About

Built in 1916, this locomotive only had a life expectancy of a few weeks, supplying the front-line trenches during World War One. However, 106 years later, American Locomotive Company No.57156 is still very much with us and has more than repaid the cost of construction, following its service in both France and North Wales. War Department Light Railways No.1265 worked in various locations around France after the war, before moving to the Tramway de Pithiviers à Toury, where it hauled sugar beet and carried the number 3.23. Upon that line's closure in 1964 it was purchased by Ffestiniog Railway Society member John Ransom, who donated the locomotive to the FR in 1967.

The arrival of No.1265 couldn't have come at a better time for the Ffestiniog Railway; with passenger numbers rising sharply, the railway desperately needed as many locos and carriages as it could find - and so the ALCO (as it is known to many) entered service in November 1967.

However, the heavy demands of steaming at speeds of 20mph up the 1 in 80 gradient of the Ffestiniog Railway, were far from ideal for a locomotive designed with the French Trenches in mind ! So, between 1972 and 1984 the locomotive was rebuilt in stages with new valves, new cab and bunker and - most dramatically - a brand new design of boiler!

For many, this is exactly what the ALCO represents in the history of the FR - a locomotive modified to do a job, one which it valiantly carried out to help keep the railway running. Tales of long trains (much longer than the locomotive's supposed eight-carriage rating) are now on the verge of becoming legends !

MOUNTAINEER's reign came to an end in 2006 when, with age catching up with virtually every part and questions over the usefulness of the locomotive as a coal burner (the ALCO having been oil fired for all its modified life), it was mothballed in the dim recesses of the carriage shed at Blaenau Ffestiniog and rarely seen in daylight... until now!

With the railway's operational style now changing - and memories of the ALCO's adventures beginning to fade - the time is now right to put MOUNTAINEER back where it belongs - up at the front of Ffestiniog Railway trains again - but we can only do so with your help..!