KS4415 Home Page
4415
is unique. It is the only known survivor of a locomotive type that
heralded the change from steam to diesel that was so dramatically to
change the structure and operation of railways world-wide. Given its
much travelled and chequered career its survival can only be classed as
miraculous.Its original trials in 1928 on the Welsh Highland Railway are well documented with reports, eyewitness accounts and photographs which reveal both its high evidential and historical values.
It is now owned by the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railways Heritage Company and is held in North Wales where efforts are in progress to secure its restoration and renewed operation.
This website describes the history and design of the loco, and sets out to chronicle the restoration process.
To quote the late Ben Fisher "4415 will never be a prime member of the FR/WHR fleet, but it is as unique a piece of our history as Princess or Merddin Emrys, and we should cherish it. When it is restored it will be able to visit other railways, and demonstrate another piece of the railway technical history of the FR/WHR and UK."
