John Blenkinsop

John Blenkinsop (1783–1831) was an English mining engineer and agent of the Middleton Colliery near Leeds who, in collaboration with the steam-engine builder Matthew Murray, produced Salamanca in 1812 — the world's first commercially successful steam locomotive, which used a toothed rack-rail system patented by Blenkinsop to provide the traction that he doubted adhesion alone could deliver on the colliery's gradient.

Born at Walker, Northumberland on 13 May 1783, Blenkinsop joined the Middleton Colliery as a young man and rose to become the colliery's agent — the practical manager responsible for its day-to-day engineering and commercial operation. The Napoleonic Wars of the early nineteenth century drove up the cost of horse fodder to levels that made mechanical haulage on the Middleton's coal waggonway an economically attractive proposition, and Blenkinsop began developing his rack-rail concept as a solution to the traction problem.

His patent of 10 April 1811 (No. 3431) described a rack-rail with teeth that engaged a corresponding pinion on the locomotive's middle axle, providing a positive mechanical connection between locomotive and rail that eliminated any reliance on the adhesion between smooth wheels and smooth rails. Matthew Murray built four locomotives to Blenkinsop's specification at the Round Foundry in Leeds: Salamanca, Prince Regent, Lord Wellington, and Marquis Wellington. The Middleton Railway ran these rack locomotives commercially from 1812, the first sustained commercial use of steam traction on any railway in the world. The Blenkinsop-Murray system was licensed to collieries in Prussia and elsewhere, and the rack-rail concept itself — though abandoned in favour of adhesion traction on main-line railways — survived in the Swiss and Austrian mountain rack railways that are its direct descendants. Blenkinsop died at Leeds on 22 January 1831, aged 47.

Biography

John Blenkinsop (1783–1831) was an English mining engineer and agent of the Middleton Colliery near Leeds. With the steam-engine builder Matthew Murray he produced the world's first commercially-successful steam locomotive, Salamanca, in 1812, using a toothed rack-rail system that Blenkinsop himself had patented earlier the same year.

Born at Walker, Northumberland on 13 May 1783, Blenkinsop joined the colliery in 1808. The cost of horse-fodder during the Napoleonic Wars made mechanical haulage on the Middleton Colliery line attractive, but Blenkinsop doubted that adhesion alone would be sufficient on the gradient and so designed his patent (No. 3431, 10 April 1811) for a rack-rail driven by a pinion on the locomotive's middle wheels. Murray built the engines on Blenkinsop's specification at the Round Foundry, Leeds.

The Middleton system worked four locomotives, Salamanca, Prince Regent, Lord Wellington and Marquis Wellington, and continued in service into the 1830s. The patent was licensed for use in Prussia and at several other British collieries. Blenkinsop died at Leeds on 22 January 1831, aged 47.

Locomotives designed

Lord Wellington — The third Murray-Blenkinsop rack-and-pinion locomotive built for the Middleton Railway near Leeds. Completed in 1813, Lord Wellington was named after the Duke of Wellington (the Iron Duke), who had been raised to the peerage in 1809 and was at the height of his Peninsular War fame. The engine was identical in design to Salamanca and Prince Regent, twin vertical cylinders driving a central rack pinion, and worked the Leeds-Middleton coal traffic until the rack rails were abandoned in the mid-1830s.
Marquis Wellington — The fourth and last Murray-Blenkinsop rack-and-pinion locomotive built for the Middleton Railway near Leeds. Completed in 1813, Marquis Wellington was named to mark the Duke of Wellington's 1812 elevation to Marquess. The engine was identical in design to its three sisters and worked the Leeds-Middleton coal traffic for approximately 20 years until the rack-and-pinion principle was superseded in the mid-1830s.
Prince Regent — The second of four Murray-Blenkinsop rack-and-pinion locomotives built for the Middleton Railway near Leeds. Completed shortly after Salamanca in late 1812, Prince Regent shared the same design, twin vertical cylinders, central rack-pinion drive, cylindrical boiler, and worked alongside Salamanca on the Leeds-Middleton coal traffic. The engine was named after the Prince Regent (later George IV). The Murray-Blenkinsop class as a whole worked the Middleton Railway successfully for approximately twenty years, until the rack-and-pinion principle was superseded by simple adhesion working in the mid-1830s.
Salamanca — Matthew Murray's 1812 rack-and-pinion steam locomotive, widely regarded as the world's first commercially successful steam locomotive. Built by Fenton, Murray and Wood of Leeds to John Blenkinsop's patent rack-and-pinion adhesion system, the engine entered service on the Middleton Railway between Leeds and Middleton Colliery on 12 August 1812, making the Middleton Railway the world's first commercially-operated steam railway. Salamanca was the first of four engines built to the same design over 1812–1813. The class operated successfully for approximately 20 years; Salamanca itself exploded in 1818, killing the driver. No original survives.

Born	13 May 1783
Died	22 January 1831
Nationality	English
Employer	Middleton Colliery, Leeds (agent / colliery engineer)