Robert Stephenson and Company

About

Robert Stephenson and Company was the world's first purpose-built commercial locomotive-builder, founded on 23 June 1823 at Forth Street, Newcastle upon Tyne by George Stephenson, his son Robert Stephenson, Edward Pease and Michael Longridge. Robert Stephenson was Managing Partner from the outset, taking direct charge of the works on his return from a three-year mining engineering venture in Colombia in 1827.

The first engine built was Locomotion No. 1, delivered to the Stockton & Darlington Railway in 1825. A swift evolution of locomotive design followed: Lancashire Witch (1828), Rocket (1829), Planet (1830) and the Patentee 2-2-2 of 1833. Forth Street locomotives worked the opening trains of the Liverpool & Manchester, the London & Birmingham, the Leipzig–Dresden (with Adler), the Albany & Schenectady (the John Bull) and railways across Europe and North America.

The firm produced about 4,500 locomotives during its 137-year history. From 1899 it was based at Darlington and traded as Robert Stephenson & Hawthorns from 1937 (after merger with R. & W. Hawthorn, Leslie & Co. of Newcastle). The firm was acquired by English Electric in 1955 and the Darlington works closed in 1960. Forth Street, Newcastle is preserved in part as the Stephenson Locomotive Society's heritage museum.

Locomotives built here

Adler — An 1835 Robert Stephenson & Co. 2-2-2 supplied to the Bayerische Ludwigsbahn (Nuremberg–Fürth Railway) — Germany's first steam-hauled railway. Adler ("Eagle") hauled the first train on 7 December 1835. The original engine was scrapped in 1857; a working replica built in 1935 is preserved at the DB Museum, Nuremberg, where it remains operational for special events.
Aeolus — An 1838 Robert Stephenson & Co. 0-4-0 supplied to the Liverpool & Manchester Railway, part of the L&MR's second-generation freight fleet that supplemented the original Planet engines on heavy goods work.
Cambrian Railways Jones Class 89 — William Jones's 1903 Cambrian Railways 89 class 0-6-0 — Cambrian's standard goods engine.
Experiment — An 1826 0-4-0 built by Robert Stephenson & Co. for the Stockton & Darlington Railway, distinguished as the first locomotive specifically intended to haul passengers as well as coal. It hauled the railway's pioneering passenger coach "Experiment" — from which the locomotive took its name — on the world's first regular steam-hauled passenger service.
GNR No.1 — Archibald Sturrock's 1848 4-2-2 "Single" express engine for the Great Northern Railway, one of a small early group built by E. B. Wilson of Leeds. Distinct from the much later Stirling Single of 1870.
Invicta — Robert Stephenson's 1830 locomotive for the Canterbury & Whitstable Railway, the world's first commercial passenger steam locomotive (the C&W opened 3 May 1830, four months before the Liverpool & Manchester Railway). Built by Robert Stephenson and Company at Newcastle to a development of the Rocket design with horizontal cylinders, Invicta proved underpowered for the railway's gradients and was withdrawn after only six years. The engine was preserved on withdrawal and is currently displayed at the Whitstable Museum, having previously been at the Canterbury Heritage Museum.
LNWR DX Goods Class — John Ramsbottom's 1858 inside-cylinder 0-6-0, eventually 943 strong — the most numerous British locomotive class ever built. The DX worked LNWR goods traffic from 1858 well into the 20th century; some lasted in industrial service until the 1950s. The original quoted year reflects the long evolution from earlier Trevithick and Allan goods engines that culminated in the DX.
Lancashire Witch — Robert Stephenson's 1828 locomotive for the Bolton & Leigh Railway, a transitional design between the early colliery engines and the Rocket of 1829. Lancashire Witch introduced the inclined-cylinder arrangement that would feature on Rocket, and used a primitive multi-tube boiler arrangement that was a precursor of the multi-tube boilers Rocket would make famous. The engine worked the Bolton & Leigh Railway from 1828, including a brief loan to the Liverpool & Manchester Railway during construction, and was scrapped in approximately 1842. No original survives.
Locomotion — George Stephenson's 1825 locomotive, the engine that hauled the opening train of the Stockton & Darlington Railway on 27 September 1825, the world's first public passenger steam railway. Built by Robert Stephenson and Company at Newcastle to a design by George Stephenson, Locomotion (originally numbered 1, often known retrospectively as "Locomotion No. 1") combined direct connecting-rod drive with two vertical cylinders set into the boiler. The engine worked the S&DR until 1841 and was preserved as a static exhibit thereafter. Currently a centrepiece exhibit at Locomotion: The National Railway Museum, Shildon, County Durham.
North Star — An 1830 Robert Stephenson & Co. 0-2-2 built for the Liverpool & Manchester Railway, one of the post-Rocket generation of Stephenson engines that worked the world's first inter-city passenger railway from its 15 September 1830 opening. Not to be confused with the GWR broad-gauge North Star of 1837.
Northumbrian — Robert Stephenson's 1830 development of Rocket for the Liverpool & Manchester Railway, the engine that hauled the directors' inaugural train at the line's opening on 15 September 1830, and that carried the fatally-injured William Huskisson MP at speed to Manchester after his accident at Parkside. Northumbrian incorporated improvements over Rocket including a horizontal cylinder arrangement, a separate firebox more substantially water-jacketed, and a smokebox at the front of the boiler, all features that became standard on subsequent designs. No original survives.
Patentee — Robert Stephenson & Co.'s 1833 2-2-2 design — the Planet enlarged with a trailing carrying axle for greater stability and water capacity. Patentee was the universal British express locomotive of the 1830s; over 70 were built for railways across Britain, Europe and beyond, and the layout shaped passenger-engine design for the rest of the 19th century.
Phoenix — An 1830 Robert Stephenson & Co. 0-2-2 built for the Liverpool & Manchester Railway's opening fleet, broadly to Rocket pattern. Hauled some of the L&MR's first revenue trains in autumn 1830 and was rapidly superseded by the Planet class.
Planet Class — Robert Stephenson & Co.'s 1830 2-2-0 design that established the basic layout of the steam locomotive: inside cylinders mounted between the frames at the smokebox end, driving a cranked axle, with the boiler carried on a strong sub-frame. Planet itself was delivered to the Liverpool & Manchester Railway in October 1830; over thirty Planet-pattern locomotives were built for British and overseas railways, making it the first true mass-production locomotive class.
Rocket — Robert Stephenson's 1829 locomotive, the engine that won the Rainhill Trials of October 1829 and inaugurated the modern railway age. Built by Robert Stephenson and Company at Newcastle to a design by Robert Stephenson with his father George Stephenson, Rocket combined three innovations that made it decisively faster and more reliable than its competitors: a multi-tube boiler with 25 copper firetubes, a separate firebox surrounded by water, and a blast pipe directing exhaust steam up the chimney to draw the fire. The engine won the Rainhill prize of £500 and the contract to supply locomotives to the Liverpool & Manchester Railway, which opened the following year as the world's first inter-city passenger railway. The original engine survives at the Science Museum, London.
Stephenson Long Boiler — Robert Stephenson & Co.'s 1841 patented locomotive layout with an unusually long boiler positioned over a short rigid wheelbase, giving high steam-raising capacity but poor stability at speed. Built in numbers for Continental railways and as British 0-6-0 goods engines through the 1840s; the layout was the dominant European express engine type of the 1840s before its instability problems became apparent.
Stephenson Planet — Generic name for Robert Stephenson & Co.'s post-1833 production batches of Planet-type 2-2-0s supplied to railways other than the L&MR — early customers included the Stockton & Darlington, the Leicester & Swannington, the Dublin & Kingstown, and several Continental railways.
Stephenson Samson — Robert Stephenson & Co.'s 1830 0-6-0, the first six-coupled locomotive ever built. Developed for heavy mineral haulage on the Stockton & Darlington Railway and effectively the founding ancestor of the British 0-6-0 freight engine — a layout that would dominate British goods traffic for the following 130 years.

Location	Forth Street, Newcastle upon Tyne
Founded	23 June 1823
Closed	1 January 1960