Jubilee 1897
Jubilee 1897 is a large sized quarry engine built by Manning Wardle of Leeds (Builder's number 1382 of 1897) with its name commemorating Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. It was built for the Cilgwyn Quarry at Nantlle, supplementing the slightly smaller Lilla on the demanding task of hauling waste via the "Cilgwyn Horseshoe" line from the quarry to remote tips near the village of Y Fron. From 1923, the Cilgwyn slate quarry was connected to the WHR through a link connecting the above line with the line that ran from Fron and Old Braich quarries to the head of the Bryngwyn incline. In 1928, the locomotive was sold to Penrhyn Quarries and travelled to Dinas Junction on its own wheels down the incline and over the WHR, being unloaded at Penryhyn from an LMSR standard gauge wagon on 21st May 1928. The locomotive can now be viewed in cosmetically restored condition at the Narrow Gauge Railway Museum, Tywyn.
[edit] References
Bradley, Vic (1993). Industrial Locomotives of North Wales. London: Industrial Railway Society. ISBN 0-9010-9672-5. OCLC 27769657.
