The French Collection

[PLD]

Could it be the oldest "original" preserved loco? It may be younger than "Rocket" but as I understand it the version in the NRM is a bit of a Trigger's Broom having been mucked about with over the years.

The Rocket at the NRM in York is the 1979 built replica... (150th anniversary)
The (remains of the) original are in the Science Museum in London.

Regardless... Rocket is only the third oldest surviving loco in the UK!
The oldest in the world is acknowledged (by everyone outside of France!) as being another Science Museum resident - "Puffing Billy" built 19 1814 by Timothy Hackworth, for Wylam Colliery.
Second place being claimed by Billy's cousin "Wylam Dilly", now at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh...

[martyn]

@PLD

I think you've got Puffing Billy's build  date a bit out....like 100 years?

Martyn

[PLD]

@PLD

I think you've got Puffing Billy's build  date a bit out....like 100 years?

Martyn

what's the odd century matter here or there... 

[Ali Smith]

John @ Train Waiting suggested I should write something about Thomas Crampton to follow my notes concerning Alfred de Glehn. I don't know why because I'm sure he already knows most of what I could find out. Nevertheless, here goes.

Thomas Crampton worked as an assistant to Marc Brunel before joining the Great Western Railway in 1839 where he worked for Daniel Gooch and had a hand in the design of the Firefly class of locomotives.
 
Gooch wished to produce broad gauge engines that were superior to those on the standard gauge and so demonstrate the technical superiority of the broad gauge.
 
Crampton realised that GWR's broad gauge engines were better for a number of reasons. The broad gauge allowed a higher centre of gravity without loss of stability; a matter that concerned many engineers at that time. It also permitted a larger boiler and firebox and hence heating area. Larger driving wheels could be used which resulted in lower piston speed, hence the locomotive could travel at a higher speed before excessive piston speed caused exhaust difficulties.

Meanwhile, Crampton was thinking of ways to improve standard gauge engines to match those of the broad gauge.

In 1843 Crampton left the GWR and in the same year took out a patent for his new design of locomotive.
Its most striking feature was the driving axle with its large wheels placed behind the firebox and its long, low boiler. The low boiler was, of course, made possible by the location of the driving axle. The use of outside cylinders (less common at the time) eliminated the need for a cranked axle and gave even more space to lower the boiler. There were other, less visible, departures from contemporary practice, such as wide steam passages, large heating surfaces and generous wheel bearing areas.

In 1845, the Namur and Liège Railway¹  placed the first order with Crampton for locomotives built to his patent. Three machines were ordered, each with 7ft driving wheels and a 14.5sq.ft grate. They were built by Tulk & Ley of Whitehaven. One of these engines was tested on the LNWR, who then built a Crampton of their own at Crewe. The LNWR subsequently bought two more Cramptons one of which, Liverpool, was a 6-2-0 built in 1868 by Bury, Curtis and Kennedy had 8ft driving wheels. It was claimed that this locomotive achieved 79mph with an average of 53mph over 30 miles with a 60 ton load.

In 1850, a Crampton engine was exhibited with balance weights on the driving wheels. Dynamic balancing was poorly understood at this time but it seems that lack of it, along with the short wheelbase of the "long boiler" design were as much responsible for the instability that was commonly blamed on a high centre of gravity.

By 1851, Crampton was working for the South Eastern Railway and in that year ten new Cramptons were built for that company by Robert Stephenson. One of these, no.136 "Folkston" was shown at the Great Exhibition of that year. There is a spelling mistake in the previous sentence but I didn't make it.
Throughout the 1850's, Crampton's Patent locomotives were built for British, French² and German² railways by builders in all three countries.
They were not very popular in Britain, although some lasted into the 1870's on the SER. They fared much better in France and Germany.
In the USA, the Camden & Amboy had a class of eight engines of outrageous appearance if the images I've found are to be believed. The Syracuse & Utica also had one, but I have seen no pictures of this. I really have no idea if these were the only ones in the whole country.

Approximate totals built: Great Britain 51
                          France        127
           Germany       135
The country an engine was built in is not necessarily where it was used, of course.      
Cramptons were good engines in their day, especially for high-speed work, but their Achilles' heel was their most striking feature; that huge pair of driving wheels at the back bore but a small proportion of the engine's weight and hence adhesion was poor. Once train weights began to increase they could no longer cope.

 In France the expression "prendre la Crampton" meant to catch an express, and in the slang of the Saint Cyr military academy, footplate staff were known as "officiers de Crampton" (and this as late as 1971).
Surviving Cramptons are few, probably only one:



Apart from No.80, I have read that a German built example of 1863 (that's quite late) from the Bavarian State Railway is in the DB museum but their website is uninformative about what exhibits they have. I have also read that a replica from 1920 ("Die Pfalz") is preserved in Germany. This may be the same locomotive.
The Crampton Locomotive Trust (CLT) aims to build a replica of the first of three Crampton locomotives built for the South Eastern Railway by the Whitehaven firm of Tulk & Ley in 1847.
No drawings of the of the design exist as they are believed to have been destroyed in a fire at the Lowca Works of Tulk & Ley in 1912.
The CLT has spent two years organising itself and has started raising funds for the project with the first task being to produce a set of working drawings.
In October 2024 it was announced that a contract had been placed with Northern Heritage Engineering Ltd of Darlington to build the locomotive's boiler, firebox and smokebox starting in early 2025.

That about covers the Crampton locomotive. If you really need to know more I suggest you obtain Mike Sharman's book. It's out of print, but when I looked on Ebay the other day there were several available from £44.

There is more to Thomas Crampton than his patent locomotive, however.
In addition to being a mechanical engineer (founder member of I.Mech.E 1847, vice president 1883) he was also a civil engineer, joining the ICE in 1854.
In 1855 he was responsible for building the Berlin waterworks. In 1859 he formed the Broadstairs Water Company, building a water tower 80ft tall which now forms the Crampton Tower Museum.

In 1860 he designed a tower for Holy Trinity Church, Broadstairs, which Dickens had described as a "hideous temple of flint; a petrified haystack". Having viewed the church on Google Maps I can see what Dickens meant, but I don't find it offensive. Incidentally it doesn't have a tower. Whether it was never built or it was subsequently removed I couldn't say.

Crampton entered a partnership with Sir Morton Peto and Edward Betts to build part of the London Chatham and Dover Railway. When the partnership became insolvent in 1867, Crompton was made personally bankrupt, but unlike his partners managed to retain his good reputation and continue in business.
Crampton was wholly or partly responsible for lines between Smyrna⁴ and Aidin; also Varna⁵ and Rustchuck. He was the contractor and later Chairman of the East and West Junction Railway and a Crampton locomotive hauled the first train from Kineton to Fenny Compton. Crampton was a partner in the Mont Cenis Pass Railway.
As if all that wasn't enough, he was responsible for laying the world's first international submarine cable in the Strait of Dover in 1851. Messages could be transmitted from Dover to London over the SER's electric telegraph, of which they were an early adopter.
Not content with sending electrons under the Channel, Crompton designed an automatic tunnel boring machine intended  for use in the construction of one of the Channel Tunnels that weren't built. The principles of the design were sound and benefitted later tunnelling projects.
Thomas Russell Crampton was born on 6th August 1816 at Broadstairs to John (plumber and architect) and Mary Crampton. He was privately educated.
On 25th February 1841 he  married Louisa Martha Hall, a singer and friend of Jenny Lind "the Swedish nightingale"^6,7. They had eight children.

In 1855 he was appointed Officer of the Legion d'Honneur and in 1885 was made a Knight of that Order. In 1856 he was appointed to the Prussian Order of the Red Eagle, which sounds made up but Wikipedia assures me is real.

Louisa died on 16th March 1875, and on 25th August 1881 Thomas married Elizabeth Werge.
Thomas died at his home, 19 Ashley Place, Westminster on 19th April 1888 and was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery.

¹ Belgian connection
² French connection
³ German connection
⁴ Turkish connection
⁵ Bulgarian connection
⁶ Swedish connection
⁷ Jenny Lind was the first of a class of ten steam locomotives built in 1847 for the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR) by E. B. Wilson and Company of Leeds, named after Jenny Lind. The general design proved to be so successful that the manufacturers adopted it for use on other railways, and it became the first mass-produced locomotive type. The "Jenny Lind" type was also widely copied during the late 1840s and 1850s, and into the 1860s. "Jenny Lind" became the generic term for the 2-2-2 wheel arrangement.

Back to the museum next time.

Have fun,

Ali