Peckett and Sons was a

locomotive A locomotive is a rail transport, rail vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. Traditionally, locomotives pulled trains from the front. However, Push–pull train, push–pull operation has become common, and in the pursuit for ...

manufacturer at the Atlas Locomotive Works on Deep Pit Road between

Fishponds Fishponds is a suburb in the north-east of the English city of Bristol, about from Bristol city centre, the city centre. It is mainly residential, and housing is typically terraced Victorian. It has a small student population from the presence ...

and

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Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Fox, Walker and Company

The company began trading in 1864 at the Atlas Engine Works, St. George, Bristol, as Fox, Walker and Company, building four and six-coupled saddle tank engines for industrial use. They also built stationary engines and pioneered steam tramcars, the first being tested in Bristol in 1877. Much of their output was exported, mostly , with some , and . In 1878 they produced six gauge trench engines for the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces ...

at Chatham using Henry Handyside's steep gradient apparatus. They also produced

nine 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Hindu–Arabic digit Circa 300 BC, as part of the Brahmi numerals, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bot ...

s for the

Somerset and Dorset Railway The Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway (S&DJR, also known as the S&D, S&DR or SDJR), was an English railway line Joint railway, jointly owned by the Midland Railway (MR) and the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) that grew to connect Bat ...

Peckett and Sons

They were taken over by Thomas Peckett in 1880, becoming Peckett and Sons, Atlas Engine Works, Bristol. The company acquired limited liability some years later. By 1900 the two companies had built over 400 locomotives. The company continued producing a variety of small industrial and shunting engines at their factory located between

and Kingswood in Bristol. They became specialists in the field, with very precise specifications and standardisation of parts. The largest engine was an built in 1931 for the Christmas Island Phosphate Company. The works were served by a branch line starting just south west of Kingswood junction on the Midland line and ran for about in a generally eastward direction. It also served some collieries in the Speedwell area. The only evidence remaining of this line is a bridge abutment on Whitefield Road. During the two

World War A world war is an international War, conflict that involves most or all of the world's major powers. Conventionally, the term is reserved for two major international conflicts that occurred during the first half of the 20th century, World War I ...

s, the works were especially busy, but by 1950 trade had largely dried up. Although in 1956 an attempt had been made to enter the diesel-mechanical market, the last steam engine was produced in 1958 and the company was taken over by Reed Crane & Hoist Co Ltd on 23 October 1961, which itself later went into liquidation.

Production and preservation

Despite hard work and poor maintenance, the engines were long-lasting. Many Peckett locomotives survive working on today's

heritage railway A heritage railway or heritage railroad (U.S. usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) ...

s around the world. * The last Peckett steam locomotive built, 2165 of 1958, is preserved at

Sandstone Estates Sandstone Estates (Pty) Ltd is a large commercial agricultural enterprise covering over , located on the border with Lesotho in South Africa's Eastern Free State province, close to the Maluti Mountains. The nearest town is Ficksburg, away on the ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

* The oldest surviving Fox Walker locomotive is "Karlskoga", an of 1873 and the first locomotive of the in Sweden. It was steamed at

Nora, Sweden Nora is a locality and the seat of Nora Municipality, Örebro County, Sweden with 10,611 inhabitants in 2024. History Nora received its charter in 1643. The government had requested the inhabitants of both Nora and the adjacent town Lindesberg to ...

in 1982.

References

* Lowe, J.W., (1989) ''British Steam Locomotive Builders,'' Guild Publishing

External links

The industrial railway Record, A brief memoir of Peckett & Sons LTDGloucestershire LXXII.SW, Revised: 1938, Published: ca. 1945
OS 6-inch maps showing ''Atlas Locomotive Works''
Peckett & Sons Archive
National Railway Museum {{coord, 51, 28, 13.24, N, 2, 32, 28.9, W, region:GB, display=title Locomotive manufacturers of the United Kingdom Companies established in 1864 Defunct companies based in Bristol 1864 establishments in England Manufacturing companies of England