Mr Monkey had thought that the motive power of everything in the Great Hall would be steam, diesel or electric, until he found a North British Railway dandy car. Between 1863 and 1914 this was pulled by a horse along a railway built in the bed of a disused canal running between Carlisle and a village called Port Carlisle. Nearby he found Livingston Thompson, a Double Fairlie locomotive built for the Ffestiniog Railway in Wales. It looks like two tiny engines joined together but actually there's a central boiler and firebox powering two driving bogies, which means it can take tight curves while towing a heavy load without falling off the track.
You can read about the Port Carlisle railway at the Visit Cumbria website, and about the Double Fairlie at the Festiniog Railway Heritage Group wiki.
Return to Mr Monkey at the National Railway Museum
Copyright Rik Shepherd and Mr Monkey.