Edge Hill Railway Works
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Edge Hill railway works was built by the
Liverpool and Manchester Railway The Liverpool and Manchester Railway (L&MR) was the first inter-city railway in the world. It Opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, opened on 15 September 1830 between the Lancashire towns of Liverpool and Manchester in England. It ...
around 1830 at
Edge Hill, Liverpool Edge Hill is a district of Liverpool, England, south east of the city centre, bordered by Kensington, Wavertree and Toxteth. Edge Hill University was founded here, but moved to Ormskirk in the 1930s. History The area was first developed in ...
. A second was built in 1839 by the
Grand Junction Railway The Grand Junction Railway (GJR) was an early railway company in the United Kingdom, which existed between 1833 and 1846. The line built by the company, which opened in 1837, linked the Liverpool and Manchester Railway to Birmingham via Warri ...
adjacent to it.


Liverpool and Manchester Railway

The shop initially maintained and repaired the company's existing fleet of thirty six engines, bought in from private makers, twenty seven from
Robert Stephenson and Company Robert Stephenson and Company was a locomotive manufacturing company founded in 1823 in Forth Street, Newcastle upon Tyne in England. It was the first company in the world created specifically to build Steam locomotive, railway engines. Famou ...
. The first locomotive superintendent was John Dixon, followed by John Melling, then in 1840 by John Dewrance. In 1841 four
2-2-2 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 2-2-2 represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, two powered driving wheels on one axle, and two trailing wheels on one axle. The wheel arrangement both ...
were built, followed by six more the following year, which also saw the production of 2-4-0 goods engines. By 1845 some twenty eight engines were built, at which time the L&MR was merged into the Grand Junction, and new building ceased, with the workshop closing in 1847.


Grand Junction Railway

Opening in 1839, the first Locomotive Superintendent was Thomas Melling. He was succeeded in 1840 by William Buddicom. An immediate problem was the frequency of broken crank axles on the inside-cylindered
2-2-2 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 2-2-2 represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, two powered driving wheels on one axle, and two trailing wheels on one axle. The wheel arrangement both ...
locomotives from a range of manufacturers. The works produced a new design, either by Buddicom, or his foreman, Alexander Allan, with outside cylinders. The first three were probably rebuilds, "Aeolus", "Tartarus" and "Sunbeam". They became known as the "Old Crewe" type. In 1841,
Francis Trevithick Francis Trevithick (1812–1877), from Camborne, Cornwall, was one of the first locomotive engineers of the London and North Western Railway (LNWR). Life Born in 1812 as the son of Richard Trevithick, he began the study of civil engineering a ...
, son of
Richard Trevithick Richard Trevithick (13 April 1771 – 22 April 1833) was a British inventor and mining engineer. The son of a mining captain, and born in the mining heartland of Cornwall, Trevithick was immersed in mining and engineering from an early age. He ...
took over as Locomotive Superintendent. The space at Edge Hill limited further expansion. Moreover, the GJR could only enter it over L&MR tracks. Accordingly, in 1843, the GJR decided to move its operations to
Crewe Crewe () is a railway town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census, the parish had a population of 55,318 and the built-up area had a population of 74,120. ...
, which was roughly halfway along the route. Shortly after this the works closed down, along with
Longsight Longsight is an inner city area of Manchester, England, south of the Manchester City Centre, city centre, bounded by Ardwick and Gorton, West Gorton to the north and east; Levenshulme to the south; and Chorlton-on-Medlock, Victoria Park, Man ...
.


See also

*
Edge Hill railway station Edge Hill railway station is a Train station, railway station that serves the district of Edge Hill, Liverpool, England and is one of the oldest railway stations in the world. There have been two stations of that name. The first stood a shor ...


References

* Lowe, J.W., (1989) ''British Steam Locomotive Builders,'' Guild Publishing


Further reading

*{{Donaghy-LMR History of Liverpool Railway workshops in Great Britain Grand Junction Railway Edge Hill, Liverpool