Timothy Hackworth - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Timothy Hackworth was a steam locomotive

Steam locomotive

A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...

engineer who lived in Shildon

Shildon

Shildon is a town in County Durham, in England. It is situated 2 miles to the south east of Bishop Auckland and 11 miles north of Darlington. It is 13 miles away from Durham, 23 miles from Sunderland and 23 miles from Newcastle-upon-Tyne...

, County Durham

County Durham

County Durham is a ceremonial county and unitary district in north east England. The county town is Durham. The largest settlement in the ceremonial county is the town of Darlington...

, England and was the first locomotive superintendent of the Stockton and Darlington Railway

Stockton and Darlington Railway

The Stockton and Darlington Railway , which opened in 1825, was the world's first publicly subscribed passenger railway. It was 26 miles long, and was built in north-eastern England between Witton Park and Stockton-on-Tees via Darlington, and connected to several collieries near Shildon...

Youth and early work

Born in Wylam

Wylam

Wylam is a small village about west of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is located in the county of Northumberland.It is famous for the being the birthplace of George Stephenson, one of the early rail pioneers. George Stephenson's Birthplace is his cottage that can be found on the north bank of the...

in 1786, Timothy Hackworth was the eldest son of John Hackworth who occupied the position of foreman blacksmith at Wylam

Wylam

Colliery until his death in 1804; the father had already acquired a considerable reputation as a mechanical worker and boiler maker. At the end of his apprenticeship in 1807 Timothy took over his father's position. Since 1804, the mine owner, Christopher Blackett

Blackett of Wylam

The Blacketts of Wylam were a branch of the ancient family of Blackett of Hoppyland, County Durham, England and were related to the Blackett Baronets....

had been investigating the possibilities of working the mine's short 5 miles (8 km) colliery tramroad by steam traction. Blackett set up a four-man working group including himself, William Hedley

William Hedley

William Hedley was one of the leading industrial engineers of the early 19th century, and was very instrumental in several major innovations in early railway development...

, the viewer; Timothy Hackworth, the new foreman smith and Jonathan Foster, a "wright". The first step in 1808 was the relaying of the Wylam tramway with cast iron plates, until then a simple timber-way. In 1811, the four-man team began investigating the adhesive properties of smooth wheels using a manually operated carriage propelled by a maximum of four men, and in the same year a single-cylinder locomotive devised by one Waters, reportedly on the Trevithick model, was built and tried for a few months with erratic results.

In the meantime a new dilly, (the term used to designate all locomotives at Wylam), was put in hand and set to work in the Autumn of 1812. However even Blackett's new cast iron plateway was found inadequate to sustain the weight of a dilly and the subsequent one built in 1813 was carried on two four-wheeled "power bogies" and it is understood that the first one was similarly rebuilt. On the relaying, around 1830, of the Wylam line with wrought iron edge rails, the two locomotives were reverted to the 4-wheel arrangement, continuing to work until the closing of the line in 1862. What is considered to be the earlier of the two engines, now known as "Puffing Billy

Puffing Billy (locomotive)

Puffing Billy is an early railway steam locomotive, constructed in 1813-1814 by engineer William Hedley, enginewright Jonathan Forster and blacksmith Timothy Hackworth for Christopher Blackett, the owner of Wylam Colliery near Newcastle upon Tyne, in the United Kingdom. It is the world's oldest...

" is conserved at the Science Museum

Science museum

A science museum or a science centre is a museum devoted primarily to science. Older science museums tended to concentrate on static displays of objects related to natural history, paleontology, geology, industry and industrial machinery, etc. Modern trends in museology have broadened the range of...

in London; the second Wylam Dilly

Wylam Dilly

Wylam Dilly is one of the two oldest surviving railway locomotives in the world; it was built circa 1815 by William Hedley and Timothy Hackworth. Wylam Dilly was initially designed for and used on the Wylam Waggonway to transport coal. It is currently on display in the Royal Museum in Edinburgh...

is in the Royal Scottish Museum in Edinburgh.

Although William Hedley is generally credited with the "design" of the locomotives, there is strong evidence that these issued from the aforementioned joint collaboration in which Christopher Blackett was the driving force with Timothy Hackworth playing a preponderant engineering role. Furthermore it subsequently fell to Hackworth to maintain the locomotives in running order and improve performance. As time went on, Blackett became increasingly occupied by other outside interests and was often absent, leaving Hedley in charge of the mine; Hackworth found himself in conflictual situations due his Methodist activities and his refusal to work on the Sabbath, until he felt obliged to leave Wylam in 1816.

He was not long in finding other employment at Walbottle Colliery where he took up the same position of foreman blacksmith.

The Royal George

In 1824, Hackworth occupied a temporary position as a "borrowed man" or relief manager at the Forth Street factory of Robert Stephenson and Company

Robert Stephenson

Robert Stephenson FRS was an English civil engineer. He was the only son of George Stephenson, the famed locomotive builder and railway engineer; many of the achievements popularly credited to his father were actually the joint efforts of father and son.-Early life :He was born on the 16th of...

, whilst Robert was away in South America and George was occupied with the surveying of new railways, notably the Liverpool and Manchester

Liverpool and Manchester Railway

The Liverpool and Manchester Railway was the world's first inter-city passenger railway in which all the trains were timetabled and were hauled for most of the distance solely by steam locomotives. The line opened on 15 September 1830 and ran between the cities of Liverpool and Manchester in North...

. Hackworth only stayed until the end of that year, following which, he returned to Walbottle occupying his time with contract work until, upon the recommendation of George Stephenson

George Stephenson

George Stephenson was an English civil engineer and mechanical engineer who built the first public railway line in the world to use steam locomotives...

, he was appointed on 13 May 1825 to the position of locomotive superintendent of the Stockton and Darlington Railway

Stockton and Darlington Railway

, a post he was to occupy until May 1840

Hackworth is believed to have been influential in the development of the first Stephenson locomotive intended for the Stockton and Darlington Railway during his time at the Forth Street factory. That locomotive, then named Active, now known as Locomotion No 1

Locomotion No 1

Locomotion No. 1 is an early British steam locomotive. Built by George and Robert Stephenson's company Robert Stephenson and Company in 1825, it hauled the first train on the Stockton and Darlington Railway on 27 September 1825....

, was delivered to the railway just before the opening ceremony on 27 September 1825. Three more of the same type were delivered in the following months and difficulties in getting them into operating order were such as to risk compromising the use of steam locomotives for years to come, had it not been for Hackworth's persistence. This persistence resulted in his developing the first adequate locomotive adapted to the rigours of everyday road service. The outcome was the Royal George of 1827, an early 0-6-0 Locomotive, that among many new key features notably incorporated a correctly aligned steam blastpipe

Blastpipe

The blastpipe is part of the exhaust system of a steam locomotive that discharges exhaust steam from the cylinders into the smokebox beneath the chimney in order to increase the draught through the fire.- History :...

. Hackworth is usually acknowledged as the inventor of this concept. From 1830 onwards the blastpipe was employed by the Stephensons for their updated Rocket
Stephenson's Rocket
Stephenson's Rocket was an early steam locomotive of 0-2-2 wheel arrangement, built in Newcastle Upon Tyne at the Forth Street Works of Robert Stephenson and Company in 1829.- Design innovations :...

and all subsequent new types. Recent letters acquired by the National Railway Museum

National Railway Museum

The National Railway Museum is a museum in York forming part of the British National Museum of Science and Industry and telling the story of rail transport in Britain and its impact on society. It has won many awards, including the European Museum of the Year Award in 2001...

would appear to confirm Hackworth as the inventor of the device. Since Trevithick's time, it had long been common practice to turn the exhaust steam from the cylinders into the chimney using "eductor pipes" for convenience and noise reduction, and its effect on the fire certainly had been noticed. Whatever the case, Hackworth was probably the first of the very few engineers throughout history to fully take into account the role of the blast in automatically realising the "perfect equilibrium between steam production and usage" in a locomotive when fitted with a firetube boiler, and to consider the blastpipe as a distinct device, paying close attention to its proportions, nozzle size, positioning and precise alignment.

Sans Pareil and the Rainhill trials

In 1829 the Liverpool and Manchester, the world's first "Inter-City" railway, was under construction. There was a large potential for both passenger and goods traffic. However, all locomotives built to date, including those for the Stockton and Darlington, had been intended for slow freight, with any passenger service handled by single horse-drawn coaches. It was therefore clear that any future locomotives would have to be more versatile. Matters were further complicated by the news about the problems being encountered on the Stockton and Darlington, which gave rise to considerable controversy as to the sort of motive power to be preferred. George Stephenson, the line's civil engineer, was unsurprisingly firmly in favour of steam traction and asked for a report from Timothy Hackworth, who confirmed that he was having difficulties but was optimistic about overcoming them. In order to settle upon a locomotive type the directors set up a competition. The trials were held at Rainhill

Rainhill Trials

The Rainhill Trials were an important competition in the early days of steam locomotive railways, run in October 1829 in Rainhill, Lancashire for the nearly completed Liverpool and Manchester Railway....

, and there were three serious contestants. Hackworth, with his own very limited resources, entered the 0-4-0 locomotive, Sans Pareil

Sans Pareil

Sans Pareil is a steam locomotive built by Timothy Hackworth which took part in the 1829 Rainhill Trials on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, held to select a builder of locomotives...

. This locomotive was deemed officially overweight, but nevertheless was allowed to undergo the “ordeal”. Unfortunately faulty cylinder casting led to steam leaks and premature abandonment of the course.

As is well known, Stephenson’s Rocket was the outright winner as the only locomotive that stayed the course whilst fully complying with the rules. In the event, none of the contestants really answered the railway’s requirements. Hackworth stayed on after the event, repairing the Sans Pareil

Sans Pareil

Sans Pareil is a steam locomotive built by Timothy Hackworth which took part in the 1829 Rainhill Trials on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, held to select a builder of locomotives...

and was able to show that it more than met requirements. On the strength of this, the L&M management did purchase the locomotive, subsequently reselling it at a loss to the Bolton & Leigh Railway where it worked until 1844. As Ahrons points out, the vertical cylinders would have given rise to considerable hammer-blow at speed and made it unsuited to passenger service on the track of that time in the long term. Nevertheless, it was a formidable contender, largely due to the carefully designed and tuned blastpipe.

However, the Rainhill trials may be seen as a milestone event, as during the eight days it lasted there were considerable modifications carried out on the three main contestants in which Hackworth participated tirelessly and displayed absolute impartiality. From that date on, locomotive design and performance went forward by leaps and bounds.

Later productions

In addition to his duties on the Stockton and Darlington, Hackworth set up his own business in which his son, John Wesley Hackworth, fully participated. This business produced a variety of machinery.

Notably, he built at Shildon

Shildon railway works

Shildon railway works opened in 1825 in the town of Shildon in County Durham, England.- Overview :Shildon was the terminus of the Stockton & Darlington Railway, when it opened in 1825. Its first locomotive superintendent was Timothy Hackworth, who maintained their locomotives at the Soho Works...

in 1836, the first locomotive to run in Russia for the St Petersburg railway, of which his son was responsible for the safe delivery and preliminary trials. Also in 1838, the Samson
Samson (locomotive)
The Samson is an English-built railroad steam locomotive made in 1838 that ran on the Albion Mines Railway in Nova Scotia, Canada. It is preserved at the Nova Scotia Museum of Industry in Stellarton, Nova Scotia and is the oldest locomotive in Canada....

was built for the Albion Mines Railway in Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...

, and was one of the first engines to run in Canada.

One of his 1833 apprentices, Daniel Adamson

Daniel Adamson

Daniel Adamson was a notable English engineer who became a successful manufacturer of boilers and was the driving force behind the inception of the Manchester Ship Canal project during the 1880s.-Early life:...

, later further developed his boiler designs and become a successful manufacturer (and influential in the inception of the Manchester Ship Canal

Manchester Ship Canal

The Manchester Ship Canal is a river navigation 36 miles long in the North West of England. Starting at the Mersey Estuary near Liverpool, it generally follows the original routes of the rivers Mersey and Irwell through the historic counties of Cheshire and Lancashire. Several sets of locks lift...

).

The last new locomotive design with which Timothy Hackworth was involved was the Sans Pareil II, a "demonstrator" of 1849. This locomotive was an advanced 2-2-2 engine of the Jenny Lind

Jenny Lind locomotive

The Jenny Lind locomotive was the first of a class of ten steam locomotives built in 1847 for the London Brighton and South Coast Railway by E. B. Wilson and Company of Leeds, named after Jenny Lind who was a famous opera singer of the period...

type with 6' 6" driving wheel, 1188 sq ft (110.4 m²) heating surface and some use of welding in the boiler construction. In performance, it fully lived up to expectations in regards to economy and load-hauling performance. Hackworth was so satisfied that he issued a public challenge to Robert Stephenson to pit his latest York Newcastle and Berwick locomotive, No. 190, against it in a trial. Nothing more was ever heard of this.

Legacy

Today he has a school named after him in his hometown of Shildon where the pupils annually learn of Timothy Hackworth and his work. His home was also turned into a museum, which has since being renovated and an annex of the National Railway Museum has been built nearby. The 1839 Hackworth locomotive Samson

Samson (locomotive)

The Samson is an English-built railroad steam locomotive made in 1838 that ran on the Albion Mines Railway in Nova Scotia, Canada. It is preserved at the Nova Scotia Museum of Industry in Stellarton, Nova Scotia and is the oldest locomotive in Canada....

is preserved in Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

at the Nova Scotia Museum of Industry

Nova Scotia Museum of Industry

The Nova Scotia Museum of Industry is a provincial museum located in Stellarton, Nova Scotia dedicated to the story of Nova Scotia work and workers...

in Stellarton, Nova Scotia

Stellarton, Nova Scotia

-External links:*...

External links