The Railway Foundry, Leeds, was a railway engineering workshop off Pearson Street, in

Hunslet Hunslet () is an inner-city area in south Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is southeast of the city centre and has an industrial past. It is situated in the Hunslet and Riverside ward of Leeds City Council and Leeds Central parliamentar ...

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

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 ...

. It was established in 1838 by Shepherd and Todd. Charles Todd had been a partner in Todd, Kitson & Laird but left to set up his own business in 1838, setting up the Railway Foundry with a Mr. Shepherd to build locomotives and rolling stock.

Locomotives

The first order came in 1839 and in the following two years, they built a number of locomotives for the

North Midland Railway The North Midland Railway was a British railway company, which opened its line from Derby to Rotherham (Masbrough) and Leeds in 1840. At Derby, it connected with the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway and the Midland Counties Railway at wha ...

, the

Manchester and Leeds Railway The Manchester and Leeds Railway was a British railway company that built a line from Manchester to Normanton where it made a junction with the North Midland Railway, over which it relied on running powers to access Leeds. The line followed the ...

and for one in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. These were either small four-coupled or

2-2-2 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 2-2-2 represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, two powered driving wheels on one axle, and two trailing wheels on one axle. The wheel arrangement bo ...

locos. However, in 1840 they built two six-foot singles for the

Hull and Selby Railway The Hull and Selby Railway is a railway line between Kingston upon Hull and Selby in the United Kingdom which was authorised by an act of 1836 and opened in 1840. As built the line connected with the Leeds and Selby Railway (opened 1834) at Selb ...

. The latter had Gray's patent dog-leg

valve gear The valve gear of a steam engine is the mechanism that operates the inlet and exhaust valves to admit steam into the cylinder and allow exhaust steam to escape, respectively, at the correct points in the cycle. It can also serve as a reversing ...

and were, apart from another built experimentally by the

Haigh Foundry Haigh Foundry was an ironworks and foundry in Haigh, Lancashire, which was notable for the manufacture of early steam locomotives. Origins Haigh Foundry was established in the Douglas Valley in Haigh around 1790 by Alexander Lindsay, 6th Earl ...

, among the first to use expansive working. Further engines were made for the Hull and Selby, two 0-6-0s and two singles for the

York and North Midland Railway The York and North Midland Railway (Y&NMR) was an English railway company that opened in 1839 connecting York with the Leeds and Selby Railway, and in 1840 extended this line to meet the North Midland Railway at Normanton near Leeds. Its first c ...

Formation of Fenton, Craven and Company

Todd left the partnership in 1844 to be replaced by E.B. Wilson. He in turn left after a year and the company was taken over in 1846 by

James Fenton James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

, formerly a partner in

Fenton, Murray and Jackson Fenton, Murray and Jackson was an engineering company at the Round Foundry off Water Lane in Holbeck, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. Fenton, Murray and Wood Fenton Murray and Wood was founded in the 1790s by ironfounder Matthew Murray and ...

to become Fenton, Craven and Company. The company continued building mostly Stephenson long boiler locomotives, some

followed by outside-cylindered

2-4-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, four powered and coupled driving wheels on two axles and no trailing wheels. The notation 2-4-0T indi ...

with the firebox behind the wheels. They were extremely unstable due to the long overhang at each end. The six-coupled engines for goods work were more successful since speed was not a requirement.

Formation of E. B. Wilson and Company

At the end of 1846 the partnership collapsed, Fenton staying with the company with E. B. Wilson, who returned to form a new company E. B. Wilson and Company.

Railway Foundry, Barnsley

The Railway Foundry, Barnsley, was a separate concern, owned by Mr Longbottom. A previous version of this page said that he was the father of Luke Longbottom, who was

Locomotive Superintendent Chief mechanical engineer and locomotive superintendent are titles applied by British, Australian, and New Zealand railway companies to the person ultimately responsible to the board of the company for the building and maintaining of the locomotive ...

of the

North Staffordshire Railway The North Staffordshire Railway (NSR) was a British railway company formed in 1845 to promote a number of lines in the Staffordshire Potteries and surrounding areas in Staffordshire, Cheshire, Derbyshire and Shropshire. The company was based ...

from 1882 to 1902. However this seems unlikely as Luke Longbottom said in an interview with the ''Railway Magazine'' that his father was employed as engineer of Marshall's flax mill in Leeds for fifty years and this is backed up by the census returns for Leeds

References

External links

*{{citation, url=http://www.leedsengine.info/leeds/histebw.asp, title = A Brief History of the Railway Foundry, work = www.leedsengine.info Locomotive manufacturers of the United Kingdom 1838 establishments in England 1846 disestablishments in England British companies established in 1838 British companies disestablished in 1846 Manufacturing companies established in 1838 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1846