''Lancashire Witch'' was an early

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 ...

built by

Robert Stephenson and Company Robert Stephenson and Company was a locomotive manufacturing company founded in 1823 in Forth Street, Newcastle upon Tyne in England. It was the first company in the world created specifically to build railway engines. Famous early locomotiv ...

Newcastle-upon-Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is als ...

in 1828. It was a development of ''Locomotion''.

Description

''Lancashire Witch'' was an 0-4-0 locomotive with rear mounted cylinders inclined at 45 degrees driving to the front wheels. The rear wheels were powered via

coupling rod A coupling rod or side rod connects the driving wheels of a locomotive. Steam locomotives in particular usually have them, but some diesel and electric locomotives, especially older ones and shunters, also have them. The coupling rods transfer t ...

s. The

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 ...

had two flue tubes and the locomotive burnt coke, aided by bellows on the tender. It was the first locomotive with steel springs. It was the first locomotive built by Robert Stephenson and Company.

History

The locomotive that was to become ''Lancashire Witch'' was ordered by the board 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 ...

(L&MR) in January 1828. The boiler was to incorporate a series a small flues, this evolved into a large central flue and two smaller side flues bent at the end. Four months after the order the L&MR board transferred the order to the

Bolton and Leigh Railway The Bolton and Leigh Railway (B&LR) was the first public railway in Lancashire, it opened for goods on 1 August 1828 preceding the Liverpool and Manchester Railway (L&MR) by two years. Passengers were carried from 1831. The railway operated inde ...

. ''Lancashire Witch'' was used on the

(B&LR), which opened in June 1828, and also on the L&MR. On the B&LR it was initially used in the construction of the line, where it was found to be capable of hauling up a

gradient In vector calculus, the gradient of a scalar-valued differentiable function of several variables is the vector field (or vector-valued function) \nabla f whose value at a point p is the "direction and rate of fastest increase". If the gradi ...

of 1 in 432 (2.3

‰ Per mille (from Latin , "in each thousand") is an expression that means parts per thousand. Other recognised spellings include per mil, per mill, permil, permill, or permille. The associated sign is written , which looks like a percent si ...

or 0.23 %) at .

Postage stamps

''Lancashire Witch'' appeared on two postage stamps issued by

Funafuti Funafuti is the capital of the island nation of Tuvalu. It has a population of 6,320 people (2017 census), and so it has more people than the rest of Tuvalu combined, with approximately 60% of the population. It consists of a narrow sweep of la ...

Tuvalu Tuvalu ( or ; formerly known as the Ellice Islands) is an island country and microstate in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean. Its islands are situated about midway between Hawaii and Australia. They lie east-northeast ...

on 24 December 1984.

Other locomotives

London, Midland and Scottish Railway The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with LNER, GWR and SR. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway's corporate image used LMS, and this is what is generally u ...

Royal Scot Class

4-6-0 A 4-6-0 steam locomotive, under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives by wheel arrangement, has four leading wheels on two axles in a leading bogie and six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles with the abse ...

locomotive 6125 was named ''Lancashire Witch'' in March 1928. Later that year an engraved brass plaque was added, depicting the original locomotive of 1828. The name and engraved plaque were removed in July 1935, and on 30 July 1936 a new name '' 3rd Carabinier'' was unveiled at a ceremony. The ''Royal Scot'' class loco was built by the

North British Locomotive Company The North British Locomotive Company (NBL, NB Loco or North British) was created in 1903 through the merger of three Glasgow locomotive manufacturing companies; Sharp, Stewart and Company (Atlas Works), Neilson, Reid and Company (Hyde Park Wor ...

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

in September 1927 and withdrawn in October 1964 as 46125. Class 86 locomotive 86 213 was named ''Lancashire Witch''. This locomotive has been preserved in operational condition by the

AC Locomotive Group The AC Locomotive Group is a dedicated AC electric locomotive preservation society in England. It has five locomotives in its care; 81002, 82008, 83012, 85101 and 89001. History Locomotives In 1996, Pete Waterman, who had purchased the ...

References and notes

Bibliography

* * * * {{Early-steam-locos 0-4-0 locomotives Individual locomotives of Great Britain Early steam locomotives Steam locomotives of Great Britain Liverpool and Manchester Railway locomotives Robert Stephenson and Company locomotives Standard gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain