Newcastle (Trevithick 1805)
The 1805 Wylam locomotive was Richard Trevithick's second steam railway locomotive, a lighter development of Penydarren built by John Whinfield's foundry at Pipewellgate, Gateshead, for Christopher Blackett of Wylam Colliery on Tyneside. The engine was intended to demonstrate that the principles proven at Merthyr in 1804 could be transferred to Tyneside colliery working.
The design followed the general arrangement of Penydarren, single horizontal cylinder, cylindrical boiler, large flywheel, but was lightened to better suit the wooden plate-rails of the Wylam Waggonway. The engine was completed at Whinfield's in 1805. However, the Wylam Waggonway's wooden rails were considered too weak even for the lighter Trevithick engine, and the engine never ran successfully on the rails for which it had been designed.
Contemporary accounts vary on the exact sequence of events, some suggest the engine ran briefly during testing but the wooden tramway proved entirely unable to support its weight; others suggest it was never actually delivered to Wylam. What is reasonably certain is that Whinfield used the engine as a stationary engine at his foundry for a period before its eventual scrapping.
The line of development that the 1805 Wylam engine had been intended to start was picked up only at Wylam itself, where William Hedley's Puffing Billy of 1813 finally succeeded in the role, using converted iron-edge rails to support the engine's weight. No physical evidence of the 1805 engine survives, and no replica has been built; the historical record is sufficiently fragmentary that some scholars debate whether the engine was ever delivered to Wylam at all.
Design and development
By 1805 the success of Penydarren in early 1804 had attracted attention from other industrial users. Christopher Blackett, the owner of Wylam Colliery on Tyneside, was particularly interested, Wylam used a 5-mile horse-worked waggonway to transport coal from the colliery to the staiths at Lemington for shipment, and Blackett saw potential for a steam locomotive to reduce the substantial costs of horse haulage.
Blackett commissioned Trevithick to design a locomotive for Wylam, with construction subcontracted to John Whinfield's foundry at Pipewellgate, Gateshead (on the south bank of the Tyne). Trevithick's design followed the general arrangement of Penydarren, single horizontal cylinder, cylindrical boiler, large flywheel, but lightened to better suit the wooden plate-rails of the Wylam Waggonway.
The engine was completed at Whinfield's in 1805. However, the Wylam Waggonway's wooden rails were considered too weak even for the lighter Trevithick engine, and Blackett apparently decided not to receive delivery, or, if he did, never put the engine into rail service. Contemporary accounts vary on the exact sequence of events.
Service and withdrawals
The engine never ran successfully on the Wylam Waggonway. Some accounts suggest it ran on rails briefly during testing but the wooden tramway proved entirely unable to support the engine; other accounts suggest it was never actually delivered to Wylam. What is reasonably certain is that Whinfield used the engine as a stationary engine at his foundry for a period, driving foundry machinery, before its eventual scrapping.
The Wylam locomotive was Trevithick's second attempt at a steam railway locomotive and his second to demonstrate the same lesson taught by Penydarren, that contemporary track was too weak for steam locomotion. Trevithick himself moved on to the 1808 "Catch Me Who Can" London demonstration, but never returned to commercial railway locomotive design after that. The line of development was picked up only at Wylam itself, where William Hedley's Puffing Billy of 1813 finally succeeded in the role for which the 1805 engine had been intended, using converted iron-edge rails to support the engine's weight.
Identification features
The engine's appearance is recorded only sketchily. Contemporary accounts suggest it was generally similar to the Penydarren engine but somewhat smaller and lighter. The single horizontal cylinder, large flywheel, vertical chimney, and tall boiler were the principal external features. No detailed engineering drawings of the engine survive.
Numbers and names
None (single prototype)
Notable locomotives
- Only locomotive built; early example observed by George Stephenson
Allocations and regions
- Wylam Colliery, Northumberland (1805 trials)