Template:Featured article/July 2023
Little Wonder was a steam locomotive built for the Festiniog Railway in 1869. It was the first Double Fairlie to be used by the line and it is considered to be the first successful double Fairlie. It ran trials against the England engines between September 1869 and July 1870. The development work the FR made on the design, to make it successful and the publicity this gave Fairlie persuaded him to grant the FR the right to build future locomotives of this type without having to pay him for the patent rights.
It was, however, a prototype, and as such it had design faults that eventually resulted in the locomotive being withdrawn worn out after only 13 years. Despite this, its legacy lives on in the many subsequent Double Fairlies used on the FR. (more...)