Tulk and Ley

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Tulk and Ley was a 19th-century iron mining company in west Cumbria which also ran an engineering works at Lowca near Whitehaven.

Cumbria Ceremonial (geographic) county of England

Cumbria is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's county town is Carlisle, in the north of the county, and the only other major urban area is Barrow-in-Furness on the southwestern tip of the county.

Lowca a village located in Copeland, United Kingdom

Lowca is a village and civil parish in the English county of Cumbria. The population of the parish as taken at the 2011 census was 888.

Whitehaven coastal town and port, Cumbria, England

Whitehaven is a town and port on the west coast of Cumbria, near the Lake District National Park in England. Historically in Cumberland, it lies by road 38 miles (61 km) south-west of Carlisle and 45 miles (72 km) to the north of Barrow-in-Furness. It is the administrative seat of Borough of Copeland district council, and has a town council for the parish of Whitehaven. The population of the town was 23,986 at the 2011 census.

Contents

Overview

Established on the Lowca site in 1800 as "Heslops, Milward, Johnston & Co."- the engineering and ironfounding expertise coming from the brothers Adam, Thomas & Crosby Heslop, formerly associated with the Seaton ironworks- the firm was taken over by iron-mining firm Tulk, Ley & Co. about 1837. Ley was an absentee investor, the driving force behind the enterprise being engineer John Augustus Tulk. His decision to concentrate on finished goods rather than simple foundry products swiftly paid off, with orders for locomotives from the new Maryport and Carlisle Railway. The first two were a 2-2-2 and an 0-6-0, with a further 2-2-2 in 1843. They then built a number of 0-4-2 locos for various Northern railways. They also attempted to move into the shipbuilding business in 1842-3, producing Lowca, the first iron ship ever launched in Cumberland. Tulk's engineering specialist, a Mr Matthewson from the Tay Ironworks at Dundee, invented an improved mechanism for loading coal onto ships at Whitehaven, and other products included boilers and a machine for cutting iron plates (used in construction of the Lowca).

Seaton, Cumbria village in the United Kingdom

Seaton is a village and civil parish in west Cumbria. It is home to around 5,000 people and is one of the largest villages in England. The population of the parish was measured in the 2011 Census as 5,022. Historically a part of Cumberland, it is situated on the north side of the River Derwent, across from the town of Workington, and close to the smaller village of Camerton. Seaton forms part of the Borough of Allerdale.

Locomotive Railway vehicle

A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as multiple units, motor coaches, railcars or power cars; the use of these self-propelled vehicles is increasingly common for passenger trains, but rare for freight.

The Maryport & Carlisle Railway (M&CR) was an English railway company formed in 1836 which built and operated a small but eventually highly profitable railway to connect Maryport and Carlisle in Cumbria, England. There were many small collieries in the area and efficient access to the harbour at Maryport was important.

Crampton locomotives

1846 Crampton locomotive 1846Cramptonloco.jpg
1846 Crampton locomotive

One of Lowca's most significant achievements was the construction of the first Crampton locomotive. From 1847 they built a number of engines to the Crampton pattern, the first three, Namur, Liege and another, being ordered in 1845 by G and J Rennie for the Namur and Liege Railway. The order was undelivered because the railway was not ready. Namur was tested by the LNWR in February - April 1847; the LNWR had ordered a similar but larger engine in June 1846 which was delivered in June 1847. It was named London and was reported to have reached 65mph. In the end the first three Crampton locomotives were all acquired by the South Eastern Railway. One was sold to the Dundee and Perth and Aberdeen Junction Railway, one to the Maryport and Carlisle Railway and two for the Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway. The rough riding that was typical of Crampton locos, and difficulties with steaming, meant that they did not stay long in service, although they were more successful on the continent, and were an important step in the development of standard gauge railways.

George Rennie (engineer) British engineer

George Rennie was an engineer born in London, England. He was the son of the Scottish engineer John Rennie the Elder and the brother of Sir John Rennie.

London and North Western Railway former railway company in United Kingdom

The London and North Western Railway was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the world.

The Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway was an early British railway company which opened in stages between 1841 and 1845 between Sheffield and Manchester via Ashton-under-Lyne. In conjunction with the proposed Sheffield and Lincolnshire Junction Railway and Great Grimsby and Sheffield Junction Railway, it was renamed the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway in 1847.

Crampton-type locomotives built by Tulk and Ley, all of 4-2-0 wheel arrangement:

4-2-0 locomotive wheel arrangement

Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 4-2-0 represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles, two powered driving wheels on one axle and no trailing wheels. This type of locomotive is often called a Jervis type, the name of the original designer.

Date built Works no. Railway Name/no. Notes
1847 10 Namur and Liege Railway Namur (1)
1847 11 Namur and Liege Railway Liege (1)
1847 Namur and Liege Railway (1)
1847 12? LNWR London, 200 (2)
1847 14 D&P&AJR Kinnaird (3)
1847 Sheffield, Ashton and Manchester Railway Pegasus, 35
1848 Sheffield, Ashton and Manchester Railway Phlegon, 36
1854 17 Maryport and Carlisle Railway 12 (4)

Notes

  1. Namur was tested on the London and North Western Railway and speeds up to 62 mph were recorded. Delivery of Namur and Liege to Belgium was delayed and they, with a third similar engine, were sold to the South Eastern Railway in December 1849, becoming SER Nos 81, 83 and 85.
  2. The LNWR obtained two other Crampton-type locomotives: Courier, 4-2-0, built at Crewe Works in 1847 and Liverpool, 6-2-0, built by Bury, Curtis, and Kennedy in 1848
  3. Dundee and Perth and Aberdeen Junction Railway, absorbed by the Scottish Central Railway in 1863
  4. Tulk and Ley apparently built no locomotives between 1848 and 1854, but the source of the quoted works numbers is doubtful.

Fletcher Jennings

By 1857 around twenty engines had been built and the company was taken over by Fletcher, Jennings & Co.

Fletcher, Jennings & Co.

Fletcher, Jennings & Co. was an engineering company at Lowca near Whitehaven, Cumberland, England.

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Parton, Cumbria village in the United Kingdom

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Solway Junction Railway

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The Cockermouth & Workington Railway was an English railway company which built and operated a railway between the Cumbrian towns of Workington and Cockermouth. The railway opened for service in 1847, and ran from the Whitehaven Junction Railway station at Workington to a station at Cockermouth near the bridge over the Derwent. A single-tracked line of eight and a half miles length, its revenue came largely from the transport of coal from the pits of the lower Derwent valley to the port at Workington for shipment by sea. The Marron extension of the Whitehaven, Cleator and Egremont Railway and the Derwent Branch of the Maryport and Carlisle Railway were both constructed to link with the C&WR and together give an alternative route for the northward movement of haematite ore from the Cumberland ore-field. The completion of the Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith Railway made the C&WR part of a continuous through route between South Durham and the Cumberland orefield. These developments both improved the potential profitability of the C&WR and made control of it important to bigger companies wishing to maximise the iron-ore traffic over their lines: the C&WR was absorbed by the London and North Western Railway in 1866.

Seaton Iron Works was an iron works which operated between 1763 and 1899 under different titles and various owners. The site chosen was on the north bank of the River Derwent and was in the parish of Seaton, Cumberland. As well as making iron it also manufactured iron goods, tin plate and under control of Adam Heslop a foundry owner of Lowca, Cumberland was a manufacturer of stationary steam engines.

The Whitehaven, Cleator and Egremont Railway was an English railway company which built and operated a standard gauge railway in Cumberland, England intended to open up the hematite orefield to the south-east of Whitehaven. It opened for goods traffic in 1855 and for passenger traffic in 1857.

Cleator Moor West railway station

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References

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