Robert
Stephenson and Company - (en)
Robert Stephenson and Company was a locomotive manufacturing company
founded in 1823. It was the first company set up specifically to build
railway engines.
Foundation and early success
The company was set up in 1823 in Forth Street, Newcastle-upon-Tyne in
England by George Stephenson, his son Robert, with Edward Pease and
Michael Longridge (the owner of the ironworks at Bedlington). It was
founded as part of their construction of the Stockton and Darlington
Railway.
Its first engine was Locomotion No 1, which opened the line, followed
by three more named Hope, Black Diamond and Diligence. The vertical
cylinders meant that these locos rocked excessively and at the Hetton
colliery railway Stephenson had introduced "steam springs"
which had proved unsatisfactory. In 1828 he introduced the
"Experiment" with inclined cylinders, which improved
stability, and meant that it could be mounted on springs. Originally
four wheeled, it was modified for six and another, Victory was built.
Around this time, two locomotives were built for America. The first, a
four coupled loco, was ordered by the Delaware and Hudson Railroad.
The second, six-coupled and named Whistler was for the Boston and
Providence Rail Road but was lost at sea.
Rainhill trials
In 1829 Stephenson's Rocket won the Rainhill Trials. This loco had two
notable improvements - a multi-tube boiler and a separate firebox.
Originally angled, the cylinders were later made horizontal. The
Invicta was the twentieth, and was built for the Canterbury and
Whitstable Railway. Its cylinders were inclined, but moved to the
front (chimney) end. In 1830 came the Planet class with the cylinders
inside the frames, followed by the Patentee which added a pair of
trailing wheels for greater stability with a larger boiler. This 2-2-2
design became the pattern for most locos, by many makers, for many
years.
Long boiler designs
The increased mileage of many trains highlighted problems with the
fireboxes and chimneys. With the co-operation of the North Midland
Railway at their Derby works, he measured the temperature of the
exhaust gases, and decided to lengthen the boilers on future engines.
Initially these "long-boiler" engines were 2-2-2 designs,
but in 1844, Stephenson moved the trailing wheel to the front in 4-2-0
formation, so that the cylinders could be mounted between the
supporting wheels. It was one of these, the "Great A" along
with another from the North Midland Railway, which was compared with
Brunel's "Ixion" in the gauge trials in 1846. In 1846 he
added a pair of trailing wheels - the first with eight wheels. Another
important innovation in 1842 was the Stephenson link motion.
Into the twentieth century
Over the remainder of the century, the company prospered in the face
of increasing competition, supplying railways at home and abroad. By
1899 around 3000 locomotives had been built and a new limited
liability company was formed, Robert Stephenson and Company Limited
and the works was moved to Darlington, the first locomotive leaving
the shop in 1902.
Most railways in England were building their own rolling stock, so
most of the output was for export, from 4-4-0's for the Oudh and
Rohilkund Railway to 4-6-0 and 2-8-0 for the Bengal Nagpur Railway.
These later were adopted as a standard for the Indian railways. The
works built the first British 2-10-0 for the Argentine Great Western
Railway in 1905.
During World War I, the company devoted itself to munitions work.
However between 1917 and 1920, a large batch was ordered by the War
Office for use on the continent. From then on, business was slack, for
various reasons. Notable were thirty 2-6-0 mixed traffic locomotives
for the GWR in 1921, a batch of thirty 0-6-0 tank engines for the LNER
and five 2-8-0 for the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway. In 1936 and
1937, only forty six were built, including eleven 4-6-0 of the "Sandringham"
class for the LNER.
Mergers and closure
In 1937, the company merged with the locomotive interests of Hawthorn
Leslie and Company to form Robert Stephenson and Hawthorns Limited the
shipbuilding side continuing separately. Main line locomotives
continued to be built at Darlington, while industrial engines were
built at Hawthorne Leslie's works at Forth Bank, Newcastle. in 1938
the good will of the Kitson and Manning Wardle companies was bought.
During World War II, the plant was fully occupied building 0-4-0 and
0-6-0 saddle tanks for industrial use, with, in 1943 ninety of the War
Department's 0-6-0ST "Austerity" class.
In 1944, the Vulcan Foundry, which had been formed by Robert
Stephenson and Charles Tayleur in 1830, acquired a substantial stock
holding, and they became part of the English Electric Company. The
bulk of the output was for export or industrial use, but British
Railways ordered thirty five Class L1 2-6-4T for the Eastern region
and eighty 0-6-0 pannier tanks for the Western Region.
The last steam locomotives to be built were a conventional 0-6-0T in
1958 and a six-coupled fireless locomotive in 1959. The Forth Bank
works were closed in 1960 and the Darlington Works, continuing with
diesel and electric locos became English Electric Company Darlington
Works in 1962.
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