Northumbrian

Resource Type: Image | Posted on 24th October 2011 by Liam Physick

One of the images supplied to Metal by Eric Shenton. This is a contemporary drawing of the Northumbrian, one of the first batch of locomotives built by Robert Stephenson in 1830 for the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. Like the Rocket, it used the 0-2-2 wheel arrangement, but was the last Stephenson locomotive to do so. The Northumbrian was the first locomotive where the Stephenson-type firebox was incorporated into the boiler, and where the smokebox was the full diameter of the boiler - the design used by all locomotive boilers ever since. Other innovations were plate frames, a proper tender and nearly horizontal cylinders, all of which made running smoother. It was one of eight locomotives used on the opening day of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, the others being the Rocket, the Phoenix (driven by Robert Stephenson), the North Star, the Dart, the Comet, the Arrow and the Meteor. The Northumbrian was driven by George Stephenson on that opening day, pulling the train from which William Huskisson fatefully disembarked before being struck and killed by the Rocket. When the Northumbrian pulled into Manchester, it was pelted with stones by weavers, angry that one of its passengers, the Duke of Wellington, was opposed to parliamentary reform

Tagged under: steam locomotives, liverpool and manchester railway, eric shenton, tender locomotives, rocket, george stephenson, william huskisson, robert stephenson, northumbrian

Categorised under: Landmarks, Landscapes & Locomotives