E. B. Wilson and Company was a locomotive manufacturing company at the Railway Foundry in
Hunslet,
Leeds,
West Yorkshire,
England.
Origins
Charles Todd was one of the founders of
Todd, Kitson & Laird, but left early in the company's history and in 1838 he joined financier Mr. Shepherd in setting up the
Railway Foundry
The Railway Foundry, Leeds, was a railway engineering workshop off Pearson Street, in Hunslet, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1838 by Shepherd and Todd. Charles Todd had been a partner in Todd, Kitson & Laird but left to se ...
as Shepherd and Todd. E.B. Wilson joined the company in 1845. A year later Wilson left and the company was taken over by
James Fenton, and was renamed
Fenton, Craven and Company. The partnership with Craven ended and at the end of 1846, Wilson returned to the company and took over sole ownership of the company, renaming it once more to E. B. Wilson and Company, Fenton stayed on as the Works Manager. Many of the
maker's plates, however, retained the name "The Railway Foundry, Leeds".
Expansion
The works was expanded with the intention of producing up to fifty engines a year. Fenton's boiler designs were particularly successful, and the company's products acquired a reputation for workmanship and reliability.
David Joy
Originally an apprentice at
Fenton, Murray and Jackson and later at
Shepherd and Todd
The Railway Foundry, Leeds, was a railway engineering workshop off Pearson Street, in Hunslet, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1838 by Shepherd and Todd. Charles Todd had been a partner in Todd, Kitson & Laird but left to se ...
,
David Joy was their Chief Draughtsman and was tasked with designing a new engine for the
London and Brighton Railway. Dissatisfied by the engines then current in
Yorkshire and having spent three weeks studying
John Gray's designs at
Brighton railway works, he produced a similar design. The first of these, in 1847, was named ''
Jenny Lind
Johanna Maria "Jenny" Lind (6 October 18202 November 1887) was a Swedish opera singer, often called the "Swedish Nightingale". One of the most highly regarded singers of the 19th century, she performed in soprano roles in opera in Sweden and a ...
'' and was an immediate success. There is some controversy whether Fenton, Joy or even Wilson was responsible. Joy would appear to have produced the drawings, but Fenton would have had to
approve them, and the success of the engine undoubtedly owed much to the latter's boilers, which were working at the unprecedented pressure of 120psi. Over seventy were built, with twenty four going to the
Midland Railway.
Locomotive designs
Beside the "Jennies", E. B. Wilson also produced and and set out to standardise their designs. They charged a premium for any variations, although the size of the engines gradually became larger. The company exhibited a ''double boiler
tank engine'' at
The Great Exhibition of 1851.
They also produced pumping engines, carriages and wagon. and carried out maintenance work for the Midland Railway, their
Derby works being then short of capacity, and built a few to customer's own designs, including one or two
Crampton locomotives.
Closure
The company closed in 1858 having produced over six hundred engines. The Railway Foundry was refounded by
W. S. Hudswell and John Clarke in 1860.
References
* Lowe, J. W., (1989) ''British Steam Locomotive Builders,'' Guild Publishing
External links
Science and Society Picture Library* {{citation, url =http://leedsengine.info , title =The Leeds Engine web site, work = leedsengine.info
Wilson
Wilson may refer to:
People
* Wilson (name)
** List of people with given name Wilson
** List of people with surname Wilson
* Wilson (footballer, 1927–1998), Brazilian manager and defender
* Wilson (footballer, born 1984), full name Wilson Ro ...
Manufacturing companies based in Leeds
Defunct companies based in Leeds
British companies established in 1846
British companies disestablished in 1858
1858 disestablishments in England
1846 establishments in England
Manufacturing companies established in 1846
Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1858