Great British Steam Locomotives that Made History E-Book

Rosa Matheson

• Herausgeber: The History Press
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 319

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025

Beschreibung

From small beginnings in ancient times, the 'magic of steam' grew until it delivered to an incredulous world a magnificent machine: the steam locomotive – and so began what was to become a never-ending love story. Many believed the 'Age of Steam' would die in the 1960s, but the passion for these much-loved and -admired locomotives has ensured they live on into the twenty-first century, as we celebrate 200 years of the Stockton & Darlington Railway. In this exciting new approach to exploring Britain's railway history, popular railway historian Rosa Matheson examines the stories of steam locomotives that made history, from the famous and the favourites to the lesser-known or -talked about. With interesting facts and related new research and discussions, Great British Steam Locomotives that Made History is a must read for enthusiasts and historians alike, as well as for those seeking a good way into railway history and policy.

Leseprobe

Stockton & Darlington opening. (Ivy Close Images/Alamy Stock Photo)

Cover illustrations

Front: New-build steam locomotive Peppercorn Class A1 Pacific 60163 Tornado brought steam locomotives back to the future. (Photo courtesy Ian Duffield)

Back: Locomotion No. 1 – the replica built 1975 for the 150 year celebrations – in testing at Stanhope Railway Station in preparation for the S&DR200 celebrations. (Photo courtesy DJ Aerial Photography)

First published 2025

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© Rosa Matheson, 2025

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Contents

Foreword

Acknowledgements

Introduction

1 The Magic of Steam

2 Historic Policy Moments in British Railway History

3 Trevithick, the Beginning: Penydarren

4 200 Years’ Celebration: Locomotion No. 1

5 Stephenson’s Rocket: The One that Won

6 The Dilemma of Coal or Coke

7 Great Western Railway’s North Star, Lord of the Isles and King George V

8 Gresley’s Wonders: Flying Scotsman and Mallard

9 Bulleid’s 34051 Winston Churchill

10 Riddles’ 7000 Britannia and 92220 Evening Star

11 A Twenty-First-Century Steam Wonder: 60163 Tornado

12 What the People Say

Appendix: Locomotive Development and Progression

Notes

Bibliography

Dedication

To all the inventors of the railways and steam age

who played a role to bigger or lesser degree

who have been widely acknowledged or sadly overlooked.

We owe you much.

Invention: the bringing together of new thinking and practice in order to create something that did not exist before.

Inventors: people who think differently to mainstream thinking; work out puzzles; investigate the unknown; pursue their own ideas in order to create something that will bring about change.

* * *

Rarely does an invention spring full matured from the brain of an inventor, rather does it require additions and subtractions by one brain after another until at last it becomes practicable …

The impracticable of one age becomes the actual of another.

H.W. Dickinson and Arthur Titley, 1934

Isambard Kingdom Brunel: civil and mechanical engineer; Fellow of the Royal Society (1830); a giant amongst engineering pioneers in the early Industrial Revolution; voted Second Greatest Britain of All Time in 2002 for the legacy he left behind.

If anyone personifies an ‘inventor’, it is Isambard Kingdom Brunel, a man of outstanding talent, vision and boldness, who dared to go where others trembled. He is responsible for the Thames Tunnel, Box Tunnel, Maidenhead Bridge, the broad-gauge railway and Clifton Suspension Bridge – to name but a few.

Brunel (b. 9 April 1806, Portsmouth; d. 15 September 1859, London) delivered groundbreaking, iconic works across numerous specialisms, from railways, tunnels and bridges to floating docks, steam ships and hospitals. He may not have always been successful, but his creations were always memorable: they changed and shaped people’s lives in both his time and ours.

In this painting by J.E. Grigson GRA, Brunel is seen here with his usual tall hat and cigar, standing alongside some of his memorable work: the Royal Albert Bridge, Box Tunnel and the broad-gauge track. (Private collection)

Foreword

Today, railways are just part of our everyday life; we only really think about them when they inconvenience us due to bad weather or strikes, or, as in 2025, when there are big celebrations for past times. The beginnings of the railways were like the beginnings of space travel; their creators were the technological innovators, the AI of their time, taking on the people of tradition who did not want to upset or change the status quo. They provided the tools to promote and advance the science of engineering, producing locomotives that became the stars of their time.

The railways brought massive social and cultural changes, challenging common practices and the establishment, the dukes and earls, the landed gentry, the canal and road owners, who were anxious to maintain their monopoly on transport. From their beginnings, with people hanging on to Trevithick’s Penydarren locomotive, railways brought people new experiences of travel, at unbelievable speeds that got faster and faster. Trains took them to places they never would have been able to go, using wondrous structures that were beyond their wildest dreams, like Box Tunnel, Sankey Viaduct and Forth Bridge. While displacing many from their traditional work, the railways also provided new employment to huge numbers in many different ways: fireman; driver; guard; porter; stationmaster; designer; and engineer, up and down and across Britain.

It is good to be reminded of and celebrate these achievements, yet railway history is so vast that there is always something new to discover, as we have learnt with Locomotion No. 1, or to reflect on, like the part the railways played in the Dunkirk retrieval. The extraordinary response by the railways to this desperate challenge was superb, and worthy of our admiration, and I am pleased that is given mention in this book.

Pete Waterman OBEJanuary 2025

Pete Waterman, and his Guinness World Record Largest Portable Model Railway.

Acknowledgements

Every new railway book is a journey and one is always grateful for the friends who travel with you. Yet again I owe a debt of gratitude to so many who have helped put this book together; again it has very much been a team effort. A big thanks to those long-time friends who have generously given their time, read drafts, made suggestions, shared their expertise, given access to what they themselves have written, looked stuff up and sent things on such as articles and photos that might be useful; great friends like Jack Hayward and authors Ron Bateman, Tim Bryan and Brian Arman.

One of the amazing things about writing books is that that you also meet strangers who are incredibly kind and happy to help generously in the same way, such as Frank Dumbleton and Drew Fermor of the Great Western Society and Didcot Railway Centre; Dr Thomas Spain, Masterplan Research Associate National Railway Museum; Anthony Coulls, Senior Curator of Rail Transport and Technology; the National Railway Museum; Anthony Dawson, academic and early railway historian; Graham Langer of The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust; Charles Milner, Chairman of the Middleton Railway Trust; Philip Benham MBE FCILT, Chairman and Chris Nettleton, Editor, of the Gresley Society Trust; Craig Tiley, Editor of Railway Modeller magazine; and I heartily thank them for it. A special thanks for assistance with the stats tables go to Anthony Dawson; Tim Bryan; Philip Benham; Brian Arman and Locomotive Services Ltd.

While I love to see and ride a steam locomotive, I do not travel to see and photograph them, so I am immensely grateful to those enthusiasts who do and have let me use their great captures and atmospheric photographs: Ian Duffield, Howard Burgess, James Ascough, Mark Kent, Drew Fermor, Peter Stott, Gerald Nichols and Alistair Moulstone, D.J. Aerial Photography. Also to Didcot Railway Centre for photos from their archive. Thanks also to those who produce such beautiful art: Craig Tiley, Associate Member of the Guild of Railway Artists; Stuart Black Studio; and Paul Garnsworthy and Sean Bolan of the Broad Gauge Society.

One must not forget to thank those organisations that are happy to assist and share information: Swindon and Cricklade Railway; STEAM, Museum of the Great Western Railway; Search Engine of the National Railway Museum; Locomotion at Shildon; the Broad Gauge Society; and all the people who work and volunteer there. Special mention to the many thousands of volunteers in all the preserved railways around the country, especially those who have been willing to share their experiences to keep the history alive.

Warm thanks to railway modeller superior Pete Waterman, holder of the Guinness World Record for the largest portable model railway, among many other things, for his kind foreword. It means a lot to me. I am happy to be still ‘travelling’ with my editor, Amy Rigg. A huge thanks for her continued support, especially with this very challenging, extremely time-limited book. Also, to the team at The History Press who make my books look so good.

To my lovely family for their love of my work and, lastly, the most enormous thanks must go to my husband, Ian. Without his constant encouragement and total dedication to helping me make this book happen, by doing everything so I could just write, I really could not have achieved it. As the picture opposite shows, together we can make it happen!

King George V being dragged out of the stock shed at Swindon on 9 August 1968. The loco was about to be handed over to H.P. Bulmer on lease and for a publicity stunt people were invited to go to Swindon, drink large quantities of Strongbow cider, and help to pull the ropes. I took the picture holding a large Mamiya camera above my head and looking in the screen while walking backwards on wet sleepers. Note the film cameraman on the right grimly clutching his Bolex while attempting to avoid being trampled by the crowd. (Caption and photograph courtesy Frank Dumbleton)

The Winners of the ‘Name the last British Rail Steam Locomotive to be Built’ competition’.

Imagine the thrill of naming a locomotive. Very few every day, ordinary people get to, but these three lucky men did.

They were all BR Western Region workers: Mr Phillips, a driver based at Aberystwyth; Mr Pugh, a clerk in the General Manager’s office at London Paddington; and Mr Sathi, a boiler washer at Old Oak Common Depot. All three men chose the name Evening Star and each got a share of the 10 guinea prize (£3 10s each).

A naming ceremony for Evening Star was held in the AE Shop at Swindon Works on 18 March 1960. (Photo courtesy Ron Bateman)

1

The Magic of Steam

The beauty and wonder of steam locomotives has captivated people for more than 200 years. The sight, sound and smell of these ‘magical monsters’ has captured people’s minds and hearts from generation to generation, and heightens their nostalgia for bygone times.

Yet, they did not gain easy acceptance by all, as these fiery beasts also terrified and horrified people of those early days of steam. The equivalent for us today would, maybe, be the landing of someone from Mars. They faced fierce opposition from blind prejudice and fearful traditionalists, and many battles had to be fought and won as their impact was huge. They changed not just the physical landscape, but also the fabric of people’s lives, forever.

The magic was part of the wonder and awe inspired by the many developments in the Age of Discovery, which were pushing the boundaries of what was known into the unknown, using the practical to create the theory, and producing extraordinary engineering and technological advances. Machines and mechanicals became the new fascination and the way of progress and development in the new industrial world. The Age of Steam became the Age of the Locomotive, which added new experiences and opportunities to the many societal changes across the British Isles and beyond, but how did it all begin?

The Steam Engine

Before there were steam locomotives, there were steam engines. Static engines. If you were to ask people today, ‘Who invented the steam engine?’, the chances are most would answer James Watt, or maybe Thomas Newcomen. However, the first widely recognised steam machine was invented in the time of the Ancient Greeks by Egyptian-Greek mathematician and engineer Hero of Alexandria, who described such an engine in the first century AD. This engine, or aeolipile, was a simple, bladeless radial steam turbine that spun when the central water container was heated. Yet, even here, some would argue one needs to go further back – back to the Roman architect and military engineer Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, who described this same appliance in his highly regarded De architectura in around 30–20 BC.

Centuries later, in 1679, French-born émigré physicist Denis Papin FRS, was also given this same accolade of being the first. Whilst living in London, he experimented and created what came to be known as a steam digester, now known as a pressure cooker. Papin’s work was widely admired and was to greatly influence many of those who came after.

Again some would argue we need to go back, this time just a few years, to the earlier 1660s and find the stirrings of British involvement in steam with Edward Somerset, 2nd Marquis of Worcester (1601–67), a prominent Royalist in the Civil Wars, who was also greatly interested in all things scientific and mechanical. He conducted numerous experiments and recorded many in his treatise A Century of the Names and Scantlings of Such Inventions as at present I can call to mind to have tried and perfected. This was written around 1655, probably when he was imprisoned in the Tower of London, and eventually published in 1663. The most important and significant invention is No. 68. It describes ‘an admirable and most forcible way to drive up water by fire’. Charles Frederick Partington, a scientific writer and lecturer, whose work An Historical and Descriptive Account of the Steam Engine: Comprising a General View of the Various Modes of Employing Elastic Vapour as a Prime Mover (1892) is considered to be one of the earliest scientific overviews of the development of steam engines, believed this was ‘the most important invention of the whole Century’. He goes on to say: ‘Among the numerous competitors for the honour of having first suggested steam as a moving power in mechanics, we must certainly place … the Marquis of Worcester in the foremost ranks.’

This steam engine was demonstrated at Vauxhall from 1663 to 1667. When the monarchy was restored under Charles II, Worcester received a royal appointment as an inventor and builder, and on 3 June 1663 he was granted a ninety-nine-year patent for his Water Commanding Engine.1

The history of patents, like the history of steam, is said to go back to the ancient Greeks, but the first British Patent numbered 1 was granted in 1617 to Aron Rathburne and Roger Burges and was for ‘Engraving and Printing Maps, Plans, &c’. The patent was for fourteen years. This gave the rights holders the opportunity to train two generations of apprentices in the relevant art.2 Patents protected the intellectual property and source of income of its inventor; however, many of the innovators down the line of steam found patents were often obstacles that delayed or prevented development.

While some thought of these inventors as geniuses, others along the way often thought differently. One such innovator was Thomas Savery (1650–1715), who wrote of the scepticism he encountered: ‘I am very sensible a great many among you do as yet look on my invention of raising water by the impellent force of fire, a useless sort of a project.’ With a military career behind him, he sought to tackle the problem of discharging water from mines.3 His ‘useless project’ was an engine pump that raised water by suction produced by condensing steam. He cleverly took out a vague patent for ‘raising water and imparting motion to all sorts of mill-work by the impellent force of fire’.4

His engine went on to revolutionise how mines were managed and made safer; because of this his engines were often referred to as ‘the Miner’s Friend’. It was also efficient, leading to an increase in coal/tin production. Basic as it was, his engine was doubly successful as it was widely used for pumping water out of mines, albeit not deep ones, and also for pumping water into large buildings, and was used for a great many years.

A few years later it was the turn of an ironmonger, who also fabricated things as well as selling tools directly to the mines – although lay Baptist preacher and pioneer Thomas Newcomen (1664–1729) owed much of his success to his assistant John Calley, a plumber who, it is said, did most of the practical work. Calley’s name is another that has been overlooked by history – along with that of Newcomen’s wife, Hannah Newcomen, who ran his business while he was experimenting with steam.5 Independently, but again influenced by what went before, and after many years of experimentation, Newcomen invented his more efficient ‘atmospheric steam engine’ (sometimes called a beam engine) in 1710. The miners called it a ‘fire-engine’. This had a piston separating the condensing steam from the water. It was also better suited to pumping water out from the deeper mines.

The first Newcomen atmospheric steam engine was erected near Dudley Castle, Staffordshire, in 1712. At this time pumping engines were massive and its assembly required considerable management to bring material and men together. It was the first commercially practical, reciprocating steam engine and, although often criticised as cumbersome and inefficient as it burned so much coal, it was still successful and used widely. Newcomen and Calley found it impossible to develop their engine further as they were impeded by Savery’s patent. They were forced into a business arrangement with him, and even after his death had to work within his patent until it expired in 1733.

Ironically, Newcomen’s ‘steam’ engine didn’t operate using steam pressure at all; the actual work was performed by atmospheric pressure. In the Newcomen cycle, steam was admitted to a cylinder and then condensed by injecting a water spray. It is this water injection that some claim is Newcomen’s greatest innovation.6

Newcomen, however, received little acknowledgement or profit from his inventions, being overshadowed by first Savery and then Watt, who came next; yet, undoubtedly, his was a significant contribution to the evolution of the steam engine. His engines spread to the Continent and later the New World in 1753, a significant technology transfer. An early Newcomen engine from about 1725 can be seen today in Dartmouth, his birthplace.7 In 1981 the American Society of Mechanical Engineers declared Newcomen’s engine an international historic mechanical engineering landmark.

James Watt (1698–1782) was already a skilled mathematical instrument maker who mixed with scholars such as the physicist Joseph Black, who helped and encouraged his work, when he turned his mind to steam engines. In 1763 Watt examined the problems of Newcomen’s engine after mending the model owned by the University of Glasgow, where he had a small workshop. With the support of British chemist and physician and owner of Carron Iron Works, Dr John Roebuck, he experimented, modified and improved on the engine by ‘adding a separate condenser to avoid heating and cooling the cylinder with each stroke’.8 In 1776 his first engines were installed in commercial enterprises and these proved very successful for him. Then he developed a new-style engine with a crankshaft and flywheel that rotated a shaft rather than employing the usual reciprocal up-and-down motion. This, along with other modifications, led to this engine being used in wider situations like grinding and milling, and the reduction in fuel needed made it more economical too. Watt knew the value of patents. He had had to work hard to get his first in 1769 and had had to give away two-thirds of the rights to Dr Roebuck in return for his financial support. As a result, he learned to protect his inventions with very draconian patents. Alessandro Nuvolari, in his study of collective invention, suggests that so broad was its scope, ‘covering all engines making use of the separate condenser and all engines using steam as a working substance,’ that its ‘very large blocking power’ stifled the advancement of steam evolution, seeking to deter any encroachment or development by others.9 Samuel Smiles, however, said the presence of the Watt patent ‘stimulated the ingenuity of the [Cornish] engineers to contrive an engine that should answer the same purpose, and enabled them to evade making any further payment to Boulton and Watt’.10 Watt and his business partner, Matthew Boulton, had many fights against others over their inventions, Jonathan Hornblower, Edward Bull, Richard Trevithick and Matthew Murray among them. The competition was fierce.

After many initial years of hard struggles, Watt went on to enjoy boom years, manufacturing and selling his engines with partner Matthew Boulton through their company Boulton & Watt. Boulton & Watt built forty-nine pumping engines incorporating Watt’s patented separate condenser in the mines of Cornwall from 1777 to 1801. To say they sold the engines is not technically correct – as Watt himself described it: ‘Our profits arise not from making the engine, but from a certain proportion of the savings in fuel which we make over any common engine, that raises the same quantity of water to the same height’.11 Their business remained successful: Boulton was a good and astute business man, and Watt a great and fiercely protective inventor. Latterly they trained other young engineers in their workshop who would carry influence in the future.

One who fell foul of Watt’s patent was Jonathan Carter Hornblower (1753–1815), another pioneer in the world of steam engines. He was born into a world of engineers, his father, Joseph Hornblower, had worked with Newcomen in 1725, assisting with the erection of his atmospheric engine at the Wheal Rose mine in Cornwall.12 Hornblower Jnr went on to invent the first two-cylinder reciprocating compound steam engine, for which he took out a patent in 1781. This design was a significant improvement on Watt’s engine, however, in 1892 when he applied to extend his patent, because he had made use of Watt’s separate condenser, it was successfully challenged by Boulton & Watt. This forestalled any further development and effectively put an end to steam engine development until the patent expired. Hornblower learned the hard lesson and later went on to patent other inventions, a rotative engine and a steam wheel, or steam engine, and amassed a fortune in engineering.

Happily, Watt’s patent did not deter Richard Trevithick (1771–1833), who was often called the ‘Cornish Giant’ because he was so tall, especially for those times. Maybe a better title for him would be ‘Cornish Genius’, as, despite blow-ups, burn-outs and setbacks, he went on to invent so many steam-related firsts. In a similar manner to another genius, civil engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, mechanical engineer Trevithick trod his own path.

Trevithick learned his craft from a young age, through hands-on experience, often working with his father and the men in different mining collieries. He was constantly looking to improve what was already there, often remodelling or modifying the existing engines, and he gained the men’s respect for what he could do. He used his curiosity and ingenuity to explore steam and engines, and by the young age of 19 he was working as an engineer at several Cornish mines. Watt’s engines were not initially welcomed in Cornwall but during the 1880s many were installed, such was their benefit over others.

In the 1790s Trevithick was working with engineer Edward Bull (1759–98), who had improvised an engine in which the steam cylinder was inverted over the pump, making the engine much smaller than that of Watt’s, and much safer to work. It can be said that a great hostility and aggravation emanated from Watt and Boulton Jr towards Bull and Trevithick, especially as they had installed the ‘Bull engine’ in a number of mines. Boulton & Watt challenged this and won an injunction against Bull. Nevertheless, the pair continued as it was a ‘who dares wins’ situation, with many mine owners – tin and coal – seeking to erect their own engines and bypass the payment of royalties for the use of patents. It was not until after the expiration of Watt’s patent in 1800 that there was any significant legal progress in the development of the steam engine.

Trevithick is now well known for his high-pressure steam engine. J.B. Snell calls him ‘the high priest of strong-steam’;13 however, he was not the first to capture high-pressure steam – that was Scottish inventor and engineer William Murdoch (1754–1839). Murdoch worked for Boulton & Watt in many different capacities, making and erecting and maintaining their steam engines and improving them along the way.

In March 1784, a colleague in Cornwall, Thomas Wilson, wrote to Watt regarding Murdoch’s new scheme: ‘It is no less than drawing carriages upon the road with steam engines … he says that what he proposes, is different from anything you ever thought of.’ Samuel Smiles describes it as, ‘it ran on three wheels. The boiler was heated by a spirit lamp, [it] was of very diminutive proportions, standing less than a foot high.’14 Boulton also wrote to Watt with a fuller description of the model, suggesting Watt include this in his next patent, which he did. There were many local witnesses who ‘saw the model steam carriage run around Murdoch’s living room’.15This is the first recorded example in Great Britain of a man-made machine (although just a model) moving around completely under its own power. John Murdoch recalls that: ‘Trevithick and Vivian called at my father’s house in Redruth … they asked him to show his wheel carriage engine which worked with strong steam and no vacuum. This was shown to them in a working state.’16 This would have stayed in Trevithick’s mind.

In 1795 Murdoch was on his way to London to demonstrate the model and apply for a patent. This was not good news for Watt & Boulton. Murdoch was a valuable asset to their company but when he held the patent he would become part of the competition. Boulton travelled to meet him and persuaded him to return to Cornwall and carry on his work, which he did, and nothing further happened.17 Murdoch went on to more inventions with chemicals and gas but this was an enormous opportunity missed to progress steam locomotion. It had to wait for Trevithick.

So, who was Andrew Vivian (1759–1842) and why did he accompany Trevithick on his fact-finding visit? Vivian was Trevithick’s cousin, and financial backer, and, as he described himself in their joint patent application, a miner and engineer. He already had a good deal of experience behind him when, in 1798, he moved to become the captain of Dolcoath Mine, in Camborne, Cornwall. Trevithick was also working there. Davies Giddy, engineer and politician, whom Trevithick had met through a Watt injunction, also helped Trevithick, and became a lifetime confidant, with Trevithick running many ideas and information by him by means of correspondence.

Trevithick had obviously learned a lot from Watt when he had worked and repaired Watt’s engines in different tin mines; he learned from Murdoch, from Edward Bull and, like others, from all the other engines he had studied, worked with and taken apart along the way. He too wanted to invent, and when he did he went on to bring about a step change to what had gone before. He circumnavigated Watt’s patent, and developed his own engine that used strong or high-pressure steam, where the expansive power of the steam, rather than the pressure difference created by a vacuum, drove the pistons, and thereby the engine. This caused much consternation and alarm to many, who thought high-pressure steam highly dangerous and a step too far.

In 1797 Trevithick built a high-pressure steam engine working model that was so successful he then went on to build thirty full-scale examples, which were used in Cornish mines. In 1802 he built an extraordinary stationary steam engine at the Coalbrookdale Company’s Works that ran at forty piston strokes per minute, with an unprecedented boiler pressure of 145psi. When, in 1803, there was a massive explosion of one of his stationary engines at Greenwich that killed four men, the critics of high-pressure steam, especially Boulton & Watt, were very vocal. Trevithick went to inspect the machine and found it had malfunctioned due to bad operation by a labourer. He wrote to his confidant, Davies Giddy, ‘This man, seeing the engine working much faster than usual, stopped it, without taking off a spanner which fastened down the steam-lever, and a short time after being idle it burst.’ This was not an uncommon problem with men tying down the valve, and in 1802 Trevithick had incorporated into his patent a second safety valve that was not under the control of the driver.18 This engine would have been of an earlier type.

Trevithick’s stationary engines were efficient and reliable and economically viable, and were installed in a variety of different situations around the country, as shown in a letter he wrote to Giddy in September 1804:

Sir, Yours of the 13th, this day came to hand. I left Wales about eight weeks since, and put an engine to work in Worcester, of 10-horse power, for driving a pair of grist-stones, and a leather-dressing machine, and another in Staffordshire for winding coals; each of them works exceedingly well …

From Coal-brookdale I went to Liverpool, where a founder had made two of them, which also worked exceedingly well; one other was nearly finished, and three others begun …

At Manchester I found two engines had been made and put to work; they worked very well: three more are in building. From there I went to Derbyshire. The great pressure-engine I expect will be at work before the middle of October. A foundry at Chesterfield is building a steam-engine as a sample; two foundries in Manchester are at full work on them, and one in Liverpool. There are six engines nearly finished at Coal-brookdale, and seven in a foundry at Bridgenorth.

At Newcastle I found four engines at work, and four more nearly ready; six of these were for winding coal, one for lifting water, and one for grinding corn. That grinding corn was an 11-inch cylinder, driving two pair of 5-feet stones 120 rounds per minute; ground 150 Winchesters of wheat19 in twelve hours with 12 cwt. of small coal.20

While many know that Trevithick developed the high-pressure engine, few realise how versatile and successful this static engine was. What made Trevithick’s engine design particularly special was that it was as powerful as its predecessors, if not more so, but, because his did not need a constant large volume of water to cool the condenser, it could be lighter and smaller, and that gave it the possibility to be portable, which meant it could also be mobile. It was this aspect that led the way to the first steam locomotive, again to be built by Richard Trevithick.

The Steam Locomotive

While coal had been used in Britain even before Roman times, it was in the sixteenth century that it grew in use and value. In his work Towards the Age of Coal, John Hatcher says:

Between the mid-16th century and the later 17th century coal was transformed from an occasional or specialized source of heat into the habitual fuel of much of the nation. By the dawn of the 18th century coal output in Britain was many times greater than that in the whole of the rest of the world, and the firm foundations which were to underpin the fuelling of the industrial revolution had been laid.

Undoubtedly it was the need to mine coal that drove much of the experimentation that led to steam engines to pump the waters from the mines and later work the machinery used within the mines, and it was the need to move that coal that led on to steam locomotives, to transport it more cheaply and easily than using horses to pull loaded waggons.

Primitive wooden ‘waggon-ways’ gave way to ‘plateways’: wood with a thin cover or ‘plating’ of iron to prolong their use. By the mid-eighteenth century wooden wheels were being replaced by iron ones, and then the plateways by iron rails, hence the new name of ‘rail-ways’. Rails, with their strength and/or suitability for carrying weights, whether loaded waggons or steam engines, played an intrinsic role in the development of the steam locomotive, for better or, sometimes sadly, for worse. This is what Maurice Kirby calls the Achilles’ heel of early locomotives21 such as Trevithick’s Penydarren: the ratio of weight in relation to track adequacy.22 The obvious solution was to improve the weight and design of the track, but for the owners it would be a big outlay for a still unproven return on investments. The weakness of, and necessary investment in, improving the track acted as a deterrent to further locomotive development. That had to wait its time.

The steam engine had gone through a long process of change and reinvention through centuries, until it was the time of mining engineer Richard Trevithick, who created the high-pressure, small, light and portable version. The next step was the steam locomotive, an engine that moved by its own power! What has to be remembered about these early creations is that, every time, every part – cylinder, firebox, wheels, nuts, bolts, rods, pistons – all