Re: New 24 in. Gauge Locomotive (More info)

"Lyd was officially named at a ceremony at Beddgelert at 1040 on the morning of 11/9/10. The naming was carried out by the families of the two project leaders, James Evans and Paul Lewin. The loco was completed at the Boston Lodge Works - the oldest operational railway workshop in the world - in Porthmadog last month after a 15 year project costing £350,000. Lyd is based on a 1925 design of the Lynton & Barnstaple loco Lew, but makes extensive use of 21st century materials and design enhancements to make it considerably more powerful than the original. Lew was the only survivor of the original L&B locomotives, being exported to Brazil after the railway closed in 1935, but its current whereabouts remain shrouded in mystery.

Lyd is now set for a mini UK tour as it visits the Launceston Steam Railway in Cornwall and the L&B in Devon before returning to the F&WHR to receive the authentic Southern Railway green livery carried by the original L&B locos. The loco will enter regular service on both the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railways in 2011, early tests indicating that the loco should be capable of hauling ten carriage trains on the FR and five on the steeper WHR."