Robert Stephenson and Company was a locomotive manufacturing company founded in 1823. It was the first company set up specifically to build railway engines.
Contents |
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. The manager of the works for a while was James Kennedy, who was later, like the Stephensons, President of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers
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 named America, was ordered by the Delaware and Hudson Railroad. The second, six-coupled and named Whistler was built for the Boston and Providence Rail Road in 1833, later renamed Massachusetts was lost in a bog in Mansfield, Massachusetts.
In 1829 Stephenson's Rocket won the Rainhill Trials. This locomotive engine 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.
The locomotive "John Bull", now in the Smithsonian (NMAH), is claimed to be the oldest still functional self propelled vehicle.
The increased distance travelled by 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.
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.
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.
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 Street works were closed in 1960 and the Darlington Works, continuing with diesel and electric locos became English Electric Company Darlington Works in 1962.
The office block and one workshop of Stephenson's Forth Street Works in South St Newcastle upon Tyne have been restored by The Robert Stephenson Trust. The Trust lost its lease to these buildings in February 2009 following purchase of the whole Robert Stephenson & Co and Hawthorn Leslie locomotive works sites for redevelopment as the "Stephenson Quarter". The restored block and several other buildings are protected by Listed Building status but future public access is uncertain.