Fletcher, Jennings & Co. was an engineering company at

Lowca Lowca is a village and civil parish in the English county of Cumbria, just to the north of the village of Moresby. It had a population of 773 in 2001, increasing to 888 at the 2011 Census. It was formerly a mining area but is now noted for its ...

near

Whitehaven Whitehaven is a town and port on the English north west coast and near to the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. Historically in Cumberland, it lies by road south-west of Carlisle and to the north of Barrow-in-Furness. It is th ...

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is a historic county in the far North West England. It covers part of the Lake District as well as the north Pennines and Solway Firth coast. Cumberland had an administrative function from the 12th century until 1974. From 19 ...

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 ...

Overview

Fletcher and Jennings took over the business of

Tulk and Ley Tulk and Ley was a 19th-century iron mining company in west Cumberland which also ran an engineering works at Lowca near Whitehaven. Overview Established on the Lowca site in 1800 as "Heslops, Milward, Johnston & Co."- the engineering and ironfo ...

in 1857. From then, until 1884, the company concentrated on four and six-coupled industrial

tank locomotives 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 locomot ...

, although other goods such as bridge girders, and blast-furnace shells for the burgeoning local iron industry, were also produced. By then nearly two hundred locomotives had been built and the company acquired limited liability as Lowca Engineering Company Ltd. In 1905, the name changed again to the New Lowca Engineering Company Ltd., but the company was receiving fewer orders. After a disastrous fire in 1912, all production ceased and the company being finally wound up in 1927.

Surviving locomotives

Preserved locomotives manufactured by the company include:

Other locomotives

Other locomotives manufactured by the company include: *Brigham Hall/Rothersyke of the

Cleator & Workington junction railway The Cleator & Workington Junction Railway (C&WJR) was located in West Cumberland in Northern England, serving the towns of Cleator Moor and Workington and intermediate villages. It was mainly used for coal, limestone and iron ore traffic for t ...

In fiction

The fictional locomotives Skarloey and

Rheneas This article is about the characters that have appeared in the books of ''The Railway Series'' by the Rev. Wilbert Awdry and Christopher Awdry. Unless otherwise stated on this page, the technical notes come from actual notes laid out by Wilbert ...

from ''

The Railway Series ''The Railway Series'' is a series of British books about a railway known as the North Western Railway, located on the fictional Island of Sodor. There are 42 books in the series, the first published in May 1945 by the Rev. Wilbert Awdry. Twen ...

'' and ''

Thomas and Friends ''Thomas & Friends'' (originally known as ''Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends'' and later ''Thomas & Friends: Big World! Big Adventures!'') is a British children's television series that aired across 24 series from 1984 to 2021. Based on ''The ...

'', were built by Fletcher, Jennings & Co. (being the twins of Talyllyn and Dolgoch, respectively) Captain Baxter also made an appearance in Railway Series book 18 ''Stepney the "Bluebell" Engine''. Captain Baxter appeared in the movie ''

Muppets Most Wanted ''Muppets Most Wanted'' is a 2014 American musical crime comedy film and the eighth theatrical film featuring the Muppets. Directed by James Bobin and written by Bobin and Nicholas Stoller, the film is a sequel to ''The Muppets'' (2011) and stars ...

''. However, he was modified to look like an old American locomotive and was renamed.

Sources

* Kyle, Ian "Steam from Lowca" (1974) * Wear, Russell "Some further notes on the Lowca Works", ''Cumbrian Railways'', Feb 2002 * Locomotive manufacturers of the United Kingdom Companies based in Cumbria Fletcher, Jennings locomotives {{England-rail-transport-stub