The Pen-yr-Orsedd Quarry tramways were the industrial

Industrial railway

An industrial railway is a type of railway that is not available for public transportation and is used exclusively to serve a particular industrial, logistics or military site...

 narrow gauge railways serving the Pen-yr-Orsedd slate quarry

Slate industry

The slate industry is the industry related to the extraction and processing of slate. Slate is either quarried from a slate quarry or reached by tunneling in a slate mine. Common uses for slate include as a roofing material, a flooring material, gravestones and memorial tablets, and for electrical...

 and connecting them to the Nantlle Railway

Nantlle Railway

The Nantlle Railway was a Welsh narrow gauge railway built to carry slate from several slate quarries in the Nantlle Valley to the harbour at Caernarfon for export by sea. The line received its Act of Parliament in 1825 and was constructed by Robert Stephenson, brother of George Stephenson. It...

. Pen-yr-orsedd was one of the last slate quarries in north 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...

 to use narrow gauge internal tramways, finally closing in 1979.

History

The Pen-yr-orsedd quarry was one of the major slate producers of the Nantlle Valley

Nantlle Valley

The Nantlle Valley is an area in Gwynedd, north Wales, characterised by its large number of small settlements.Around 80% of the population of the Nantlle Valley speak Welsh as their first language. Some of the communities came into being as a result of slate quarrying in the late eighteenth or...

, supplying over 10,000 tons of product in 1864. It was also the last quarry in the vale that commercially produced slate, closing in 1979.

In 1862 the quarry was connected to the Nantlle Railway, with gauge lines extended to all but the highest levels of the quarry. Most levels of the quarry had both and gauge trackwork, many with mixed gauge tracks. The Nantlle Railway connection was used up until 1963, while the internal gauge lines continued in limited use until the end of quarrying.

Locomotives

Name	Builder	Type	Date	Works number	Notes
Baladeulyn	De Winton De Winton De Winton & Co were engineers in Caernarfon, Wales. They built vertical boilered narrow gauge locomotives for use in Welsh slate mines and other industrial settings. At least six De Winton locomotives have been preserved...	0-4-0VB			Sold to Glynrhonwy Slate Quarry in 1895
Starstone	De Winton De Winton De Winton & Co were engineers in Caernarfon, Wales. They built vertical boilered narrow gauge locomotives for use in Welsh slate mines and other industrial settings. At least six De Winton locomotives have been preserved...	0-4-0VB			Thought to be sold to Glynrhonwy Slate Quarry in 1894 where it was renamed Padarn.
Inverlochy	De Winton De Winton De Winton & Co were engineers in Caernarfon, Wales. They built vertical boilered narrow gauge locomotives for use in Welsh slate mines and other industrial settings. At least six De Winton locomotives have been preserved...	0-4-0VB	1877		Possible ex-Pen-y-Bryn Quarry. Scrapped 1937
Glynllifon	De Winton De Winton De Winton & Co were engineers in Caernarfon, Wales. They built vertical boilered narrow gauge locomotives for use in Welsh slate mines and other industrial settings. At least six De Winton locomotives have been preserved...	0-4-0VB		1880	Scrapped 1937
Rhymney	De Winton De Winton De Winton & Co were engineers in Caernarfon, Wales. They built vertical boilered narrow gauge locomotives for use in Welsh slate mines and other industrial settings. At least six De Winton locomotives have been preserved...	0-4-0VB		1875	Scrapped 1933
Chaloner	De Winton De Winton De Winton & Co were engineers in Caernarfon, Wales. They built vertical boilered narrow gauge locomotives for use in Welsh slate mines and other industrial settings. At least six De Winton locomotives have been preserved...	0-4-0VB		1877	Sold to a private collector 1960; now preserved at the Leighton Buzzard Light Railway Leighton Buzzard Light Railway The Leighton Buzzard Light Railway is a narrow gauge light railway in Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire, England. It operates on a gauge, and is just under long. The line was built after the First World War to serve sand quarries north of the town... .
Gelli	De Winton De Winton De Winton & Co were engineers in Caernarfon, Wales. They built vertical boilered narrow gauge locomotives for use in Welsh slate mines and other industrial settings. At least six De Winton locomotives have been preserved...	0-4-0VB		1893	Withdrawn 1945, still intact at quarry 1952; believed scrapped
Pendyffryn	De Winton De Winton De Winton & Co were engineers in Caernarfon, Wales. They built vertical boilered narrow gauge locomotives for use in Welsh slate mines and other industrial settings. At least six De Winton locomotives have been preserved...	0-4-0VB		1894	Sold 1965
Arthur	De Winton De Winton De Winton & Co were engineers in Caernarfon, Wales. They built vertical boilered narrow gauge locomotives for use in Welsh slate mines and other industrial settings. At least six De Winton locomotives have been preserved...	0-4-0VB		1895	Scrapped 1956
Victoria	De Winton De Winton De Winton & Co were engineers in Caernarfon, Wales. They built vertical boilered narrow gauge locomotives for use in Welsh slate mines and other industrial settings. At least six De Winton locomotives have been preserved...	0-4-0VB		1897	Scrapped 1956
Kelso	Vulcan Foundry Vulcan Foundry Vulcan Foundry was a British locomotive builder sited at Newton-le-Willows, Lancashire .-History:It was originally opened in 1832 as Charles Tayleur and Company to produce girders for bridges, switches and crossings, and other ironwork following the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway...	0-4-0VB		1893	Withdrawn 1945, still intact at quarry 1952; believed scrapped
Britomart	Hunslet Hunslet Engine Company The Hunslet Engine Company is a British locomotive-building company founded in 1864 at Jack Lane, Hunslet, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England by John Towlerton Leather, a civil engineering contractor, who appointed James Campbell as his Works Manager.In 1871, James Campbell bought the company for...	0-4-0ST	707	1899	Sold in 1965, now privately owned and running on the Ffestiniog 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....
Sybil	Hunslet Hunslet Engine Company The Hunslet Engine Company is a British locomotive-building company founded in 1864 at Jack Lane, Hunslet, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England by John Towlerton Leather, a civil engineering contractor, who appointed James Campbell as his Works Manager.In 1871, James Campbell bought the company for...	0-4-0ST	827	1903	Sold in 1965, now privately owned
Una	Hunslet Hunslet Engine Company The Hunslet Engine Company is a British locomotive-building company founded in 1864 at Jack Lane, Hunslet, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England by John Towlerton Leather, a civil engineering contractor, who appointed James Campbell as his Works Manager.In 1871, James Campbell bought the company for...	0-4-0ST	873	1905	Sold in 1963, now at the {Welsh Slate Museum, Llanberis Llanberis Llanberis is a village in Gwynedd, North Wales, lying on the southern banks of Llyn Padarn in Snowdonia. It takes its name from Saint Peris, an early Welsh saint.According to the United Kingdom Census 2001, the population of Llanberis was 1,954...
Diana	Kerr Stuart Kerr Stuart Kerr, Stuart and Company Ltd was a locomotive manufacturer from Stoke-on-Trent, England.-History:It was founded in 1881 by James Kerr as James Kerr & Company, and became Kerr, Stuart & Company from 1883 when John Stuart was taken on as a partner...	0-4-0T	1158	1917	ex-Oakley Slate Quarry, 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...
No. 1	Ruston & Hornsby Ruston (engine builder) Ruston & Hornsby, later known as Ruston, was an industrial equipment manufacturer in Lincoln, England, the company's history going back to 1840. The company is best known as a manufacturer of narrow and standard gauge diesel locomotives and also of steam shovels. Other products included cars, steam...	4wDM	235712	1945
No. 2	Ruston & Hornsby Ruston (engine builder) Ruston & Hornsby, later known as Ruston, was an industrial equipment manufacturer in Lincoln, England, the company's history going back to 1840. The company is best known as a manufacturer of narrow and standard gauge diesel locomotives and also of steam shovels. Other products included cars, steam...	4wDM	235711	1945
No. 3	Ruston & Hornsby Ruston (engine builder) Ruston & Hornsby, later known as Ruston, was an industrial equipment manufacturer in Lincoln, England, the company's history going back to 1840. The company is best known as a manufacturer of narrow and standard gauge diesel locomotives and also of steam shovels. Other products included cars, steam...	4wDM	226298	1943
No. 4	Ruston & Hornsby Ruston (engine builder) Ruston & Hornsby, later known as Ruston, was an industrial equipment manufacturer in Lincoln, England, the company's history going back to 1840. The company is best known as a manufacturer of narrow and standard gauge diesel locomotives and also of steam shovels. Other products included cars, steam...	4wDM	226264	1943
		4wPM			Sold or scrapped