Fairfield | |||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
|
The Bristol and Exeter Railway Fairfield was an experimental broad gauge self-propelled steam carriage. In later use the carriage portion was removed and it was used as a small shunting locomotive.
The steam carriage was built to the design of William Bridges Adams at Fairfield Works in Bow, London. It was tested on the West London Railway late in 1848, although it was early in 1850 before modifications had been made that allowed Adams to demonstrate that it was working to the agreed standards. The design was not perpetuated by the Bristol and Exeter Railway, instead they purchased small 2-2-2T locomotives for working their branch lines.
It worked on the Clevedon and Tiverton branches, although it might have spent some time on the Weston branch too.
The power unit had a single pair of driving wheels driven through a jackshaft by small 8-by-12-inch (203 mm × 305 mm) cylinders. Originally equipped with a vertical boiler 6 feet (1,800 mm) in height, 3 feet (910 mm) in diameter, this was replaced by a horizontal boiler length 7 feet 7 inches (2,310 mm), diameter 2 feet 6 inches (760 mm). The boiler was not covered by a cab or other bodywork; the two pairs of carrying wheels were beneath the carriage portion. It had seats for 16 first class and 32 second class passengers. It was once timed as running at 52 miles per hour (84 km/h). [1]
It was numbered 29 in the Bristol and Exeter Railway locomotive list but generally referred to as "the Fairfield locomotive".
Adams built another couple of steam railmotors at around the same time, but the concept did not catch on. It was revived around the turn of the century and the Great Western Railway built up a fleet of around 100 bogie rail motors. These were developed into an autotrain system whereby the driver of a locomotive could control the train from a cab in the carriage, the forerunner of today's the familiar multiple unit trains.
The carriage portion was removed in 1851 and the power unit rebuilt, presumably with a new pair of carrying wheels making it an 0-2-2. Its use for the next few years is unclear, although it might have been moved to Taunton to pump water.
It was sold to Messrs Hutchinson and Ritson in 1856, the engineering contractors who were working on the Somerset Central Railway. Before delivery, the Bristol and Exeter Railway had to rebuild it as an 0-4-0. The price agreed was £600, paid in prepared timber.
The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838 with the initial route completed between London and Bristol in 1841. It was engineered by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, who chose a broad gauge of 7 ft —later slightly widened to 7 ft 1⁄4 in —but, from 1854, a series of amalgamations saw it also operate 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in standard-gauge trains; the last broad-gauge services were operated in 1892.
4-4-0, in the Whyte notation, denotes a steam locomotive with a wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles, four powered and coupled driving wheels on two axles, and no trailing wheels.
The Great Western Railway Iron Duke Class 4-2-2 was a class of 7 ft 1⁄4 in broad gauge steam locomotives for express passenger train work.
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 4-2-4 represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles, two powered driving wheels on one axle, and four trailing wheels on two axles.
Newton Abbot railway station serves the market town of Newton Abbot in Devon, England. It is 214 miles 5 chains (345 km) from London Paddington. The station today is managed by Great Western Railway, who provide train services along with CrossCountry.
The Great Western Railway (GWR) 6000 Class or King Class is a class of 4-6-0 steam locomotives designed for express passenger work and introduced in 1927. They were the largest locomotives built by the GWR, apart from the unique Pacific. The class was named after kings of the United Kingdom and of England, beginning with the then reigning monarch, King George V, and going back through history. They handled the principal GWR expresses on the main line from London to the West of England and on the Chiltern line to Birmingham and Wolverhampton, until 1962 when the class was withdrawn.
Great Western Railway (GWR) 6000 Class King George V is a preserved British steam locomotive.
The Great Southern and Western Railway Class 90 is a class of 0-6-0T steam locomotive. They were one of the smallest steam locomotives to be inherited by the CIÉ on its formation.
The Dean Single, 3031 Class, or Achilles Class was a type of steam locomotive built by the British Great Western Railway between 1891 and 1899. They were designed by William Dean for passenger work. The first 30 members of the class were built as 2-2-2s of the 3001 Class.
The Bristol and Exeter Railway locomotives worked trains on the Bristol and Exeter Railway from 1 May 1849 until the railway was amalgamated with the Great Western Railway on 1 January 1876.
The 14 Bristol and Exeter Railway 4-2-4T locomotives were broad gauge 4-2-4T steam locomotives built to three different designs. The first entered service in 1853. The Bristol and Exeter Railway was amalgamated into the Great Western Railway on 1 January 1876, and the last of the 4-2-4Ts was withdrawn in 1885.
Railmotor is a term used in the United Kingdom and elsewhere for a railway lightweight railcar, usually consisting of a railway carriage with a steam traction unit, or a diesel or petrol engine, integrated into it.
The South Devon Railway Company built and operated the railway from Exeter to Plymouth and Torquay in Devon, England. It was a 7 ft 1⁄4 in broad gauge railway built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
Boulton's Siding was a British locomotive-hire business owned by Isaac Watt Boulton and situated alongside the Oldham branch of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway at Ashton-under-Lyne. It operated from 1864 to 1898.
The steam rail motors (SRM) were self-propelled carriages operated by the Great Western Railway in England and Wales from 1903 to 1935. They incorporated a steam locomotive within the body of the carriage.
Baulk road is the name given to a type of railway track or 'rail road' that is formed using rails carried on continuous timber bearings, as opposed to the more familiar 'cross-sleeper' track that uses closely spaced sleepers or ties to give intermittent support to stronger rails.
The South African Railways Class 16 4-6-2 of 1914 was a steam locomotive.
A steam railcar is a rail vehicle that does not require a locomotive as it contains its own steam engine. The first steam railcar was an experimental unit designed and built in 1847 by James Samuel and William Bridges Adams. In 1848, they made the Fairfield steam carriage that they sold to the Bristol and Exeter Railway, who used it for two years on a branch line.
A steam railcar, steam motor car (US), or Railmotor (UK) is a railcar that is self powered by a steam engine. The first steam railcar was an experimental unit designed and built in 1847 by James Samuel and William Bridges Adams in Britain. In 1848 they made the Fairfield steam carriage that they sold to the Bristol & Exeter Railway, who used it for two years on a branch line.
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 0-4-0+4 represents the wheel arrangement of no leading wheels, four powered and coupled driving wheels on two axles and four trailing wheels on two axles mounted in a bogie.