Dandy waggon
Encyclopedia
The dandy waggon is a type of railroad car
used to carry horses on gravity trains
. They are particularly associated with the narrow gauge Festiniog Railway
(FR) in Wales
where they were used between 1836 and 1863.
from an elevated location to a harbour for shipping, in this case from Blaenau Ffestiniog
to Porthmadog, Wales. In 2006 this is a 28 minute drive over 11.9 miles (19.1 kilometers), but in 1832 it was a remote mountain area. The railway was laid on an average grade of about 1 in 80. Trains running downhill were powered by gravity, with 3 stops. The total journey time was about an hour and a half. Trains were moved uphill by horses until 1863, the journey taking almost 6 hours. It was therefore necessary to find a way to bring the horses back down again.
is credited for having proposed a solution: build special cars for the horses to ride in on the way down for use on the Stockton & Darlington Railway which was opened in 1825. With improvements in the track, the horses were becoming increasingly hard-pressed. By 1827 the Stockton and Darlington Railway was in difficulties with its unreliable steam locomotives, and was on the point of giving them up. They returned to using horse-drawn vehicle
s operated by independent contractors. Each horse was expected to haul some twelve-and-a-half tons of coal, making three round trips in six days. The work was exhausting for them and they soon became lame.
George Stephenson
introduced the dandy wagon in 1828, which was simply a four-wheeled cart supplied with hay, attached to the rear of a four-chaldron train in which the horse could rest on the downhill sections. It was said that if the dandy wagon was missing the horse would try to jump onto the rearmost chaldron.
On the FR this gave the horses a chance to eat and rest on the way down, and after the slate cars were unloaded refreshed horses were available to haul the cars back to the top. On other railways the downhill horse haulage was generally shorter, occurring only along some areas of the track, but still allowed the horses a rest before going back to work.
According to the Traveller's Guide (Blue Cover)
Wagon number 50, a 4- wheel Iron Horse Dandy, built at Boston Lodge
c.1861 was still in existence and stored at the Ffestiniog Railway museum as of April 1992.
Other names for horse carrying cars are “dandy cart” and “dandy truck” they all refer to a vehicle on a horse worked railway that a horse pulls to the top of the hill and a horse rides down the hill in. The term “dandy cart” is also used to refer to horse drawn passenger trains on occasion.
.
The Ballocheney Railway used a “dandy-cart” on the two “Ballochney Inclines” each having a grade of around 1 in 23 for distances of about 1000 yards. A descending train was connected by rope and pulley to an ascending train; the weight of the downhill train pulled the up hill train up the hill. See Funicular
.
The unique geography of the Ffestiniog Railway may have had some impact on allowing this imaginative solution to be applied to a large percentage of its total haulage; a relatively long section of track, running exclusively between two points, where a relatively constant and continuous downhill grade could be maintained.
was appointed engineer. Slate trains ran from Blaenau Ffestiniog on a narrow gauge rail to the Porthmadog
harbour on the Irish Sea coast. In 1863 Charles Easton Spooner
, the son of James Spooner, introduced steam locomotives built by the George England Co. and thus ended the use of dandy waggons on Ffestiniog and began "sanctioned" passenger service.
Railroad car
A railroad car or railway vehicle , also known as a bogie in Indian English, is a vehicle on a rail transport system that is used for the carrying of cargo or passengers. Cars can be coupled together into a train and hauled by one or more locomotives...
used to carry horses on gravity trains
Gravity railroad
A gravity railroad or Gravity railway is a railroad on a slope that allow cars carrying minerals or passengers to coast down the slope by the force of gravity alone. The cars are then hauled back up the slope using animal power or a stationary engine and a cable, chain or one or more wide, flat...
. They are particularly associated with the narrow gauge Festiniog Railway
Ffestiniog Railway
The Ffestiniog Railway is a narrow gauge heritage railway, located in Gwynedd, Wales. It is a major tourist attraction located mainly within the Snowdonia National Park....
(FR) in Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
where they were used between 1836 and 1863.
The challenge
The challenge on the FR was to move slateSlate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering...
from an elevated location to a harbour for shipping, in this case from Blaenau Ffestiniog
Blaenau Ffestiniog
Blaenau Ffestiniog is a town in Gwynedd, north-west Wales. It has a population of 5,000, including Llan Ffestiniog, which makes it the third largest town in Gwynedd, behind Caernarfon & Porthmadog. Although the population reached 12,000 at the peak of the slate industry, the population fell due to...
to Porthmadog, Wales. In 2006 this is a 28 minute drive over 11.9 miles (19.1 kilometers), but in 1832 it was a remote mountain area. The railway was laid on an average grade of about 1 in 80. Trains running downhill were powered by gravity, with 3 stops. The total journey time was about an hour and a half. Trains were moved uphill by horses until 1863, the journey taking almost 6 hours. It was therefore necessary to find a way to bring the horses back down again.
Horse dandies
George StephensonGeorge Stephenson
George Stephenson was an English civil engineer and mechanical engineer who built the first public railway line in the world to use steam locomotives...
is credited for having proposed a solution: build special cars for the horses to ride in on the way down for use on the Stockton & Darlington Railway which was opened in 1825. With improvements in the track, the horses were becoming increasingly hard-pressed. By 1827 the Stockton and Darlington Railway was in difficulties with its unreliable steam locomotives, and was on the point of giving them up. They returned to using horse-drawn vehicle
Horse-drawn vehicle
A horse-drawn vehicle is a mechanized piece of equipment pulled by one horse or by a team of horses. These vehicles typically had two or four wheels and were used to carry passengers and/or a load...
s operated by independent contractors. Each horse was expected to haul some twelve-and-a-half tons of coal, making three round trips in six days. The work was exhausting for them and they soon became lame.
George Stephenson
George Stephenson
George Stephenson was an English civil engineer and mechanical engineer who built the first public railway line in the world to use steam locomotives...
introduced the dandy wagon in 1828, which was simply a four-wheeled cart supplied with hay, attached to the rear of a four-chaldron train in which the horse could rest on the downhill sections. It was said that if the dandy wagon was missing the horse would try to jump onto the rearmost chaldron.
On the FR this gave the horses a chance to eat and rest on the way down, and after the slate cars were unloaded refreshed horses were available to haul the cars back to the top. On other railways the downhill horse haulage was generally shorter, occurring only along some areas of the track, but still allowed the horses a rest before going back to work.
According to the Traveller's Guide (Blue Cover)
Wagon number 50, a 4- wheel Iron Horse Dandy, built at Boston Lodge
Boston Lodge
This article is about the locomotive works. For the station see Boston Lodge Halt.Boston Lodge is situated at Penrhyn Isa, Minffordd, Penrhyndeudraeth, on the A487 road about 1 mile SE across the Afon Glaslyn causeway from Porthmadog, Gwynedd in north-west Wales.It has a station on the Ffestiniog...
c.1861 was still in existence and stored at the Ffestiniog Railway museum as of April 1992.
Other names for horse carrying cars are “dandy cart” and “dandy truck” they all refer to a vehicle on a horse worked railway that a horse pulls to the top of the hill and a horse rides down the hill in. The term “dandy cart” is also used to refer to horse drawn passenger trains on occasion.
Horse-drawn trains
Almost all early railways used horses as the motive power for trains before the invention of the steam locomotiveSteam locomotive
A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...
.
The Ballocheney Railway used a “dandy-cart” on the two “Ballochney Inclines” each having a grade of around 1 in 23 for distances of about 1000 yards. A descending train was connected by rope and pulley to an ascending train; the weight of the downhill train pulled the up hill train up the hill. See Funicular
Funicular
A funicular, also known as an inclined plane or cliff railway, is a cable railway in which a cable attached to a pair of tram-like vehicles on rails moves them up and down a steep slope; the ascending and descending vehicles counterbalance each other.-Operation:The basic principle of funicular...
.
The unique geography of the Ffestiniog Railway may have had some impact on allowing this imaginative solution to be applied to a large percentage of its total haulage; a relatively long section of track, running exclusively between two points, where a relatively constant and continuous downhill grade could be maintained.
Ffestiniog Railway
The Ffestiniog Railway was incorporated by an act of parliament on May 23, 1832. James SpoonerJames Spooner
For the railway engineer, see The Spooners of PorthmadogJames Spooner is the director of Afro-punk, a documentary film exploring race identity in the punk scene. He produced his film mostly out of New York, having had no previous training in film...
was appointed engineer. Slate trains ran from Blaenau Ffestiniog on a narrow gauge rail to the Porthmadog
Porthmadog
Porthmadog , known locally as "Port", and historically rendered into English as Portmadoc, is a small coastal town and community in the Eifionydd area of Gwynedd, in Wales. Prior to the Local Government Act 1972 it was in the administrative county of Caernarfonshire. The town lies east of...
harbour on the Irish Sea coast. In 1863 Charles Easton Spooner
The Spooners of Porthmadog
The Spooners of Porthmadog refers to the Spooner family of Porthmadog, North Wales who made important contributions to the development of narrow gauge railways both locally and throughout the world. James Spooner, together with his sons James Swinton and Charles Easton and other members of their...
, the son of James Spooner, introduced steam locomotives built by the George England Co. and thus ended the use of dandy waggons on Ffestiniog and began "sanctioned" passenger service.