:Pen-yr-Orsedd quarry

{{Short description|Former slate quarry near Nantlle, in Carnarvonshire, Wales}}

{{Infobox mine

| name = Pen-yr-Orsedd

| image = PenyrorseddBlondins.jpg

| width = 250px

| caption = "Blondin" aerial cableways at Pen-yr-Orsedd in 2002

| pushpin_map = Wales Gwynedd

| pushpin_mapsize = 250px

| pushpin_map_alt = Map of Gwynedd showing the position of the quarry

| pushpin_map_caption = Location in Gwynedd

| coordinates = {{Coord|53|3|38|N|4|13|37|W|type:landmark_region:GB|display=inline,title}}
{{gbmappingsmall|SH 508 538}}

| place = near Nantlle

| subdivision_type = County

| state/province = Carnarvonshire (now Gwynedd)

| country = Wales, UK

| products = Slate

| amount =

| financial year =

| type = Quarry

| greatest depth =

| discovery year =

| opening year =

| active years =

| closing year = {{end date|1979}}

| module = {{Infobox rail line

| embed = yes

| name = Tramways

| open = 1862

| close = 1979

| gauge = {{Track gauge|2ft}};
{{Track gauge|3ft6in}}

}}

Pen-yr-Orsedd quarry was a slate quarry in the Nantlle Valley in North Wales. It was one of the last slate quarries operating in North Wales and the last operating in the Nantlle Valley area, finally closing in 1979.

History

Pen-yr-Orsedd opened in 1816, owned by William Turner who was also the owner of the nearby Dorothea quarry and the Diphwys Casson quarry in Blaenau Ffestiniog. It was acquired on 1854 by John Lloyd Jones who sold it on to the Darbishire Company, owners of the Penmaenmawr granite quarries, in 1862. The new owners invested £20,000 ({{Inflation|UK-GDP|20000|1863|2016|fmt=eq|cursign=£}}) to expand the quarry, though with limited results; by 1871 the quarry was producing just 500 tons per year. William Darbishire took over direct management of the quarry that year and by 1882 had raised production to almost 8,000 tons.{{cite book |first=Jean |last=Lindsay |title=A history of the North Wales slate industry |year=1974 |publisher=David & Charles}}

Pen-yr-Orsedd was one of the major slate producers of the Nantlle Valley. It was the last of the Nantlle quarries to commercially produce slate, closing in 1979.

= Narrow-gauge railway museum =

Railway enthusiast Rich Morris began collecting narrow gauge rolling stock in 1963,{{cite news |work=The Narrow Gauge |publisher=The Narrow Gauge Railway Society |issue=73 |title=Twenty Five Years of Narrow Gauge Preservation |first=Mike |last=Swift}} storing many at his home in Longfield in Kent.{{cite news |first=Dan |last=Quine |author-link=Dan Quine |title=A history of Baguley 774|work=Talyllyn News |date=February 2017}} As the collection grew he sought a more permanent arrangement and in 1976, he came to an agreement with the Festiniog Slate Group to move many of his locomotives to Pen-yr-Orsedd, where he planned to set up a museum to exhibit his collection and tell the story of narrow gauge industrial railways.

With the closure of Pen-yr-Orsedd, The Festiniog Group offered Morris space for his collection at their largest quarry, Oakeley. Morris' collection was moved there in May 1978. Further collections were brought to Oakeley and the Narrow Gauge Railway Centre was opened in the Gloddfa Ganol tourist attraction.

Tramways

In 1862 the quarry was connected to the Nantlle Railway, with {{RailGauge|3ft6in|lk=on}} narrow gauge lines extended to all but the highest levels of the quarry. Most levels of the quarry had both {{RailGauge|3ft6in}} gauge and {{RailGauge|2ft|lk=on}} gauge trackwork, many with mixed gauge tracks. The Nantlle Railway connection was used up until 1963, while the internal {{RailGauge|2ft}} gauge lines continued in limited use until the end of quarrying.

= Locomotives =

class="wikitable"

!Name

!Builder

!Type

!Works number

!Date

!Notes

Baladeulyn

|De Winton