Dorothea
This is Mrs Bowman's very own 0-4-0ST Quarry Hunslet, Dorothea. Built for the
Dorothea Slate Quarry in 1901, she is essentiallty the same as the Alice Class Hunslets
built for the Dinorwic Quarry. Rescued by Dave Walker and Tony Hills in 1970. She was
bought in 1989 by Kay Bowman as just a pile of bits and has since been restored by her
to the wonderful little engine we see today. Although not quite finished yet, she is still
missing her spectacle glass, air brake gear and most importantly, her whistle! Her tempory
whistle is definitely Launceston Steam Railway history in the making! The lack of air brake
gear means for now she has to double head or top & tail with another loco in order to haul coaches.
UPDATE: 23 June 2014.
Resident driver Jonathan has just finished lining Dorothea for Kay. Scroll through the pictures below to see.
UPDATE: 31 March 2013.
Dorothea now has her whistle fitted in the correct place, on the cab roof. Kay has produced an excellent replica
of the quite complex operating linkage, see the images below.
UPDATE: 30 October 2012.
Dorothea now has all her air break gear fitted plus safety valve tubes and the all important whistle. During
half term week she has been out hauling passenger coaches solo for the first time. This visitor was lucky enough
to ride on the her footplate and has to say she performed superbly.