pete_mcfarlane Posted April 29, 2017 Share Posted April 29, 2017 (edited) Whilst looking for something else on Google, I can across this photo: http://media.photobucket.com/user/hettonlocalhistory/media/Coal/hetton%20colliery/Verticalboilerengine1848.jpg.html?filters[term]=Lambton%20Hetton%20&%20Joicey%20Colliery%20Kitson%200-6-2T%20No%2029&filters[primary]=images From what little I can find online, it was built after 1884 (link) or 1888, and the photo was supposedly taken in 1880...... Does anyone know any more about it? It looks very modellable - it even looks like it's perched on a Tenshodo motor bogie. Edited April 29, 2017 by pete_mcfarlane 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bertiedog Posted April 30, 2017 Share Posted April 30, 2017 (edited) Interesting loco, you will have garden rail builders after you on this one! Copyright lapsed due to age. I expect the other side was chain coupled to drive both axles, a vertical boiler, with a Launch type engine. Stephen Edited April 30, 2017 by bertiedog 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete_mcfarlane Posted April 30, 2017 Author Share Posted April 30, 2017 I expect the other side was chain coupled to drive both axles, a vertical boiler, with a Launch type engine. I'm assuming the driver was at the end with the spectacle plates and the fireman at the other, with access via the gap between the tanks above the buffer beam. The bodywork is unusual though - most British vertical boiler railway, rather than tramway, locos (Chaplins, Head-Wrightsons, De Wintons etc) have no bodywork at all. This one has quite a nice body to protect both of the crew. The wheels are quite large as well for this kind of loco - somewhere between 3' and 3'6". Of course, if it was 'built' in the colliery workshop as the captions suggest, it might have been built out of parts cannibalized from something else. The result is like the lovechild of a steam crane and a French Cockerill loco. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cctransuk Posted April 30, 2017 Share Posted April 30, 2017 I'm assuming the driver was at the end with the spectacle plates and the fireman at the other, with access via the gap between the tanks above the buffer beam. The bodywork is unusual though - most British vertical boiler railway, rather than tramway, locos (Chaplins, Head-Wrightsons, De Wintons etc) have no bodywork at all. This one has quite a nice body to protect both of the crew. The wheels are quite large as well for this kind of loco - somewhere between 3' and 3'6". Of course, if it was 'built' in the colliery workshop as the captions suggest, it might have been built out of parts cannibalized from something else. The result is like the lovechild of a steam crane and a French Cockerill loco. Could the name LYONS be a clue to its provenance? Funnily enough, there appears to have been another(?) LYONS or LYON at Hetton Colliery; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyons,_Hetton_colliery_railway . Regards, John Isherwood. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruston Posted April 30, 2017 Share Posted April 30, 2017 (edited) According to the IRS Durham handbook (L) there were two 4WVB locos built by the Hetton Coal Co. LYONS and EPPLETON. Both are shown as being built circa 1900 and assembled from various parts, not all of locomotive origin. The book also gives alternative names "Beetle No.1" and "Beetle No.2". Could the name LYONS be a clue to its provenance? I don't think there's any french locomotive connection. Lyons was the name of one of the collieries owned by the company. Edited April 30, 2017 by Ruston Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
5050 Posted May 1, 2017 Share Posted May 1, 2017 (edited) According to the IRS Durham handbook (L) there were two 4WVB locos built by the Hetton Coal Co. LYONS and EPPLETON. Both are shown as being built circa 1900 and assembled from various parts, not all of locomotive origin. The book also gives alternative names "Beetle No.1" and "Beetle No.2". I don't think there's any french locomotive connection. Lyons was the name of one of the collieries owned by the company. As in the Queen Mother's family? Bowes-Lyon, two possible railway connections there! The family had connections with Hetton-le-hole which is where both Lyons and Eppleton colliery were situated. Google is your friend! http://www.englandsnortheast.co.uk/Hetton.html Edited May 1, 2017 by 5050 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sir douglas Posted May 4, 2017 Share Posted May 4, 2017 i know its off topic but i couldnt resist... sorry Google is your friend! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Porcy Mane Posted May 5, 2017 Share Posted May 5, 2017 I expect the other side was chain coupled to drive both axles, a vertical boiler, with a Launch type engine. Other photographs in the series that I have seen but don't have copies of show that it was. Also a guard was normally fitted hiding the cog arrangement in the photograph above. According to Colin Mountford there was an article that made reference to locomotive "Lyons" published in The Locomotive in 1901 Both Lyons and Eppleton were scrapped in 1914. This is a level crossing they used to work over. Four Lane Ends, Hetton-le-Hole by Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums, on Flickr The Rail system in the area fell into disuse in 1959 following the opening of a centralized shaft that took over coal drawing operations from a number of collieries in the area. I used to sleep on the trackbed on occasion. Not as bad as it seems as a mates house was built on the original formation. One of the very large Lyons locosheds was used by a local family to run a number of businesses from (They also worked in the local collieries.) It was demolished comparatively recently to be replaced by the inevitable housing estate. This Locoshed is shown on Old maps at: https://www.old-maps.co.uk/#/Map/436052/546880/12/101200 P Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
EddieB Posted May 6, 2017 Share Posted May 6, 2017 If anyone has access to a copy, apparently there is an illustration and description of LYONS in Locomotive Magazine for April 1901. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Porcy Mane Posted May 6, 2017 Share Posted May 6, 2017 If anyone has access to a copy, apparently there is an illustration and description of LYONS in Locomotive Magazine for April 1901. Probably the same as mentioned in post #8... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete_mcfarlane Posted May 6, 2017 Author Share Posted May 6, 2017 If anyone has access to a copy, apparently there is an illustration and description of LYONS in Locomotive Magazine for April 1901. According to this online index: http://www.steamindex.com/locomag/locomag6.htm A novel shunting engine. 72. ilus. Built by and for the Hetton Colliery, Power taken from a Tansey donkey engine with 6½in x 8in stroke cylinders. Transmission was via gears and a chain. The locomotive was named Lyons. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killian keane Posted May 24, 2017 Share Posted May 24, 2017 I thought the 1822 built loco is only referred to as Lyons due to a confusion with this loco (?) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now