In
1812 William Hedley, was commissioned
by Christopher
Blackett, the owner of Wylam Colliery, to
produce
a steam locomotive. Hedley was helped in his task by two talented
craftsman, Jonathan Forster, an enginewright, and Timothy
Hackworth, a blacksmith. By 1814 Hedley produced a locomotive
that had two vertical cylinders outside the boiler. Piston rods extended
upwards to pivotted beams, which were in turn connected by rods to
a crankshaft beneath the frames, from which gears drove and also coupled
the wheels. Originally carried on four wheels, the 8 ton locomotives
were two heavy for the plate rails, and so to spread the weight on
the templates, they were redesigned with eight wheels. Two of these
locomotives were still working at Wylam Colliery in 1860. This included
Puffing Billy and Wylam Dilly.
William Hedley's Puffing Billy
Available from Amazon Books
(order below)
