Wylam Dilly
| Wylam Dilly | |||||||||||||||||||
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 Wylam Dilly in 1862. | |||||||||||||||||||
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Wylam Dilly is one of the two oldest surviving railway locomotives in the world;[1] it was built circa 1815 by William Hedley and Timothy Hackworth[2] for Christopher Blackett, the owner of Wylam colliery. Wylam Dilly was initially designed for and used on the Wylam Waggonway (or Wagonway) to transport coal.[3] The four driving wheels are connected by a train of spur wheels driven by a central crankshaft.[4] A similar steam locomotive, Puffing Billy is in the Science Museum in London.
Because it proved too heavy for the cast iron plateway in its original form, the locomotive was rebuilt with eight wheels in 1815, but returned to its original design in 1830 after the track was relaid with wrought iron rails.[5] The locomotive was still at work in 1862 when it was moved to Craghead Colliery.[6] After withdrawal it was presented to the Royal Museum in Edinburgh in 1883, where it is currently on display.[1]
In 1822 the locomotive was temporarily mounted on a keel and served as the engine for a steam paddlewheeler that ferried strikebreakers on the River Tyne.[3][7]
Until a thorough examination of Wylam Dilly and Puffing Billy was undertaken in 2008, it was thought that Wylam Dilly was the oldest surviving steam locomotive in the world. The research results, released in late 2008, showed that Wylam Dilly was built after Puffing Billy incorporating improvements on the locomotive's design that weren't present in Puffing Billy.[2]
References
- ^ a b "Move It Teachers' Notes". National Museums of Scotland. Retrieved 26 June 2007.
- ^ a b "Puffing Billy becomes world's oldest surviving locomotive". The Railway Magazine. Vol. 154, no. 1, 292. December 2008. p. 9.
- ^ a b "Wylam WagGon Way". Heddon on the Wall. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 26 June 2007.
- ^ Casserley, H.C. (1976). Preserved locomotives (4th ed.). London: Ian Allan. p. 13. ISBN 071100725X.
- ^ Science Museum (1958). The British railway locomotive 1803-1850. London: Science Museum. p. 4.
- ^ Casserley
- ^ "Wylam Dilly and the Keelmen". Working Class Movement Library. Retrieved 26 June 2006.
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