All of the locos owned by the Ffestiniog are oil fired. Double headed Fairlies predominate. With two side on boilers they are impossible to fire without pulling the shovel and your arm outside the loco. With very narrow gaps much of the way this can be particularly hazardous - so oil made sense - and change most and the rest follow, even Prince, the oldest steam loco in the world still operational. It certainly makes for an easier life for drivers and firemen. Peter Cathcart Without wanting to criticise Peter I would like to make it clearer that in that a double fairlie it has one boiler but does have two fireboxes. There is a 3 inch water space between the two fireboxes. The very first double fairlie, Little Wonder was built with one firebox but this was not too successful so all since have had two fireboxes. (I am taking FR engines here I am aware of others with two boilers) Nigel PS but he is correct it is JGF! MODEL ENGINEERING DISCUSSION LIST. To UNSUBSCRIBE from this list, send a blank email to, modeleng-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word "unsubscribe" in the subject line.