Boulton's Siding was a British locomotive-hire business owned by

Isaac Watt Boulton Isaac Watt Boulton (1823–1899) was a British engineer and founder of the locomotive-hire business known as Boulton's Siding. Family history Isaac Boulton was born at Stockport. He was the son of John Boulton of Glossop who was related to Matt ...

and situated alongside the

Oldham Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, wh ...

branch of the

Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway The Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MS&LR) was formed in 1847 when the Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway joined with authorised but unbuilt railway companies, forming a proposed network from Manchester to Grimsb ...

Ashton-under-Lyne Ashton-under-Lyne is a market town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. The population was 45,198 at the 2011 census. Historically in Lancashire, it is on the north bank of the River Tame, in the foothills of the Pennines, east of Manche ...

. It operated from 1864 to 1898.

Overview

In the 1860s, established railway companies were replacing their small

2-2-0 Under Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 2-2-0 represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, two powered driving wheels on one axle, and no trailing wheels. This configuration, which became very p ...

and

0-4-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents one of the simplest possible types, that with two axles and four coupled wheels, all of which are driven. The wheels on the earliest four-coupled locomotives were ...

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

s with larger, more modern machines. Mr I. W. Boulton took advantage of this by buying up some of the old locomotives, modifying them in his workshop, and hiring them out to contractors for use on

civil engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewage ...

projects, including the building of new railways. The usual modifications were to fit smaller

driving wheel On a steam locomotive, a driving wheel is a powered wheel which is driven by the locomotive's pistons (or turbine, in the case of a steam turbine locomotive). On a conventional, non-articulated locomotive, the driving wheels are all coupled ...

s (to increase

tractive effort As used in mechanical engineering, the term tractive force can either refer to the total traction a vehicle exerts on a surface, or the amount of the total traction that is parallel to the direction of motion. In railway engineering, the term tr ...

) and to convert

tender locomotive A tender or coal-car (US only) is a special rail vehicle hauled by a steam locomotive containing its fuel (wood, coal, oil or torrefied biomass) and water. Steam locomotives consume large quantities of water compared to the quantity of fuel, so ...

s to

tank locomotive A tank locomotive or tank engine is a steam locomotive that carries its water in one or more on-board water tanks, instead of a more traditional tender. Most tank engines also have bunkers (or fuel tanks) to hold fuel; in a tender-tank locom ...

s. By the 1880s, the hire business was declining so Mr Boulton started building new locomotives. He used his own patent design of

boiler A boiler is a closed vessel in which fluid (generally water) is heated. The fluid does not necessarily boil. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications, including water heating, central h ...

which had a single large flue with cross water-tubes. This was, essentially, a horizontal predecessor of the vertical water-tube boilers later used in Sentinel Steam Waggons. Although Boulton's boilers steamed well, they were difficult to repair so they never became popular. The business declined during the 1890s and closed in 1898. Mr Boulton died in 1899.

Sources

* ''The Chronicles of Boulton's Siding'' by

Alfred Rosling Bennett Alfred Rosling Bennett (1850 in Islington, London – 24 May 1928 in Matlock, Derbyshire) was an English electrical engineer and writer. Career A. R. Bennett studied at Belle Vue Academy, Greenwich, London. He then took a job with the Indian g ...

, first published by the

Locomotive Publishing Company The Locomotive Publishing Company was an English publishing house, specialising in railway topics. It was noted for publishing '' Locomotive Magazine'', amongst many other highly regarded titles. It was also notable as one of the first stock pho ...

in 1927, new impression by

David & Charles David & Charles Ltd is an English publishing company. It is the owner of the David & Charles imprint, which specialises in craft and lifestyle publishing. David and Charles Ltd acts as distributor for all David and Charles Ltd books and cont ...

1971, {{ISBN, 0-7153-5318-7 ;Contents of the book : Chapter I:

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...

locomotives: : Chapter II:

Grand Junction Railway The Grand Junction Railway (GJR) was an early railway company in the United Kingdom, which existed between 1833 and 1846 when it was amalgamated with other railways to form the London and North Western Railway. The line built by the company w ...

locomotive "Shark, No. 3": : Chapter III: Original engine of the Great Central Railway "Python, No.1": : Chapter IV: Engines built by

Sharp, Roberts and Co. Sharp, Stewart and Company was a steam locomotive manufacturer, initially located in Manchester, England. The company was formed in 1843 upon the demise of Sharp, Roberts & Co.. It moved to Glasgow, Scotland, in 1888, eventually amalgamating wi ...

: : Chapter V: Reputed locomotives of the

Liverpool and Manchester Railway The Liverpool and Manchester Railway (L&MR) was the first inter-city railway in the world. It opened on 15 September 1830 between the Lancashire towns of Liverpool and Manchester in England. It was also the first railway to rely exclusively ...

: : Chapter VI:

Wolverton Wolverton is a constituent town of Milton Keynes, England. It is located at the northern edge of Milton Keynes, beside the West Coast Main Line, the Grand Union Canal and the river Great Ouse. It is the administrative seat of Wolverton and Gre ...

goods engines: : Chapter VII: Locomotives from Cardiff and the Portland Breakwater: : Chapter VIII: Geared engines: "Perseverance," "Little Grimsby," " Lilliputian ": : Chapter IX: Geared engines continued: "Rattlesnake," No. 17," " Lion ": : Chapter X: Geared engines continued: "Ashtonian," "Pugsy," "Chaplin," "Marshall": : Chapter XI: Engines from the L.&N.W.R. and the

Taff Vale Railway The Taff Vale Railway (TVR) was a standard gauge railway in South Wales, built by the Taff Vale Railway Company to serve the iron and coal industries around Merthyr Tydfil and to connect them with docks in Cardiff. It was opened in stag ...

: : Chapter XII: Engines from the

Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (L&YR) was a major British railway company before the 1923 Grouping. It was incorporated in 1847 from an amalgamation of several existing railways. It was the third-largest railway system based in northern ...

: : Chapter XIII: Engines by E. B. Wilson and Company and

Manning Wardle Manning Wardle was a steam locomotive manufacturer based in Hunslet, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. Precursor companies The city of Leeds was one of the earliest centres of locomotive building; Matthew Murray built the first commercially s ...

and Company: : Chapter XIV: Engines by

George England and Co. George England and Co. was an early English manufacturer of steam locomotives founded by the engineer George England of Newcastle upon Tyne (1811–1878). The company operated from the Hatcham Iron Works in New Cross, Surrey, and began buil ...

: : Chapter XV: Locomotives by Hughes and Co., Loughborough: : Chapter XVI: Locomotives with water-tube boilers: : Chapter XVII: Broad gauge (7 feet) locomotives: : Chapter XVIII: Broad gauge (7 feet) locomotives ontinued "

Fowler's Ghost "Fowler's Ghost" is the nickname given to an experimental Fireless locomotive, fireless steam locomotive designed by Sir John Fowler, 1st Baronet, John Fowler and built in 1861 for use on the Metropolitan Railway, London's first London Undergrou ...

": : Chapter XIX: The "Ghost" materializes: : Chapter XX: Miscellaneous Locomotives,"Eclipse,""Bristol," "Dot,"" Brymbo," "Brighton," "Lewin": : Chapter XXI: Miscellaneous locomotives: ontinued "Hercules No. 2," "Wotton," "Briton", "Cyclops," "Helena": : Chapter XXII: Miscellaneous locomotives ontinued Adams's Steam Carriage," Queen of the Forest,""Ant," "Neilson." Engines by John Harris, Darlington. Engine by Joicey, Newcastle upon Tyne: : Chapter XXIII: Miscellaneous locomotives ontinued"Ravenhead," "James" Smith of Coven's "No. 122."New Cross Engine. Bath Engines. Engine by John Fowler & Co., Leeds. Engine by Fox, Walker & Co. Fairlie Engine. "No. 44 "Fairy," '' Atlantic," ' Hawk,'' " No. 1129, Crewe Engine Unidentified. "Victory," "Exeter.": : Chapter XXIV: Boulton's yard in 1869. Mr. I. W. Boulton's Diaries. Conclusion. This book was founded on a series of articles contributed by the author to the Locomotive Magazine between November, 1920, and February, 1925. During publication many new facts came to light. These ereincorporated and the whole was carefully revised and re-arranged. Defunct companies of the United Kingdom British companies established in 1864 Companies disestablished in 1898 Companies based in Tameside 1898 disestablishments in the United Kingdom