Wylam Colliery workshops

About

The on-site workshops at Wylam Colliery in Northumberland were where the locomotives Grasshopper (1813), Puffing Billy (1814) and Wylam Dilly (1814) were built, the latter two being the world's oldest surviving railway locomotives.

The locomotives were designed by colliery viewer William Hedley, with construction by enginewright Jonathan Forster and the young blacksmith Timothy Hackworth. The workshops were small and informal, the engines were built using a combination of locally-forged ironwork and bought-in components, with Hackworth making and shaping much of the ironwork himself. Puffing Billy is preserved at the Science Museum, London and Wylam Dilly at the National Museum of Scotland.

Locomotives built here

Chittaprat — An 1815 William Hedley-built Wylam Colliery locomotive that proved unsuccessful and was quickly superseded; named for the distinctive irregular exhaust beat ("chitta-prat") of its unevenly set valves. Worked briefly at Wylam alongside Puffing Billy before being broken up.
Puffing Billy — William Hedley's 1813 Wylam Colliery locomotive, the oldest surviving steam locomotive in the world. Built at Wylam Colliery's own workshops to a design by colliery viewer Hedley with engineman Jonathan Forster and blacksmith Timothy Hackworth, Puffing Billy demonstrated for the first time that simple wheel-on-rail adhesion (without rack-and-pinion drive) was sufficient for steam locomotion, a fundamental discovery that shaped all subsequent locomotive practice. The engine worked at Wylam from 1814 to 1862, nearly 50 years' service. Currently on permanent display at the Science Museum, London.
Wylam Dilly — Sister engine to Puffing Billy and one of the two oldest surviving steam locomotives in the world. Built at Wylam Colliery in approximately 1815 to William Hedley's design (with Jonathan Forster and Timothy Hackworth), Wylam Dilly is the sister of Puffing Billy of 1813, both engines using the same general arrangement and working the Wylam Waggonway from Wylam Colliery to the staiths at Lemington-on-Tyne. The engine worked at Wylam from approximately 1815 to 1862, nearly 50 years' service. Currently on permanent display at the National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh.

Location	Wylam, Northumberland
Parent railway company	Wylam Colliery (Wylam Waggonway)