Nasmiths Patricroft CGR loco photo on ebay

[plarailfan]

I've never heard of Nasmiths, - Patricroft, I would appreciate some help to identify this ebay photo, 180484124470, CGR steam loco. It's in a job lot of 13 British and export loco photo's. Did they only build loco's for export, was the loco destined for Canada or Ceylon? What happened to Nasmiths? were they absorbed by another company, or simply close down? What year would the CGR loco have been built, to me, it's typical style of around 1900. Any info would be appreciated, thanks.

[Arthur]

  Nasmyth Wilsons (earlier Nasmyth Gaskells) were one of the U.K.'s medium sized loco builders and their factory was on Green Lane in Patricroft, Manchester, just north of the station and a stones throw from Patricroft loco sheds. The bulk of their output was for export, railways in India, Japan, Majorca and Ireland being customers.  They did build some locomotives for home railways, some 0-4-4Ts for the LMS, some ROD 2-8-0's and two 0-8-0Ts for use at Gin Pit colliery just to the north west of Patricroft, as examples. Their triangular worksplate was quite distictive.

 

James Nasmyths main claim to fame was the invention, and manufacture, of steam hammers for use in shingling wrought iron. His demonstration piece was to use the hammer at full force to pound a hot ingot of puddled iron and then replace the ingot with an egg and bring the hammer down so that the egg just cracked. An outline of such a hammer features on the Borough of Eccles coat of arms and I sported that on my school blazer (Eccles Grammar School) many years ago. He also developed the steam pile driver as a variation of the hammer.

 

Nasmyths went out of business in 1938, they had an excellent reputation for craftmanship but were becoming too small to compete globally. The factory became a Royal Ordnance factory, my father worked very briefly in the foundry after leaving school, and remained as such until closure in 1989.  Bits of the factory still remain.

 

Arthur

 

EDIT; The locomotive in the photograph is definately Nasmyth Wilson, the identical wall appears behind other photographs of their locomotives.  It is probably one of three 4-6-0s built for Ceylon Government Railways in 1926 with 15 x 22 cylinders, 4' driving wheels and to 5' 6" gauge.  Works No's 1489/1490/1491, running No.s 229/230/231.