After the “Livingston Thompson” was the last original Ffestiniog Double Fairlie to be retired due to wear and tear in 1971, continuing to run the railway with this type of locomotive was an option. Since rebuilding the locomotive would have required too much effort, the decision was made to completely build a new locomotive. This was one of the first times in history that a heritage railway had a steam locomotive built from scratch. Today there are several examples that follow the same pattern.

Since the locomotive, christened the “Earl of Merioneth”, had to complete everyday service on the tourist line, it was built with a few differences compared to its historical predecessors. The biggest difference was the significantly larger supplies, which should allow use without many intermediate stops. Oil was used as fuel to reduce the risk of forest fires due to sparks. Despite using refurbished bogies from older locomotives, it was able to haul trains with twelve cars and 500 passengers on a gradient of 1 in 80.

After many years in service, it was converted to coal-firing to reduce costs in view of the increased oil price. The chimneys had to be fitted with spark arrestors to further reduce the risk of fire. When the boiler deadline threatened to expire in 2018, the decision was the same as in the 1970s. This time, too, the decision was made to let the deadline expire and to build a new locomotive with the name “James Spooner”. Today the “Earl of Merioneth” is on display in Boston Lodge.

While there were many small standard locomotives for the narrow gauge lines in quarries, some customers had special requirements. One of these was the Moel Tryfan quarry in North Wales that had an access tunnel that required the locomotives not only to be narrow, but also to have a maximum height of six feet (1.829 mm). So Hunslet delivered two locomotives in 1902 and 1904 which were based on the Alice class and tailored to these requirements. The first one was named “Tryfan” after a nearby mountain and the second one carried the name of Cadfan, a Welsh saint.

Like the Alice class, they were 0-4-0T saddle tank locomotives. To reduce their height, the floor of the cab was lowered as much as possible. To protect the crews in the tunnel, the cab had no windows on the sides. As a result, “Tryfan” had a total height of exactly six feet, while “Cadfan” was even a bit lower. During their lives, at least “Cadfan” was once loaned to a neighboring quarry. Both were scrapped in 1941.

The North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways, which opened in 1877, were built to the unusual one foot 11 1/2 inch gauge. Their first two locomotives were two Single Fairlies, that is, with a power bogie and a trailing bogie. In 1917 both were combined into one working locomotive due to their poor condition. From 1923 it belonged to the Welsh Highland Railway and it is unclear whether they also used it on the Furness Railway and reduced their height to do so. It was retired in 1937 and not refurbished after the Furness Railway reopened.

No. 1 "The Princess" as built with side tanks

Festiniog Railway archivees

In 1863 and 1864 the Ffestiniog Railway received four small tank locomotives with an additional tender from George England. Up until this point, the line had been operated downhill by gravity and uphill by horses. Although initially locomotives were to be built with three driving axles, a design with only two driving axles was finally chosen. These initially had side tanks and later received a saddle tank. To distinguish them from the locomotives delivered by the same manufacturer in 1867, these are referred to as the “Small England Class”. Of these four locomotives, three are still preserved today, two of which are operational. A replica of the “Mountaineer” scrapped in 1879 is being built since 2020.

In 1906 construction began on the Porthmadog, Beddgelert and South Snowdon Railway, which was to become an extension of the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways. Although the line was to be electrified, steam locomotives were initially ordered from Hunslet. One these was the “Gowrie”, which was not delivered until after construction had been halted. It was named after the manager of the planned railway line, Gowrie Colquhoun Aicheson.

Like all of the NWNGR, the Gowrie was built in 1 foot 11 1/2 inch gauge. It is considered to be the last locomotive built for this company. Due to the very tight curves, the locomotive was built as a Single Fairlie. This meant that the three coupled axles were in a front bogie and the two trailing axles in a rear bogie. 

The loco was not as successful as the “Moel Tryfan” and “Snowdon Ranger” which had been combined into a single loco in 1917. The “Gowrie” was sold in 1918 and went through several owners. It was almost bought back when the Welsh Highland Railway was founded, but ultimately this did not happen. It was seen for the last time in service in 1928 and was scrapped in 1931.