Volume Twelve - Pre-Victorian to the Present Day - further aspects - Railway Magazine - Interview with Mr. Ammon Beasley - TVR - 1898 . . . .

"Ely," an early Taff Vale Railway Passenger Engine ; built in 1851 ; cylinders, 13in. by 20in. ; coupled wheels, 5ft. 3in. ; The "Ely" could not take a train of three carriages up the Abercynon bank of 1 in 40 without the assistance of a "bank" engine.

You may compare these with a photograph of the engine "Ely" which represents the earliest type of passenger engine of which we happen to have any photograph.

She was built in 1851 by Messrs. Kitson and Company, from Taff Vale designs. She had 13in. cylinders, with 20in. stroke, and four wheels, coupled, of 5ft. 3in, diameter.

She carried a pressure of 100lb., and her weight was 22 tons ; she had a four-wheel tender, carrying I think, 900 gallons of water, and as the gross weight of the tender was about 11 tons in working order, the gross weight of the engine and tender would be 33 tons.