FR) in English on one side and in Welsh Dafydd Lloyd George on the other side. The locomotive number is 12. The smokebox brass handrails are reminiscent of Merddin Emrys or James Spooner as they appeared in the 1880s. It is fitted with a superheated taper boiler made by Bloomfield Steel Construction Co., Tipton.
The principal stated dimensions are: Cylinders (4): 9" x 14", Nominal wheel diameter: 2' 8", Operating boiler pressure: 180 psi, Bogie wheelbase 4' 8". Because the boiler is designed to operate at a higher pressure and has a greater degree of superheat than any other double engine boiler David Lloyd George is the most powerful steam locomotive ever to run in normal service on the Festiniog Railway.
As the most powerful loco on the line, it is rare to see DLG double heading, but it does happen occasionally on special occasions or under extraordinary circumstances. It has happened at galas and occasionally as a result of a failure. On this occasion (below), DLG was the rostered train engine when the Earl joined it on its second trip of the day on a coal firing test run before running on it's own on service trains.
