The Avonside Locomotive Works was a

locomotive A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the Power (physics), motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, Motor coach (rail), motor ...

manufacturer on Filwood Road,

Fishponds Fishponds is a large suburb in the north-east of the English city of Bristol, about from the city centre. It has two large Victorian-era parks: Eastville Park and Vassall's Park (once the Vassall Family estate, also known as Oldbury Court). T ...

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. A nearby locomotive builder was

Peckett and Sons Peckett and Sons was a locomotive manufacturer at the Atlas Locomotive Works on Deep Pit Road between Fishponds and St. George, Bristol, England. Fox, Walker and Company The company began trading in 1864 at the Atlas Engine Works, St. George, ...

located on Deep Pit Road between Fishponds and

St George Saint George (Greek language, Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin language, Latin: Georgius, Arabic language, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christians, Christian who is venerated as a sa ...

The new company

The original

Avonside Engine Company The Avonside Engine Company was a locomotive manufacturer in Avon Street, St. Philip's, Bristol, England between 1864 and 1934. However the business originated with an earlier enterprise Henry Stothert and Company. Origins The firm was original ...

was based in St Philips, Bristol, and founded in 1837 as Henry Stothert and Company. This firm had got into financial difficulties and was liquidated in the 1880s. A new company was formed using the Avonside name as the Avonside Locomotive Works, initially at St Philips, before the company moved to Fishponds in 1905. The capital for the new factory in Fishponds was provided by Ronald Murray, and the facility was set up to build 16 locomotives a year. The company used the shunting line into

Fishponds railway station Fishponds railway station was a station in Fishponds, Bristol, England, a victim of Dr Beeching's cuts in the 1960s. Fishponds station was just south of where Morrisons supermarket car park is today. The railway line was built in 1835 for tr ...

and onto the Midland line in order to get their engines onto the mainline and onto their customers.

Locomotive production

In 1882 Avonside made the first of the unusual

Guinness Guinness () is an Irish dry stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness at St. James's Gate, Dublin, Ireland, in 1759. It is one of the most successful alcohol brands worldwide, brewed in almost 50 countries, and available in ove ...

-designed locomotives for shunting in their brewery either on the narrow gauge, or in converter bogies on the standard gauge. The engine was a success, but the remainder were built by William Spence in Dublin. The company carried on the previous firm's policy of concentrating on smaller engine types of various gauges, and saw some success in exporting their locomotives all over the world as far afield as

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

. One such customer was the Guaqui–

La Paz La Paz (), officially known as Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Spanish pronunciation: ), is the seat of government of the Bolivia, Plurinational State of Bolivia. With an estimated 816,044 residents as of 2020, La Paz is the List of Bolivian cities ...

Railway in

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

. Other engines built for overseas included a

Heisler locomotive The Heisler locomotive is one of the three major types of geared steam locomotives and the last to be patented. Charles L. Heisler received a patent for the design in 1892, following the construction of a prototype in 1891. Somewhat similar to ...

, developed for use on sugar estates in hot climes. Closer to home, locomotives were supplied to the

War Department War Department may refer to: * War Department (United Kingdom) * United States Department of War (1789–1947) See also * War Office, a former department of the British Government * Ministry of defence * Ministry of War * Ministry of Defence * Dep ...

in 1915, fitted with

Parsons Parsons may refer to: Places In the United States: * Parsons, Kansas, a city * Parsons, Missouri, an unincorporated community * Parsons, Tennessee, a city * Parsons, West Virginia, a town * Camp Parsons, a Boy Scout camp in the state of Washingt ...

four-cylinder internal combustion engines. The type was popular,

Cadburys Cadbury, formerly Cadbury's and Cadbury Schweppes, is a British multinational confectionery company fully owned by Mondelez International (originally Kraft Foods) since 2010. It is the second largest confectionery brand in the world after M ...

Bournville Bournville () is a model village on the southwest side of Birmingham, England, founded by the Quaker Cadbury family for employees at its Cadbury's factory, and designed to be a "garden" (or "model") village where the sale of alcohol was forbidd ...

ordered an in 1926 and the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

were supplied with six s in the 1920s. The Avonside Locomotive Works was badly affected by the 1930s

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

and went into voluntary liquidation in November 1934. The Fishponds plant and buildings were sold off in 1935 and the goodwill, drawing and patterns purchased by the

Hunslet Engine Company The Hunslet Engine Company is a locomotive-building company, founded in 1864 in Hunslet, England. It manufactured steam locomotives for over 100 years and currently manufactures diesel shunting locomotives. The company is part of Ed Murray & S ...

Surviving Fishponds-built Avonside locomotives

Several Fishponds-built Avonside locomotives remain, including: *Avonside , built in 1918 for the Avonmouth Imperial Smelting Works. It was retired in 1972 and purchased by the Avon Valley Railway where it is currently being restored. It now carries the name "Edwin Hulse". *None of the former GWR Avonside (1101 Class) survived, but a similar loco, built for Cadbury, is on display at

Tyseley Locomotive Works Tyseley Locomotive Works, formerly the Birmingham Railway Museum, is the engineering arm of steam railtour promoter Vintage Trains based in Birmingham, England. It occupies part of the former Great Western Railway's Tyseley depot, built in 19 ...

* gauge Heisler-type articulated, geared privately owned by Peter Rampton. Not on public display. *''Elidir'' a , one of Avonside's last locomotives built in 1933. Returned from preservation in Canada in 2006 and is now at the

Leighton Buzzard Light Railway The Leighton Buzzard Light Railway (LBLR) is a light railway in Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire, England. It operates on narrow-gauge track and is just under long. The line was built after the First World War to serve sand quarries north of ...

*Avonside 1563/1908 is a standard gauge under restoration at the

Foxfield Light Railway The Foxfield Railway is a preserved standard gauge line located south east of Stoke-on-Trent. The line was built in 1893 to serve the colliery at Dilhorne on the Cheadle Coalfield. It joined the North Staffordshire Railway line near Blythe B ...

*Avonside (works no. 1764) "Portbury", built 1917 for the Inland Waterways and Docks (War Department). Acquired by Bristol Corporation Docks after the war and numbered S3. Donated to Bristol Museums she was restored to running condition in 1988. She is now in her original IW & D grey livery, No. 34. Avonside locomotives preserved in

include: * Avonside #2049 from 1930, , {{whyte, 2-8-0 FCG #8. Today she's static at Guaqui Locomotive Shed in

Guaqui Guaqui is a railhead and port in Bolivia on Lake Titicaca. A ferry (a car float) connects with the Peruvian railhead and port on Puno. It served as location of Inca ruins prior to the arrival of the Spanish. The towns current church sites on what ...

. Her wheels, cylinders and the frontal parts of its frame are missing.

References

*John Bartlett (2004). ''Images of England, Fishponds'' *Mark Smither (1993). ''Backtrack, The Avonside Engine Company of Bristol, 181-7'' *Peter Davies (1994). ''Backtrack, Avonside Engine Co, 274-8''

External links

Avon Valley RailwayGloucestershire LXXII.SW, Revised: 1938, Published: ca. 1945
OS 6-inch maps Locomotive manufacturers of the United Kingdom Defunct companies based in Bristol Manufacturing companies based in Bristol