Crampton locomotive
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- For other uses of the name "Crampton", see Crampton.
A Crampton locomotive is a type of steam locomotive designed by Thomas Russell Crampton and built by various firms from 1846. The main British builders were Tulk and Ley and Robert Stephenson and Company.
Notable features were a low-pitched boiler, large driving wheels and a single driving axle placed behind the firebox, all of which helped to give this design a low centre of gravity, which meant that a very broad-gauge track was not necessary to travel safely at high speeds. Its wheel arrangement was usually 4-2-0 or 6-2-0.
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[edit] Design variations
Because the single driving axle was behind the firebox, Crampton locomotives usually had outside cylinders. However, some inside cylinder versions were built using indirect drive, then known as a jackshaft. The inside cylinders drove a crankshaft located in front of the firebox and the crankshaft was connected to the driving wheels by outside rods. Some long-wheelbase 0-4-0 tank locomotives were also built using this crankshaft system. The boiler feed-pump was often driven from the crankshaft as well because many Cramptons were built before the injector was invented.
Another peculiarity, on some Crampton locomotives, was the use of an oval boiler. This was another feature designed to lower the centre of gravity. It would, nowadays, be regarded as bad engineering practice because the internal pressure would tend to push the boiler into a circular shape and increase the risk of metal fatigue.
[edit] Usage
Crampton locomotives were used by some British railways and speeds of up to 120 km/h were achieved on the LNWR. They were more popular in France, southern Germany and America. In France the expression "prendre la Crampton" meant to catch an express. One of the French examples has been preserved in the Cité du Train (the French Railway Museum) at Mulhouse. This is number 80 of the Chemin de Fer de l'Est, the Paris-Strasbourg line, which is named "Le Continent".
[edit] Locomotive list
Approximate numbers of Crampton-type locomotives built in Europe were:
- Great Britain 45
- France 127
- Germany 135
Below is a list of British-built Crampton locomotives:
Built by: Tulk and Ley, all of 4-2-0 wheel arrangement:
Date built | Works no. | Railway | Name/no. | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1846 | 10 | Namur and Liege Railway | Namur | (1) |
1846 | 11 | Namur and Liege Railway | Liege | (1) |
1847 | 12 | LNWR | 200 London | (2)(3) |
1847 | 14 | D&P&AJR | Kinnaird | (4) |
1847 | 13 | South Eastern Railway | 81 | |
1847 | 15 | South Eastern Railway | 83 | |
1847 | 16 | South Eastern Railway | 85 | |
1854 | 17 | Maryport and Carlisle Railway | 12 |
Notes
- Namur was tested over 2,300 miles (3,700 km) on the Grand Junction Railway and ultimately purchased by SER,[1] speeds up to 62 miles per hour (100 km/h) were recorded. Delivery of Liege to Belgium was delayed, and her ultimate fate is uncertain.
- The LNWR obtained two other Crampton-type locomotives: Courier, 4-2-0, built at Crewe Works in 1847 and Liverpool, 6-2-0, built by Bury, Curtis, and Kennedy.
- LNWR No.200 London, larger boiler and cylinders than Namur. Later rebuilt as an 0-4-2.[1]
- Dundee and Perth and Aberdeen Junction Railway, absorbed by the Scottish Central Railway in 1863
Built by: Robert Stephenson and Company
Robert Stephenson and Company built a number of Crampton type locomotives for the South Eastern Railway and the London, Chatham and Dover Railway. These were all of 4-2-0 wheel arrangement with inside cylinders and indirect drive. The inside cylinders drove a crankshaft located in front of the firebox and the crankshaft was coupled to the driving wheels by outside rods.
Date built | Works no. | Railway | No./Name | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1851 | 785 | South Eastern Railway | 134 | |
1851 | 786 | South Eastern Railway | 135 | |
1851 | 787 | South Eastern Railway | 136 Folkstone | (1) |
1851 | 788 | South Eastern Railway | 137 | |
1851 | 789 | South Eastern Railway | 138 | |
1851 | 790 | South Eastern Railway | 139 | |
1851 | 791 | South Eastern Railway | 140 | |
1851 | 792 | South Eastern Railway | 141 | |
1851 | 793 | South Eastern Railway | 142 | |
1851 | 794 | South Eastern Railway | 143 | |
1851 | Prussian Eastern Railways | England[2] | ||
1851 | Prussian Eastern Railways | |||
1851 | Prussian Eastern Railways | |||
1851 | Prussian Eastern Railways | |||
1851 | Prussian Eastern Railways | |||
1851 | Prussian Eastern Railways | |||
1862 | 1381 | London, Chatham and Dover Railway | 27 Echo | |
1862 | 1382 | London, Chatham and Dover Railway | 28 Coquette | |
1862 | 1383 | London, Chatham and Dover Railway | 29 Flirt | |
1862 | 1384 | London, Chatham and Dover Railway | 30 Flora | |
1862 | 1385 | London, Chatham and Dover Railway | 31 Sylph |
Notes:
- The name should have read Folkestone but was mis-spelled on the plate. This locomotive was displayed at The Great Exhibition of 1851. [1] Bogie wheels 3 feet 6 inches (1.07 m) diameter, driving wheels 6 feet (1.83 m) diameter. Cylinders 15"x 22" (380mmx560mm). Weight 26¼ Tons.[3]
Built by: Bury, Curtis, and Kennedy, all 4-2-0 except Liverpool which was 6-2-0.
Date built | Works no. | Railway | No./Name | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1848 | 355 | LNWR | Liverpool | (1) |
1848 | ? | South Eastern Railway | 68 | |
1848 | ? | South Eastern Railway | 69 | |
1848 | ? | South Eastern Railway | 72 | |
1848 | ? | South Eastern Railway | 74 | |
1848 | ? | South Eastern Railway | 75 | |
1848 | ? | South Eastern Railway | 78 |
- Liverpool, 6-2-0, built by Bury, Curtis, and Kennedy works number 355/1848. Driving wheels 8 feet (2.44 m) diameter, grate area 21.5 square feet (2.00 m²), heating arear 2,290 square feet (213 m²), boiler pressure 120 lb/in2, cylinders 18"x24" (460mm x 610mm). The locomotive was awarded a Gold Medal at the Great Exhibition of 1851.[1][4]
Built by: E. B. Wilson and Company
Date built | Works no. | Railway | Name/no. | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1847 | ? | North British Railway | 55 | (1) |
1847 | ? | Eastern Counties Railway | 108 | |
1847 | ? | Eastern Counties Railway | 109 | |
1847 | ? | Eastern Counties Railway | 110 | |
1847 | ? | Eastern Counties Railway | 111 | |
1847 | ? | Eastern Counties Railway | 112 | |
1847 | ? | Aberdeen Railway | 26 | |
1847 | ? | Aberdeen Railway | 27 |
- Hauled the Royal Train in 1850, withdrawn from service in 1907.[2]
Built by: various builders
Builder | Date built | Works no. | Railway | Name/no. | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasmyth | 1846 | ? | South Eastern Railway | 92 | |
Crewe Works | 1847 | ? | LNWR | Courier | |
Kitson & Co. | 1848 | ? | Midland Railway | 130 | |
Kitson & Co. | 1848 | ? | Midland Railway | 131 | |
Hackworth | 1848 | ? | LB&SCR | 56 | |
Hackworth | 1848 | ? | LB&SCR | 58 | |
A Horlock & Co. | 1848 | Padarn Railway | Fire Queen | (1) | |
A Horlock & Co. | 1848 | Padarn Railway | Jenny Lind | ||
1848 | Chemin de fer du Nord | ||||
Longridge | 1851 | ? | Great Northern Railway | 200 | (2) |
1855 | Paris, Lyon, Marseille | (3) | |||
1855 | Chemin de fer du Nord | 162 Alma | (4) | ||
Maschinenbaugesellschaft Karlsruhe | 1863 | Baden State Railway | Phoenix | (5) |
Notes:
- 0-4-0 locomotives, 4 ft (1,219 mm) gauge, Fire Queen preserved at Penrhyn Castle Railway Museum. Jenny Lind named after the opera singer, a friend of Crampton's wife Louisa.
- Sources differ on how many Crampton locomotives Longridge built for the Great Northern Railway. Number 200 was later converted from a 4-2-0 to a conventional 2-2-2. There were nine similar 2-2-2 locomotives numbered 91-99 and it is uncertain whether these were built as 2-2-2 or whether they were converted from 4-2-0 like number 200.
- 40 locomotives built for the PLM between 1855 and 1864.[5]
- A 6-2-0 locomotive, converted to the Petiet system in the 1860s, withdrawn and scrapped in 1873.[6]
- In service until 1903, length 12.90 metres (42 ft 4 in), top speed 120 kilometres per hour (75 mph), weight 28½ tonnes. Preserved in the Deutsches Bundesbahn Museum, Nuremberg.[7]
[edit] See also
- 6-2-0 for Crampton locomotives in the USA
[edit] References
- ^ a b c London & North Western Railway locomotives: Introduction & pre-Ramsbottom. Steam Index. Retrieved on 2008-03-22.
- ^ a b LOCOMOTIVES. Crampton Tower Museum. Retrieved on 2008-03-22.
- ^ The South Eastern and Chatham Railway and the London , Chatham and Dover Railway Amalgamated 1899 LOCOMOTIVES: Their Description, History, distinctive features and interest. The Percy Whitlock Trust. Retrieved on 2008-03-22.
- ^ Thomas Russell Crampton. Steam Index. Retrieved on 2008-03-22.
- ^ The Crampton steam locomotive. tgveurofrance.com. Retrieved on 2008-03-22.
- ^ Petiet's French Experiments. The Douglas Self Site. Retrieved on 2008-03-22.
- ^ In the days when locomotives still had poetic names - the Phoenix. Deutsche Bahn Group. Retrieved on 2008-03-22.
[edit] Sources
- Sharman, M., (1983) The Crampton Locomotive, published by the author, ISBN 0 9509067 0 0