Lilian
0-4-0ST+T 1883 Quarry Hunslet No.317
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Weight in working order: about 8 tons
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Works Number: 317
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Date Built: 1883
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Class Name: Port (Penrhyn)
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Working Boiler pressure: 130 PSI
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Original Use: Penrhyn Quarry
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Valve Gear: Stephenson's
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Cylinders: 7" bore, 10" stroke
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Wheelbase: 4'
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Tractive effort (75% Boiler Pressure): 2205 lb
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Width: 5' 4"
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Length (Without Tender): 13' 10"
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Manufacturer: Hunslet Engine Co. Leeds
Built by the Hunslet Engine Company in 1883 for use at Port Penrhyn and at the Penrhyn Quarries in North Wales. The locomotive was named after Lilian Douglas-Pennant (1881-1968), daughter of George Sholto Gordon Douglas-Pennant, 2nd Baron Penrhyn of Llandegai. Lilian was one of three locomotives built to the design known as the ‘Penrhyn Port class’; the others are Gwynedd (built in 1883 and preserved at Bressingham Steam Museum) and Winifred (built in 1885 and preserved at the Bala Lake Railway).
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The loco was out of use and in a dilapidated state by 1960 and was purchased in 1964 by Nigel Bowman, then 19 years of age for the sum of £60. Originally fitted with a copper firebox, Lilian soon moved back to Nigel's home in Guilford, Surrey where a full restoration was undertaken in the garden of his parents' home. From 1968 Lilian was kept in full working order at a friend’s farm nearby, where there was a private collection of other narrow gauge locomotives, and a short length of track which Lilian was occasionally tested.
The restoration of Lilian led Nigel to search for a site to build a railway; the eventual outcome was Launceston Steam Railway which opened Boxing Day 1983.
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A new boiler was built in-house and fitted in 1993 and to reduce problems encountered with corrosion in the future, it was decided to convert Lilian’s boiler from side-feed to top-feed. A tender was added in 2008; the wheelsets on the tender are repaired examples formerly used on wagons at the Cliffe-at-Hoo Cement Works in Kent. The springs came from a WW1 bogie, whilst her axleboxes were built, along with the rest of the tender, at the railway.
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