Fletcher, Jennings & Co. was an engineering company at

Lowca Lowca is a village and civil parish in the English county of Cumbria, just to the north of the village of Moresby. It had a population of 773 in 2001, increasing to 888 at the 2011 Census. It was formerly a mining area but is now noted for it ...

near

Whitehaven Whitehaven is a town and civil parish in the Cumberland (unitary authority), Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. It is a port on the north-west coast, and lies outside the Lake District National parks of England and Wales, National Park. ...

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is an area of North West England which was historically a county. The county was bordered by Northumberland to the north-east, County Durham to the east, Westmorland to the south-east, Lancashire to the south, and the Scottish ...

, England.

Overview

Fletcher and Jennings took over the business of

Tulk and Ley Tulk and Ley was a 19th-century iron mining company in west Cumberland which also ran an engineering works at Lowca near Whitehaven. Overview Established on the Lowca site in 1800 as "Heslops, Milward, Johnston & Co."- the engineering and ironf ...

in 1857. From then, until 1884, the company concentrated on four and six-coupled industrial

tank locomotives A tank locomotive is a steam locomotive which carries its water in one or more on-board water tanks, instead of a more traditional tender (rail), tender. Most tank engines also have Fuel bunker, bunkers (or fuel tanks) to hold fuel; in a #Tender ...

, although other goods such as bridge girders, and blast-furnace shells for the burgeoning local iron industry, were also produced. By then nearly two hundred locomotives had been built and the company acquired limited liability as Lowca Engineering Company Ltd. In 1905, the name changed again to the New Lowca Engineering Company Ltd., but the company was receiving fewer orders. After a disastrous fire in 1912, all production ceased and the company being finally wound up in 1927.

Surviving locomotives

Preserved locomotives manufactured by the company include:

Other locomotives

Other locomotives manufactured by the company include: *Brigham Hall/Rothersyke of the

Cleator & Workington junction railway The Cleator and Workington Junction Railway (C&WJR) was located in West Cumberland in Northern England, serving the towns of Cleator Moor and Workington and intermediate villages. It was mainly used for coal, limestone and iron ore traffic for t ...

In fiction

The fictional locomotives Skarloey and

Rheneas Started in 1945 and concluded in 2011, ''The Railway Series'' is a series of 42 British books written by Wilbert Awdry and his son Christopher Awdry. This is a list of all characters who appeared in the book series. Unless otherwise said on t ...

from ''

The Railway Series ''The Railway Series'' is a series of British books about a railway known as the North Western Railway, located on the fictional Sodor (fictional island), Island of Sodor. There are 42 books in the series, the first published in May 1945 by Wi ...

'' and ''

Thomas and Friends ''Thomas & Friends'' is a British children's television series which aired from 9 October 1984 to 20 January 2021. Based on ''The Railway Series'' books by Wilbert Awdry and his son Christopher, the series was developed for television by Brit ...

'', were built by Fletcher, Jennings & Co. (being the twins of Talyllyn and Dolgoch, respectively) Captain Baxter also made an appearance in Railway Series book 18 ''Stepney the "Bluebell" Engine''. Captain Baxter appeared in the movie ''

Muppets Most Wanted ''Muppets Most Wanted'' is a 2014 American musical crime comedy film directed by James Bobin, produced by David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman, and written by Bobin and Nicholas Stoller. Produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Mandeville Films, it is ...

'', modified to look like an old American locomotive and renamed to "Randy Stevenot No.3".

Sources

* Kyle, Ian "Steam from Lowca" (1974) * Wear, Russell "Some further notes on the Lowca Works", ''Cumbrian Railways'', Feb 2002 * Locomotive manufacturers of the United Kingdom Companies based in Cumbria Fletcher, Jennings locomotives {{England-rail-transport-stub