Tatham area railways 1845-1914 |
|||||||||
 |
Engines and rolling stockLocomotivesThe first locomotives operated by the NWR were five second hand ones plus five new ones built by Fairburn of Manchester (1850-52).4 They were all small tank engines, weighing around 10-20 tons, with various wheel configurations, including a rebuilt 2-2-2 (i.e. two leading wheels, two powered driving wheels, two trailing wheels) as shown below.
The new ones comprised 0-4-0 tender engines (broadly similar to the Furness Railway loco illustrated in the Introduction) for goods traffic, and 0-4-2 tank engines for passengers. However, with the transfer of responsibility for the running of the line to the MR in 1852, the locomotives and the carriages and wagons seen in the local area would have been provided largely by them (and also after 1867 by the Furness Railway).
The MR engines, made mostly in large numbers at their own works at Derby, were predominantly an evolving series of increasingly larger 2-4-0s and 0-6-0s, the former for passenger train use and the latter for goods, although not exclusively (images above).19 For example, the locomotives housed at the Lancaster Green Ayre depot in 1880 were five 2-4-0s and three 0-6-0s.4 These types, of classic late Victorian appearance, were still working in the area in the 1920s.4 The relatively small size favoured by the MR meant they were frequently doubled up for large loads or steep gradients.
However, by the early 1900s the larger 4-4-0s (image above, locomotive on right), weighing 50-60 tons, were working in the area.1 Carriages and WagonsPassenger carriage design was apparently more conservative. This traffic in 1850 was based on small 4-wheeled, 4-compartment coaches carrying 8-10 persons per compartment (the Furness Railway train illustrated in the Introduction has coaches of this type), in various arrangements of classes and guard (brake), and these were still in use in 1880 at the time of the accident at Wennington, discussed in a later section of this article. These were later increased in size to 6-wheel 5-compartment carriages (below left) and by the early 1900s, 7-compartment clerestory carriages with 4-wheeled bogies were in use (below middle).
|
||||||||
|
