The Irish Mail, West Lancashire Light Railway
Introduction
The photograph on this page of The Irish Mail, West Lancashire Light Railway by David Dixon as part of the Geograph project.
The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.
There are currently over 7.5m images from over 14,400 individuals and you can help contribute to the project by visiting https://www.geograph.org.uk
The Irish Mail, West Lancashire Light Railway
Image: © David Dixon Taken: 30 Jun 2019
The West Lancashire Light Railway has eight steam locomotives, four of which are in operating condition; one is currently being restored and another is on static display. Irish Mail is an 0-4-0 saddle tank, built by the Hunslet Engine Company of Leeds in 1903 (works number 823). It worked at the Dinorwic slate quarries in North Wales. Irish Mail was named after a racehorse belonging to the quarry owners and was one of the few quarry locos to be built with a cab. It is seen here standing at Becconsall, the southern terminus of the WLLR. The locomotive remained in service until the 1950s when it was partially dismantled. It was acquired by the WLLR in 1969 after the quarry closed and was restored over a ten-year period. The locomotive entered service at Hesketh Bank in 1981. Ownership is now with the West Lancashire Locomotive Trust (https://www.westlancsrailway.org/steam-locos West Lancashire Light Railway)
Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0
Image Location
Latitude
53.69942
Longitude
-2.838015