Hetton Colliery locomotives

The Hetton Colliery Railway, an 8-mile line built between 1820 and 1822 to carry coal from the Hetton pits to staiths on the River Wear at Sunderland, was George Stephenson's first major commission as an independent locomotive engineer. The railway was engineered as a sequence of self-acting rope-worked inclines linked by stretches of level track on which steam locomotives could work. It was the first railway anywhere designed from the outset to operate without horse power.

For the locomotive-worked sections, Stephenson designed a small fleet of broadly similar 0-4-0 engines, built at his Forth Street works in Newcastle and at the colliery's own workshops. The Hetton design was essentially a refinement of the Killingworth pattern Stephenson had been developing since 1814 — twin vertical cylinders set into the boiler top, simple coupling rods (rather than gears) connecting the two axles, and a long horizontal boiler with a tall chimney.

The Hetton locomotives entered service in 1822 when the railway opened. They worked the locomotive sections of the line continuously thereafter; the rope-worked inclines were operated by stationary winding engines. Several of the original 1822 engines remained in service for many decades, with rebuilds and replacements over the years; one Hetton engine survived in service until the 1880s — over 60 years' working life — and was preserved for display at Newcastle Central Station's centenary celebrations in 1881–82, before being scrapped in the 20th century.

The Hetton engines were the direct ancestors of Locomotion No. 1 and the other Stockton & Darlington locomotives of 1825.

Long horizontal boiler with twin vertical cylinders set into the top, driving the wheels through cross-beams and side rods. Simple four-coupled (0-4-0) chassis with no leading or trailing wheels. A tall vertical chimney at the front.

• Hetton Dart (1820)
• Hetton Hetton (1820)
• Hetton Star (1820)
• Hetton Tallyho (1820)
• Wilberforce (1822)