KR Models announced intention: Haydock Foundry 0-6-0WT 'Bellerophon'

[Edwardian]

Please excuse the presumption, but given that KR Models' previous output and announcements are some distance from my nearest point of interest, it is not a manufacturer I thought I'd need to keep an eye on. 

 

As a result, I completely missed the announced intention to produce Bellerophon.  I only became aware because Bernard TPM mentioned it in another topic. 

 

Perhaps I am not alone in missing the announcement, and thought that awareness and expressions of interest might be boosted if there was at least a dedicated topic named for the product. I trust that is acceptable.

 

 

All I really know about this locomotive is garnered from J B Latham's slim IRS monograph Haydock Collieries, Their Locomotives and Railways.

 

Thus, I hope no one minds if I recite a bit of context gleaned from the book.

 

I learn that the origin of the Haydock Collieries railway was old indeed, connected to the Liverpool and Manchester from 1831. With a couple of exceptions, the numerous Haydock Collieries pits were connected by its private railway system, and, as was common in the early years of the Liverpool and Manchester, worked its trains and locomotives over that line.  

 

Bellerophon is remarkable for her motion;  the use of piston valves was very advanced for the time, a feature not taken up by "main line mechanical engineers" for many years to come. 

 

The Haydock line thus had an extensive locomotive history before it built Bellerophon and her five sisters from the late 1860s. 

 

These were:

 

Hercules (1869), works number A, and Amazon, (1868, B), were noted as having 4' diameter wheels, 12'6" w/b and 15" x 22" cylinders.  They are said to have worked on to the LNWR to take heavy loads to sidings at Old Ford fro distribution to the St Helens, Widnes and Liverpool areas. 

 

Bellerophon (1874, C) and Makerfield (1874, D) followed.  Their names were too long to fit on the cab side sheets, so were affixed to the boiler.  They are said to have undertaken two mainline trips a day with Edge Green and Brynn Colliery traffic. 

 

Parr (1886, E) and Golborne (1887, F) were the final pair, with cylinders increased to 16". The first four locomotives were at some stage fitted with 16" cylinders. At some stage, all six seem to have gained more enclosed cabs in place of the original weather sheets.

 

The KWVR website claims that Bellerophon "and its class mates headed passenger trains over the lines of the Lancashire and Yorkshire and London and North Western Railways when heading annual workers trips to Blackpool. These trains were double headed and consisted of 4 and 6 wheeled coaching stock. Each works outing consisted of 4 separate trains to get everyone there". That would be quite something to model. I suspect that the locomotives were not fitted for automatic braking.  Following the Abbots Ripton disaster in 1876, the adoption of continuous brakes was encouraged by the Board of Trade. If I understand the position correctly, the Regulation of Railways Act 1889 gave the BoT the power to enforce the requirement.  Thus, I wonder how long these locomotives could have continued with this excursion traffic. 

 

Amazon was scrapped in 1944, Golborne may have been withdrawn in 1946, but survived to be taken over by the NCM in 1947 and "its remains lingered on until 1949".  Hercules was scrapped in 1953, and Parr in 1963. Bellerophon survived until 1966 when it went to the Keighley & Worth Valley. At the time Latham was writing, 1980, there it languished, unrestored.  Happoly, a year later, in 1981, the Vintage Carriages Trust purchased her from the KWVR  for £1 and restoration work commenced. Her first steaming since 1964 followed four years later.  However, in 2018, Bellerophon was withdrawn at the end of its 10 year boiler certificate and now awaits overhaul.

 

 

 

Can I end by expressing my enthusiasm for this release. My only question is whether I should order 2 or 3 in due course.

 

I look forward to an update and the opening of the order book in due course.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 9, 2021 by Edwardian
spelling!

[Compound2632]

I believe that Bellerophon was at the Foxfield Railway for most of the decade up to the expiry of its boiler ticket - often seen with the equally splendidly-restored Knotty 4-wheel carriages.

 

I suppose it was named for the third HMS Bellerophon, and ironclad of 1865 that introduced several new features to Royal Navy warships - a step in the slow painful transformation from the wooden broadside navy of Nelson to the breach-loading big gun ships of Fisher's - rather than the bad boy of Greek myth.

[Edwardian]

9 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

I believe that Bellerophon was at the Foxfield Railway for most of the decade up to the expiry of its boiler ticket - often seen with the equally splendidly-restored Knotty 4-wheel carriages.

 

I suppose it was named for the third HMS Bellerophon, and ironclad of 1865 that introduced several new features to Royal Navy warships - a step in the slow painful transformation from the wooden broadside navy of Nelson to the breach-loading big gun ships of Fisher's - rather than the bad boy of Greek myth.

 

In the popular imagination, the HMS Bellerophon would have been the the Third Rate man of war, popularly known as 'Billy Ruffian', veteran of the Glorious First of June, the Nile and Trafalgar, famous for being the vessel to which Napoleon did surrender, oh yeah. 

[Compound2632]

I wondered how current that would have been, nearly 60 years after the event. Were the Napoleonic Wars as dominant in the popular national narrative then as the Second World War still is now? If one was to name a locomotive Spitfire now, one would get the reference immediately.

Edited April 9, 2021 by Compound2632

[Edwardian]

14 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

I wondered how current that would have been, nearly 60 years after the event. Were the Napoleonic Wars as dominant in the popular national narrative then as the Second World War still is now?

 

In a word 'yes', I very much think so.

 

The Napoleonic Wars were known in retrospect as ''the Great War'', until, of course, the war of 1914-18 took on that dubious mantle. Throughout the Nineteenth Century it was central to national identity the way WWII is now. 

 

'Billy Ruffian' was celebrated in art, spawning numerous engravings that would have been widely disseminated, and got a mention in the popular song Boney was a Warrior, for a performance of which see the rather underrated 1970 Sergei Bondarchuk film Waterloo, which despite its faults, is rather brilliantly scripted and performed by the principal antagonists. Good score by Nino Rota, too.  

 

 

Edited April 9, 2021 by Edwardian

[Free At Last]

I remember Bellerophon featured in the BBC period Drama 'Cranford', arriving on its return from the opposite direction it had left. Must have been on a roundy roundy.

[No Decorum]

1 hour ago, Edwardian said:

 

In a word 'yes', I very much think so.

 

The Napoleonic Wars were known in retrospect as ''the Great War'', until, of course, the war of 1914-18 took on that dubious mantle. Throughout the Nineteenth Century it was central to national identity the way WWII is now. 

 

'Billy Ruffian' was celebrated in art, spawning numerous engravings that would have been widely disseminated, and got a mention in the popular song Boney was a Warrior, for a performance of which see the rather underrated 1970 Sergei Bondarchuk film Waterloo, which despite its faults, is rather brilliantly scripted and performed by the principal antagonists. Good score by Nino Rota, too.  

 

 

Utterly superb film but why do film makers assume that solid cannonballs explode?

[Edwardian]

13 minutes ago, No Decorum said:

Utterly superb film but why do film makers assume that solid cannonballs explode?

 

They had shells, at least the British did,  A certain Major Shrapnel ....

 

But you are essentially correct.

 

The French Grand Battery failed, I reckon, because the ground was too soft for its solid shot to bounce.

 

 

Edited April 9, 2021 by Edwardian

[No Decorum]

2 minutes ago, Edwardian said:

 

They had shells, at least the British did,  A certain Major Shrapnel ....

 Yes but most of the projectiles were solid shot*. My great grandfather was mortally wounded by one in the Crimean War, much later than Waterloo.

* Or canister.

[Edwardian]

1 minute ago, No Decorum said:

 Yes but most of the projectiles were solid shot*. My great grandfather was mortally wounded by one in the Crimean War, much later than Waterloo.

* Or canister.

 

Agreed, and I was in the process of editing to reflect that.

[Edwardian]

2 minutes ago, No Decorum said:

 My great grandfather was mortally wounded by one in the Crimean War, much later than Waterloo.

 

 

Field ordnance hadn't, I think, changed by the Crimea.

[Edwardian]

The locomotive history of the Haydock Colliery system is fascinating, and I realise that there is, remarkably, another survivor.

 

 

This is Haydock, Robert Stephenson 2309 of 1879 at  Penrhyn Castle Industrial Railway Museum.

 

The caption below suggests the loco was acquired nearly new in the 1880s.  That might not be the case.  Haydock Collieries recycled their engine names. Latham op cit cites at length a paper given to the St Helens Public Library by JW Gibson in 1944, recalling the locomotives at Haydock Collieries in 1880, when he commenced his apprenticeship there. At that time, a four-coupled tender engine called Haydock was in the shops and was believed scrapped by 1900.

 

 

Our Haydock was a six-coupled loco with 3'6" wheels and 14"x18" cylinders, Robert Stephenson 2309 of 1879.  Latham states that it was one of a pair ordered by the Royal Sardinian Railways, but not delivered.  The fate of the second loco, works no. 2310, is said to be unknown.  

 

Latham says that the RS works number suggests a build date of 1876.  Perhaps, then, due to the cancelled order, it was only completed when an alternative buyer was found?

 

La Compagnia Reale delle Ferrovie Sarde was formed in 1863, and was busily expanding its network on the island when it experienced a crisis in the mid 1870s.  According to the auto-translated Wiki page:

 

In the following years between 1875 and 1876 , bell tower feuds, conflicts between local and central authorities, maneuvers by politicians and parliamentary battles around the projects of new railway constructions were ignited even more than in the past while the Royal Company was in a serious crisis that to the suspension of the works. 

 

Might this account for a cancelled order in 1876?

 

Returning to Haydock, Latham cites George Alliez as authority for "the early days of this century" as the time the loco arrived on the Haydock system, coinciding with the demise of the earlier tender engine Haydock.

 

The loco reputedly worked on the NER's Copmanthorpe to Church Fenton widening contract in 1903, so, presumably, was acquired after the cessation of that work. Latham states that Haydock was mainly shedded at Acton Grange, near Warrington, and Preserved British Locomotives describes her work as hauling coal wagons both from the Haydock company collieries and also the Manchester Ship Canal, which had a wharf at Acton Grange.  

 

Haydock survived Nationalisation and was presented to the National trust in 1966.

 

Note that, at some point during her career on the Haydock system, she was thought to have been re-boilered and certainly received Ramsbottom safety valves in place of the Salter spring balance type seen in the B&W photograph. Note that this seems to have been very late in her long career, as the B&W above is dated 1953.

 

So, can I put Haydock in the KR Models suggestion box?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 10, 2021 by Edwardian
spelling!

[Compound2632]

You've confused me, a bit, but I think what you are saying is that Haydock at Penrhyn is R. Stephenson No. 2309, presumed acquired by the colliery company from the contractor for the Church Fenton widening (or later), replacing an earlier Haydock, of which details are unknown?

 

The fate of R. Stephenson No. 2310 is, I suppose, now known, at least in the Achingverse.

 

A 'bell tower feud' is, I presume, an artefact of Google Translate, not a traditional Sardinian custom.

Edited April 10, 2021 by Compound2632

[wainwright1]

2 hours ago, Edwardian said:

The locomotive history of the Haydock Colliery system is fascinating, and I realise that there is, remarkably, another survivor.

 

 

This is Haydock, Robert Stephenson 2309 of 1879 at  Penrhyn Castle Industrial Railway Museum.

 

The caption below suggests the loco was acquired nearly new in the 1880s.  That might not be the case.  Haydock Collieries recycled their engine names. Latham op cit cites at length a paper given to the St Helens Public Library by JW Gibson in 1944, recalling the locomotives at Haydock Collieries in 1880, when he commenced his apprenticeship there. At that time, a four-coupled tender engine called Haydock was in the shops and was believed scrapped by 1900.

 

 

Our Haydock was a six-coupled loco with 3'6" wheels and 14"x18" cylinders.  Latham states that it was one of a pair ordered by the Royal Sardinian Railways, but not delivered.  The fate of the second loco, works no. 2310, is said to be unknown.  

 

Latham says that the RS works number suggests a build date of 1876.  Perhaps, then, due to the cancelled order, it was only completed when an alternative buyer was found?

 

La Compagnia Reale delle Ferrovie Sarde was formed in 1863, and was busily expanding its network on the island when it experienced a crisis in the mid 1870s.  According to the auto-translated Wiki page:

 

In the following years between 1875 and 1876 , bell tower feuds, conflicts between local and central authorities, maneuvers by politicians and parliamentary battles around the projects of new railway constructions were ignited even more than in the past while the Royal Company was in a serious crisis that to the suspension of the works. 

 

Might this account for a cancelled order in 1876?

 

Returning to Haydock, Latham cites George Alliez as authority for "the early days of this century" as the time the loco arrived on the Haydock system, coinciding with the demise of the earlier tender engine Haydock.

 

The loco reputedly worked on the NER's Copmanthorpe to Church Fenton widening contract in 1903, so, presumably, was acquired after the cessation of that work. Latham states that Haydock was mainly shedded at Acton Grange, near Warrington, and Preserved British Locomotives describes her work as hauling coal wagons both from the Haydock company collieries and also the Manchester Ship Canal, which had a wharf at Acton Grange.  

 

Haydock survived Nationalisation and was presented to the National trust in 1966.

 

Note that, at some point during her career on the Haydock system, she was thought to have been re-boilered and certainly received Ramsbottom safety valves in place of the Salter spring balance type seen in the B&W photograph. Note that this seems to have been very late in her long career, as the B&W above is dated 1953.

 

So, can I put Haydock in the KR Models suggestion box?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That's a very interesting and cranky looking old beast. Would make a nice model.

I took some nice pictures of Bellerophon when it visited the Bluebell Railway a few years back.

Ray

[96701]

In the sunshine at Welland Steam Rally in 2014.

 

 

Edited April 18, 2022 by 96701

[The Stationmaster]

On 09/04/2021 at 19:21, Edwardian said:

 

 

The KWVR website claims that Bellerophon "and its class mates headed passenger trains over the lines of the Lancashire and Yorkshire and London and North Western Railways when heading annual workers trips to Blackpool. These trains were double headed and consisted of 4 and 6 wheeled coaching stock. Each works outing consisted of 4 separate trains to get everyone there". That would be quite something to model. I suspect that the locomotives were not fitted for automatic braking.  Following the Abbots Ripton disaster in 1876, the adoption of continuous brakes was encouraged by the Board of Trade. If I understand the position correctly, the Regulation of Railways Act 1889 gave the BoT the power to enforce the requirement.  Thus, I wonder how long these locomotives could have continued with this excursion traffic. 

 

Ah, you've done what many do and have missed out an important piece of legislation - the 1878 Railway Returns (Continuous Brakes) Act, the one everybody seems to either ignore or overlook.  Section 2 of this Act required the railway companies 'to make half yearly returns to the Board of Trade showing the number of vehicles fitted with continuous brakes, the description of the brake used, the failures which have occurred,  and the mileage of passenger trains run without continuous brakes.'

 

The 1889 Act empowered the BoT  that it may 'from time to time order a railway company to do within a fixed period by that order, any of the following :-' 

including at sub clause c - 'To equip passenger trains with a continuous brake.'

 

Consequent upon being granted the powers conferred by the 1889 Act the BoT made Orders on the railway companies in the United Kingdom to carry out the requirements of the Act within two years of the date of the Orders.

 

BTW one interesting point about 'Billy Ruffian' (as 'Bellerophon' is today known to many) is that it has outside Gooch valve gear which I suspect is a unique survival (although I doubt that it was hardly common in any case).

[Edwardian]

17 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

Ah, you've done what many do and have missed out an important piece of legislation - the 1878 Railway Returns (Continuous Brakes) Act, the one everybody seems to either ignore or overlook.  Section 2 of this Act required the railway companies 'to make half yearly returns to the Board of Trade showing the number of vehicles fitted with continuous brakes, the description of the brake used, the failures which have occurred,  and the mileage of passenger trains run without continuous brakes.'

 

The 1889 Act empowered the BoT  that it may 'from time to time order a railway company to do within a fixed period by that order, any of the following :-' 

including at sub clause c - 'To equip passenger trains with a continuous brake.'

 

Consequent upon being granted the powers conferred by the 1889 Act the BoT made Orders on the railway companies in the United Kingdom to carry out the requirements of the Act within two years of the date of the Orders.

 

BTW one interesting point about 'Billy Ruffian' (as 'Bellerophon' is today known to many) is that it has outside Gooch valve gear which I suspect is a unique survival (although I doubt that it was hardly common in any case).

 

I actually skimmed that one.  It appeared to imposed a reporting requirement, rather than an implementation requirement.  Presumably it was laying the ground for later mandatory provisions.  It was part of the support for the summary comment "the adoption of continuous brakes was encouraged". 

[Edwardian]

On 10/04/2021 at 11:00, Compound2632 said:

 

A 'bell tower feud' is, I presume, an artefact of Google Translate, not a traditional Sardinian custom.

 

I looked it up again in the original Italian; "faide di campanile".

 

"campanilismo" is a thing, which I think denotes a sort of xenophobic parochialism.  

[Edwardian]

Sister locomotive Parr, 1934

 

[Edwardian]

Parr again, this time crossing the Liverpool & Manchester on the level at Earlestown.

 

What a wonderful scene that would be to model!

 

[Edwardian]

This shot  I came across the other day is interesting. It's captioned as a picture of 'King' at the Lea Green Colliery in 1964, but who's that lurking behind in the shed?

 

Well, after Nationalisation, locos might move off their native system (I don't believe Lea Green was served by the Haydock system, it's off Warrington way, I think), so I think this is Bellerophon, as she is said to have moved from Lea Green to the K&WVR in '66.

 

 

[Edwardian]

"Please do not read anymore into this announcement other than it is an announcement".  

 

OK, fair enough, and people familiar with my product posts will know I am one of the least impatient anticipators of announced products.  It's really not the "when", it's the "if".  So, 4 months in from the announcement of the intention to produce Bellerophon, it would be great to have some indication that the intention has passed beyond territory-marking and that work on the project is underway.

 

Or should I just wait for Hornby's announcement?   

 

If anyone interested in this product has yet to express interest via the KR Models website. I would urge them to do so. 

[No Decorum]

1 hour ago, Edwardian said:

"Please do not read anymore into this announcement other than it is an announcement".  

 

OK, fair enough, and people familiar with my product posts will know I am one of the least impatient anticipators of announced products.  It's really not the "when", it's the "if".  So, 4 months in from the announcement of the intention to produce Bellerophon, it would be great to have some indication that the intention has passed beyond territory-marking and that work on the project is underway.

 

Or should I just wait for Hornby's announcement?   

 

If anyone interested in this product has yet to express interest via the KR Models website. I would urge them to do so. 

All right. I’ve done that and expressed an interest in DHP1 as well. When it arrives at the same time as a heap of other stuff I can’t afford, I’ll come looking for you.  As has been pointed out, it’s amazingly modern in appearance considering when it was built.

[avonside1563]

As a member of the team at Foxfield who look after Bellerophon I can say that this project is definitely moving forward. We are all as interested to see the outcome of this as those who have expressed an interest in the model.

[AlfaZagato]

I'm curious as to what happened to the rest of the cab?  Every picture here, other than the modern-day pictures, shows Bellerophon with a full cab.