Penrhyn Castle Railway Museum


The Penrhyn Castle Railway Museum is a museum of industrial railway equipment, located at Penrhyn Castle near Bangor in Wales.
In the nineteenth century, Penrhyn Castle was the home of the Pennant family, owners of the Penrhyn slate quarry at Bethesda. The quarry was closely associated with the development of industrial narrow-gauge railways, and in particular the Penrhyn Quarry Railway, one of the earliest industrial railways in the world. The PQR ran close to Penrhyn Castle, and when the castle was bequeathed to the National Trust in 1951 a small museum of industrial railway relics was created in the stable block.
The first locomotive donated to the museum was Charles, one of the three remaining steam locomotives working on the PQR. Over the years a number of other historically significant British narrow-gauge locomotives and other artifacts have been added to the collection.

Locomotives

NameGaugeBuilderTypeDateWorks numberNotes
CharlesHunslet1882283Worked on the Penrhyn Quarry Railway
Hugh NapierHunslet1904855ex-Penrhyn Quarry locomotive, restored to working order at Boston Lodge in 2012
Fire QueenHorlocks tender1848Worked on the Padarn Railway
WatkinDe Winton1893ex-Penmaenmawr & Welsh Granite Co.
Kettering Furnaces No. 3Black, Hawthorn & Co1885859ex-Kettering Ironstone Railway
No. 1Neilson and Company18701561ex Beckton Gas Works railway
HawardenHudswell Clarke1899526ex Globe Ironworks, Stalybridge
VestaHudswell Clarke19161223ex Hawarden Bridge steel works
HaydockJosiah Evans / Richard Evans and Co.18792309ex Haydock Foundry, Haydock