Penrhyn Quarry Railway De Winton slate wagon
MPM6 • by Meridian ModelsHistory
The Penrhyn Quarry Railway (1879 - 1962) conveyed dressed slate to Porth Penrhyn in iron framed wagons with ‘crate’ style bodies. The development of this type of design may be credited to the Quarry Railway and its forebears. The builders, De Winton of Caernarvon, famous for their vertical boilered locomotives and also the builders of the workmen’s opens (kit MPM3 + MPM3/3), produced some 200 slate wagons for the Penrhyn from 1878 - 1881. These ‘fifth phase’ wagons (see ‘Penrhyn Quarry Railways’, J.I.C. Boyd, Oakwood Press, 1985) were produced in three batches, early (140 wagons), middle (app. 20) and late (40). They were fit- ted with sprung buffer/drawgear and 2 wheel, later 4 wheel, brakes. A feature of Penrhyn slate wagons was the fitting of internal wooden ‘buffing’ strakes, this was to minimise dam- age to the load when in transit down inclines.
In later years, the workshops at Coed-y-Parc removed the 2 wheel brakes that were fitted to early and middle batch wagons. This and the numerous alterations carried out to keep the vehicles available for service can be noted. Our model is of wagon no. 10 built 1880 as extant in a private collection. Other examples may be viewed at both Amberley Chalk Pits Museum and Penrhyn Castle Museum.
Please note this is a scale model for adult collectors, and not intended for children under 14 years of age.