De Winton

For the hamlet in Alberta, Canada, see De Winton, Alberta.

Part of De Winton's works on the quay at Caernarfon from the platform of the Welsh Highland Railway station

De Winton & Co (1854-1901) 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. But these quarry tramway locomotives, for which in the 21st century they are largely remembered, were just a small part of this company's engineering output.

Overview

Chaloner a De'Winton Loco resident at the LBNGR

The company had its origins in a small foundry built on the slate wharf at Caernarfon by Owen Thomas in the 1840s. He subsequently went into partnership with Jeffreys Parry de Winton and the firm developed as the Union Foundry. Manufactures included street gaslight columns and all manner of street furniture. When the Carnarvonshire Railway was being built under Castle Square, the tunnel roof was supported by iron beams supplied by De Winton's and their name can still be seen at the entrance to the tunnel, which is now used as a road underpass.

The foundry was a major supplier to the Caernarfon and Liverpool ship building industry the firm built engines up to 200HP marine steam engine powered by boilers that they also made. These marine engines influenced the quarry locomotives that they made over 60 where produced (see www.de-winton.com) over a 25 year period. They also built stationary steam engines and the engine preserved at Parc Glynllifon near Caernarfon is the second oldest working stationary engine in Britain.

De Winton's supplied the quarry industry and made whatever might be needed. At the large and very profitable Dinorwic Quarry in Llanberis, in 1870, De Winton's built and equipped an entire workshop with machinery powered by overhead shafting that in its turn was driven by the largest water wheel in the United Kingdom (over 50 feet in diameter), which remained in daily use until 1925 when it was replaced by a Pelton wheel but retained as standby. The wheel is the subject of a preservation order but in fact the entire workshop complex is preserved as the National Slate Museum.

Mr Jeffreys Parry de Winton was Mayor of Caernarfon (1870-72) when his company was one of the rising enterprises in the town. The Company remained in his hands and important in Caernarfon's maritime activities until about 1890. In its decline from that time it appears to have been badly managed and heavily committed to a French invention that failed and brought bankruptcy in 1901. Some of the De Winton works in St Helen's Road survives, since 1988 it has been the home of a local Plumbing & Heating business, before that the foundry was used as a bonded warehouse and wine merchants. It stands opposite the Caernarfon station of the Welsh Highland Railway.

The steam engine at Glynllifon was restored by the late Fred Dibnah after he was originally called to the park to quote for the demolition of the chimney.

De Winton locomotives

The De Winton records were not preserved, so the complete list of locomotives produced is not known.

Type	Name	Worked at	Built	Gauge	Disposition	Notes
0-4-0 VB	Wellington	Dinorwic quarry	1877	1 ft 10 3⁄4 in (578 mm)	Sold to Glynrhonwy quarry 1898	double-cylinder engine, double-flanged wheels
0-4-0 VB	Harriet	Dinorwic quarry	1874	1 ft 10 3⁄4 in (578 mm)	Scrapped by 1895	Single-cylinder engine, double-flanged wheels
0-4-0 VB	Peris	Dinorwic quarry	1875	1 ft 10 3⁄4 in (578 mm)	Sold or Scrapped by 1895	double-cylinder engine, double-flanged wheels
0-4-0 VB	Victoria	Dinorwic quarry	1876	1 ft 10 3⁄4 in (578 mm)	Scrapped by 1895	Single-cylinder engine, double-flanged wheels
0-4-0 VB	Padarn	Dinorwic quarry	unknown	1 ft 10 3⁄4 in (578 mm)	Sold to Glynrhonwy quarry 1898	Single-cylinder engine, double-flanged wheels
0-4-0 VB	Rhymney	Pen y Bryn quarry	1875	2 ft  (610 mm)	Scrapped	Built for Penrhyn quarry, but order was cancelled
0-4-0 VB	Lord Penrhyn	Penrhyn quarry	1876	1 ft 10 3⁄4 in (578 mm)	Scrapped 1909
0-4-0 VB	Lady Penrhyn	Penrhyn quarry	1876	1 ft 10 3⁄4 in (578 mm)	Scrapped 1911
0-4-0 VB	Alice	Penrhyn quarry	1876	1 ft 10 3⁄4 in (578 mm)	Scrapped 1912
0-4-0 VB	Georgina	Penrhyn quarry	1876	1 ft 10 3⁄4 in (578 mm)	Damaged beyond repair in rockfall 1904
0-4-0 VB	Ina	Penrhyn quarry	1876	1 ft 10 3⁄4 in (578 mm)	Scrapped 1911
0-4-0 VB[1]	Baladeulyn	Pen-yr-orsedd Quarry tramways		2 ft  (610 mm)	Sold to Glynrhonwy Slate Quarry in 1895
0-4-0 VB[1]	Starstone	Pen-yr-orsedd Quarry tramways		2 ft  (610 mm)	.
0-4-0 VB[1]	Inverlochy	Pen-yr-orsedd Quarry tramways	1877	2 ft  (610 mm)	Possible ex-Pen-y-Bryn Quarry. Scrapped 1937
0-4-0 VB[1]	Glynllifon	Pen-yr-orsedd Quarry tramways	1880	2 ft  (610 mm)	Scrapped 1937
0-4-0 VB[1]	Rhymney	Pen-yr-orsedd Quarry tramways ex-Penybryn	1875	2 ft  (610 mm)	Scrapped 1933
0-4-0 VB[1]	Chaloner	Pen-yr-orsedd Quarry tramways ex-Penybryn	1877	2 ft  (610 mm)	Sold to a private collector 1960; now preserved at the Leighton Buzzard Light Railway.
0-4-0 VB	Kathleen	Penrhyn quarry	1877	1 ft 10 3⁄4 in (578 mm)	Preserved at the Phyllis Rampton Trust Aberystwyth
0-4-0 VB	George Henry	Penrhyn quarry	1877	1 ft 10 3⁄4 in (578 mm)	Preserved at the Narrow Gauge Railway Museum, Tywyn
0-4-0 ST	Edward Sholto	Penrhyn Quarry Railway	1876	1 ft 10 3⁄4 in (578 mm)	Scrapped 1907	One of only three horizontally boilered locos known to have been built by de Wintons, all supplied to Penrhyn.
0-4-0 ST	Hilda	Penrhyn Quarry Railway	1878	1 ft 10 3⁄4 in (578 mm)	Scrapped after 1911	One of only three horizontally boilered locos known to have been built by de Wintons, all supplied to Penrhyn.
0-4-0 ST	Violet	Penrhyn Quarry Railway	1879	1 ft 10 3⁄4 in (578 mm)	Scrapped before 1911	One of only three horizontally boilered locos known to have been built by de Wintons, all supplied to Penrhyn.
0-4-0 VB	Penmaen	Penmaenmawr & Welsh Granite Co. Ltd.	1878	3 ft  (914 mm)	Remains still in situ in quarry	Out of use by 1943
0-4-0 VB	Lillian	Penmaenmawr & Welsh Granite Co. Ltd.	1891	3 ft  (914 mm)	Out of use by 1933; scrapped
0-4-0 VB	Louisa	Penmaenmawr & Welsh Granite Co. Ltd.	1892	3 ft  (914 mm)	Out of use by 1936; scrapped 1951
0-4-0 VB	Ada	Penmaenmawr & Welsh Granite Co. Ltd.	1892	3 ft  (914 mm)	Out of use by 1931; scrapped
0-4-0 VB[1]	Gelli	Pen-yr-orsedd Quarry tramways	1893	2 ft  (610 mm)	Withdrawn 1945, still intact at quarry 1952; believed scrapped, frame used as part of pit in loco shed. Subsequently removed for preservation.
0-4-0 VB	Puffin	Penmaenmawr & Welsh Granite Co. Ltd.	1893	3 ft  (914 mm)	Out of use by 1934
0-4-0 VB	Watkin	Penmaenmawr & Welsh Granite Co. Ltd.	1893	3 ft  (914 mm)		Out of use by 1944
0-4-0 VB	Harold	Penmaenmawr & Welsh Granite Co. Ltd.	1894	3 ft  (914 mm)	Out of use by 1936; scrapped 1951
0-4-0 VB	Pendyffryn	Penyrorsedd slate quarry	1894	1 ft 11 1⁄2 in (597 mm)	Privately owned; awaiting restoration at the Brecon Mountain Railway
0-4-0 VB	Llanfair	Penmaenmawr & Welsh Granite Co. Ltd.	1895	3 ft  (914 mm)	At the Welsh Highland Railway	Out of use by 1940
0-4-0 VB[1]	Arthur	Pen-yr-orsedd Quarry tramways	1895	2 ft  (610 mm)	Scrapped 1956
0-4-0 VB[1]	Victoria	Pen-yr-orsedd Quarry tramways	1897	2 ft  (610 mm)	Scrapped 1956

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i} Boyd, James I.C. (1990). Narrow Gauge Railways in North Caernarvonshire, Volume 1: The West (2nd. edition ed.). The Oakwood Press. ISBN 0-85361-273-0. 

• Rowland A. S. Abbott (1989). Vertical Boiler Locomotives. Oakwood Press. ISBN 0-85361-385-0. 

External links

• Preserved locomotive database
• de-winton home page