Ogwen was built in 1933 by the Avonside of Bristol. The loco was delivered to Durham County Water Board (DCWB) where she was number 81 and named Durham. The loco was put to work on the Burnhope reservoir project alongside (amongst other locos), Stanhope (fleet no.4). In October 1936, Avonside 2066 was sold and moved to the Penrhyn Quarry Railway in North Wales. A careful check of the loco cab will show where the late Iorwerth Jones wrote “LAST TRAIN 15.1 .65 – I W JONES”. This means that the last steam hauled train ever at Penrhyn was hauled by Ogwen.
On 4th January 1965 the BBC screened the Tonight Programme and it featured a report by the veteran broadcaster Fyfe Robertson from Penrhyn Quarry. He was reporting on the demise of the steam locomotives in the quarry that were being replaced by diesel locos in the name of progress. An American antiques dealer saw the programme, and immediately struck a deal with the Penrhyn management to buy six now redundant locos, including Ogwen; all six left the UK on 31st July 1965. Once in the USA, Ogwen was again sold, and moved to The Early Wheels Museum in the town of Terre Haute (Indiana). Ogwen was not, in the event, displayed to the public – the loco remained in storage. In March 2012, Ogwen returned to the UK, initially stored at the Beamish museum, and then (from September 2015) at Statfold. The loco then moved to a workshop where a full restoration was undertaken, with the loco steaming for the first time in September 2021. The loco was initially operated at Apedale in the guise of ‘Durham’. Over the winter 2021 into 2022, the loco gained full ‘Penrhyn’ livery and its name.
Ogwen has quickly become popular with Apedale drivers. The loco has an unusual feature – the mechanical loco brake can be operated either by a conventional hand-screw, or by a foot pedal – which allows great precision of control.
