Princess

From Festipedia, hosted by the FR Heritage Group

Click here for some more pictorial views in the life of engine No. 1

Princess is (probably) the second locomotive to be delivered. This engine, was carried by the LNWR from London to Caernarfon and then brought (on or before 18 July 1863) by road to Minffordd on Job and Harry Williams' specially built cart or wain drawn by four horses. This was the first locomotive to run on the railway and was first steamed on 4 August 1863. Initial documents number Princess as 2 but the number 1 seems to have been applied from at least 1870, as in the photograph above. The Princess was named after Princess Alexandra of Denmark (1844-1925), who had married Albert Edward, Prince of Wales (later Edward VII, 1840-1910) in March 1863.

In this picture, Princess has no cab sheet and is at the terminus of the Ffestiniog & Blaenau Railway near Duffws (Dolgarregddu). The chimney has been changed and the tender (No.6) was one of two, built for the 'large Englands' These were wooden framed and unbraked, but did have leaf spring suspension. At this time (c1880) Princess was in a poor state. The cylinders were wearing out (a copper patch had been bolted on one of them in 1878) and the wheel tyres were wearing thin. New cylinders were in hand by July 1880 and in February 1881 it is recorded as "Needs shopping".

In December 1882 she completed a major refit. The boiler was retubed with 25 new brass tubes, 10 old brass tubes, 80 electro copper tubes & 115 new steel ferrules. So costs were being pared even at a profitable time for the railway.The firebox was completely removed, the plates straightened and then fitted with new stays. The smokebox was replaced and a "sham", cast iron tank was fitted on top of the side tanks to increase the weight to ten tons and improve adhesion. A second large whistle was added and the FR standard pattern of sandpots "with brass nobs" were put on. These tubes obviously did not last as well as the previous set, as in 1887 (after this photograph) she was retubed again using the recovered tubes from Little Giant A Wilsons lubricator was put on at this time also.

The sandpots had two pieces of cast iron inserted under them in 1888 "to balance the engine'. Hence these and their successors are termed 'balance weights'.The cab was one which had previously been fitted to Prince and was transferred in 1891. The boiler was wearing out though, and in June 1893 she was withdrawn from service for a major rebuild which would take 21 months.

In March 1895 she emerged with the present all-over saddle tank and full cab and a new boiler. At the same time the name was shortened to 'Princess'. In November 1895 she was recorded as coming "off the line at Minffordd" and in August 1896 "Thrown off the Line at Penrhyn". The repairs from the latter took 2 weeks to carry out.In 1898 it is recorded "Princess & Tender – Painted all over & Tender 5 coats Varnish" clearly standards were high. A tube burst in 1904 and, although plugged, this signalled future troubles. Four tubes went in June 1905 and these were replaced with 4 of Little Giants old tubes.

There was a further refit in early 1906 then in September it is recorded "Leading axle broke at Cei Mawr with 9.40 AM train, steel appeared brittle, new axle made of Cammell Mild steel". A month later she was fully retubed with James Spooners old tubes including "old ferrules". She worked until 1919.

Boyd records that in 1922 a new Adamson boiler was fitted (purchased 1918, delivered 1921). She was back in traffic in 1923. She worked the first WHR train from Portmadoc in that year. Coomber (a photographer) records in 1933 "painted black, Bad condition but could be used in emergency, Expected to be rebuilt this winter". In fact she was taken out of service in late 1935 and repairs were completed in early 1937. Photographs show this being recorded by a crude alteration to the large oval cab plates she had worn since 1895. She was the last steam locomotive to operate on the line under the old company, working the last train on 1st August 1946 before the nine years of temporary closure.

Princess has not been restored to working order but remains as she was left by the old company in 1946. For some years from 1969 she was displayed in the open outside the Queen's Hotel at Blaenau Ffestiniog, then on a plinth at the site of the Blaenau LNWR Exchange station, and then at Porthmadog before finally being displayed inside the museum in the Goods Shed at Porthmadog Harbour Station (now Spooner's Bar) from 1981. The tender that was with her when the line closed and with which she was displayed outside and in the Goods Shed is, at present, attached to Welsh Pony.

[edit]See also

• Princess_(Pictorial_Views)
• FR Locomotives
• Locomotives Used On The Original WHR Or Its Constituents