Edward Borrows and Sons was founded in 1865 by Edward Borrows, formerly of

James Cross and Company James Cross and Company was a locomotive building company established around 1863 at Sutton Engine Works, St. Helens, England. The partners were James Cross, Edward Borrows and Arthur Sinclair, all of whom were former employees of the St Hele ...

. It was located at Providence Works, Sutton, near St Helens, England. The company's business included iron and brass

founding Founding may refer to: * The formation of a corporation, government, or other organization * The laying of a building's Foundation * The casting of materials in a mold See also * Foundation (disambiguation) * Incorporation (disambiguation) In ...

and repairs to small locomotive engines. The company first started building railway locomotives in 1872, specializing in a single small

well tank 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 locomo ...

design, which it sold primarily to

Brunner Mond Brunner may refer to: Places * Brunner, New Zealand * Lake Brunner, New Zealand * Brunner Mine, New Zealand * Brunner, Houston, United States * Brunner (crater), lunar crater Other uses * Brunner (surname) * Brunner the Bounty Hunter, a cha ...

, Pilkington Brothers, and United Alkali Company. By 1878 there were around 50 employees, a quarter of whom were young apprentices and boys. J.A. Borrows died in 1912 and the property was placed for sale. At this time the works covered "18,000 square yards or thereabouts". The locomotive manufacturing business was taken over by H. W. Johnson and Company. By 1913, around 40 locomotives had been built. Works numbers up to 58 were allocated, and some named locomotives are known, without knowing their works number. The discrepancy may be explained by the missing numbers having been allocated to some

steam roller A steamroller (or steam roller) is a form of road roller – a type of heavy construction machinery used for leveling surfaces, such as roads or airfields – that is powered by a steam engine. The leveling/flattening action is achieved through ...

s, or other general machinery, which are known to have been built. Between 1912 and 1921, Kerr, Stuart & Co. built at least 17 more locomotives of this design for Brunner Mond. The final builds were three between 1913 and 1921, begun at the original Providence Works but completed at other sites nearby. In some years, up to three locomotives were completed in a year. In others there were none, and the works operated with other engineering work.

Design

All of the Borrows locomotives were of the same design, with only detail variations. This had originated with

James Cross James Richard Cross (29 September 1921 – 6 January 2021) was an Irish-born British diplomat who served in India, Malaysia and Canada. While posted in Canada, Cross was kidnapped by members of the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) durin ...

in 1866. The design provided compact locomotives with a short wheelbase, but also a short overall length relative to this wheelbase, so that the overhang at each end remained short, avoided problems with the buffers swinging from side to side on sharp corners. The rear axle was placed beneath the firebox, rather than in front of it. The valvegear was conventional Stephenson, although it was placed unusually. As the firebox and well tank gave no room for conventional inside motion, the valvegear was instead placed between the wheels and the ''outside'' of the frames. This required the wheels to be overhung outside their bearing further than was usual, but this was not a problem on a light locomotive. The motion was also easily accessible for lubrication and maintenance. Because the slide valves were mounted outside of the frames, the smokebox curved outwards at the bottom to contain the steam pipes. The locos were early adopters of a Wakefield mechanical lubricator. At least some of the Pilkington's locomotives were rebuilt and reboilered with fewer boiler tubes. The design was a conventional

, with the tank made integral with the frames. This had a stiffening effect. After the Pilkington's rebuilding, separate tank sides were provided. This made the frames less rigid and gave trouble with racking.

Preservation

Willy at Avon Valley Railway - panoramio (1)

Three Borrows locomotives are preserved. ''No. 3'' (1898) is at the

Tanfield Railway The Tanfield Railway is a heritage railway in Gateshead and County Durham, England. Running on part of a former horse-drawn colliery wooden waggonway, later rope & horse, lastly rope & loco railway. It operates preserved industrial stea ...

and ''The King'' (1906) and ''Windle'' (1909) are at the

Ribble Steam Railway The Ribble Steam Railway is a standard gauge preserved railway in Lancashire, in the United Kingdom. It was opened to the public on 17 September 2005, running along Preston Docks. The railway began by housing much of the collection from the ...

. A fourth locomotive, one of the Kerr, Stuart group, worked at National Shipyard No.1 in

Chepstow Chepstow ( cy, Cas-gwent) is a town and community in Monmouthshire, Wales, adjoining the border with Gloucestershire, England. It is located on the tidal River Wye, about above its confluence with the River Severn, and adjoining the wester ...

and was preserved by Fairfield-Mabey bridge works. It is now in occasional gala service as ''Willy the Well-Tank''.

Notes

References

{{reflist, refs= {{Cite web , title=Edward Borrows and James Cross Locomotive Makers , website=An Illustrated History of Old Sutton in St. Helens, Lancashire , url=https://www.suttonbeauty.org.uk/suttonhistory/industry2/ {{Cite book , chapter=Borrows, E. & Sons , title=British Steam Locomotive Builders , last=Lowe , first=James W. , orig-year=1975 , year=1989 , isbn= , publisher=Guild Publishing , ref={{harvid, Lowe, 1975 , pages=73–75 {{Cite web , title=E. Borrows and Sons , website= Grace's Guide , url=https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/E._Borrows_and_Sons {{Cite news , title= , newspaper=

Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer ''The Yorkshire Post'' is a daily broadsheet newspaper, published in Leeds in Yorkshire, England. It primarily covers stories from Yorkshire although its masthead carries the slogan "Yorkshire's National Newspaper". It was previously owned by ...

, date=9 March 1912 {{Cite web , title=No.3, E.Borrows & Sons, Works No.37 , website=

, url=http://www.tanfield-railway.co.uk/index.php?mact=LISETRLocomotives,cntnt01,detail,0&cntnt01item=no3&cntnt01category=Restoration&cntnt01id_hierarchy=3&cntnt01template_category=hierarchy&cntnt01returnid=50 {{Cite web , title=Borrows 53/1909 'Windle' , website=

, url=https://ribblesteam.org.uk/exhibits/steam/borrows-53-1909-windle/ {{Cite web , title=Borrows 48/1906 'The King' , website=

, url=https://ribblesteam.org.uk/exhibits/steam/borrows-48-1906-the-king/ {{Cite web , title=A Little-Known Industrial Type , last=Allibone , first=David , journal= , date= , url=https://ribblesteam.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/KING-615x858.jpg {{Cite web , title=Willy the Well-Tank , website= The Flourmill , url=https://www.theflourmill.com/locomotives_wtwt.html {{Cite magazine , title=Willy goes solo to help Avon Valley's RSH appeal , magazine=

The Railway Magazine ''The Railway Magazine'' is a monthly British railway magazine, aimed at the railway enthusiast market, that has been published in London since July 1897. it was, for three years running, the railway magazine with the largest circulation in ...

, date=25 April 2018 , url=https://www.railwaymagazine.co.uk/5285/willy-goes-solo-to-help-avon-valleys-rsh-appeal/

Borrows Borrows is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Alison Borrows (born 1992), Australian slalom canoeist * Brian Borrows (born 1960), English footballer * Chester Borrows (born 1957), New Zealand politician * Edward Borrows, founde ...

1865 establishments in England