Agenoria
Agenoria is a four-coupled 0-4-0 colliery locomotive built in 1829 by Foster, Rastrick & Co of Stourbridge for the Shutt End Colliery Railway near Kingswinford in Staffordshire. It is one of the oldest surviving steam locomotives in Britain and one of only a handful of pre-Rocket engines still in existence anywhere in the world.
The locomotive was designed by John Urpeth Rastrick and James Foster as part of a batch of four engines, three of which were exported to early American railways as the Stourbridge Lion, Hudson, and Delaware. Agenoria was the home engine, built for the 3 ft 6 in gauge private colliery line at Shutt End. The design was already conservative by the standards of 1829 — the year Rocket won the Rainhill Trials — using a vertical cylindrical boiler with twin vertical cylinders mounted on top, driving the rear axle through grasshopper beams. The extraordinarily tall chimney, built from a stack of iron cylinders, was necessary to create sufficient draught for the vertical firebox. Four coupled wheels gave adequate adhesion for the slow, heavy coal haulage the engine was built to perform.
What makes Agenoria extraordinary is its working life: the engine remained in service at Shutt End for 35 years, from 1829 to 1864, hauling coal to the nearby canal basin without significant replacement. By the time it was withdrawn, the Midland Railway's main lines were thick with express passenger engines of a modernity that would have been unimaginable when Agenoria was new. After withdrawal the locomotive was preserved by the Earl of Dudley and in 1884 transferred to the Patent Office Museum in London, the forerunner of the Science Museum. It was subsequently moved to the National Railway Museum at York, where it remains on permanent static display as one of the museum's most historically significant exhibits.
Design and development
In 1828 Foster, Rastrick & Co. of Stourbridge — a partnership between the engineer John Urpeth Rastrick and the Stourbridge ironmaster James Foster — were commissioned to build four locomotives, three for export to American railways and one for the local Shutt End Colliery Railway near Kingswinford. The American engines (Stourbridge Lion, Hudson, and Delaware) were the first locomotives to run on rails in North America. The fourth, named Agenoria, was the Shutt End engine.
The design was deliberately conservative: a vertical boiler with twin vertical cylinders driving the rear axle through grasshopper beams and gears, four coupled wheels, and an exceptionally tall chimney made of a sequence of stacked iron drums. The layout was already obsolete in mainline practice when built — by 1829 Stephenson was completing Rocket — but suited the slow heavy mineral haulage required at Shutt End.
Service and withdrawals
Agenoria entered service at Shutt End Colliery in 1829, hauling coal from the colliery to the canal at Ashwood Basin. The engine worked at Shutt End for an extraordinary 35 years, finally being withdrawn in 1864.
The locomotive's historical significance was recognised early; it was preserved by the Earl of Dudley after withdrawal and eventually transferred to the Patent Office Museum (forerunner of the Science Museum) in 1884. Agenoria was later transferred to the National Railway Museum at York, where it remains on permanent static display.
Identification features
Four-coupled (0-4-0) chassis with a vertical cylindrical boiler, twin vertical cylinders mounted on top, grasshopper-beam drive to the rear axle, and an extraordinarily tall chimney made of stacked iron sections. Visually unmistakable — quite unlike any horizontal-boiler locomotive of the period.
Numbers and names
Named locomotives (outside the listed ranges)
- 0 — Agenoria
Single locomotive; named Agenoria (a minor goddess of industry in Roman mythology).
Notable locomotives
- Agenoria (1829, National Railway Museum)