Salamanca (locomotive)
| Salamanca | |
|---|---|
Fenton, Murray and Wood | |
| Build date | 1812 |
| Specifications | |
|---|---|
| Gauge | 4 ft 1 in (1,245 mm) |
| Loco weight | 5 tons |
| Career | |
|---|---|
| Operators | Middleton Railway |
Salamanca was the first commercially successful
Middleton and Leeds, England[1] and it predated Stephenson's Rocket by 17 years.[2] It was the first to have two cylinders. It was named after the Duke of Wellington's victory at the battle of Salamanca
which was fought that same year.
Salamanca was also the first
parallel motion linkage like the majority of early locomotives. The engines saw up to twenty years of service.[3]
watercolour
by George Walker, 1813It appears in a watercolour by George Walker (1781–1856), the first painting of a steam locomotive.[4] Four such locomotives were built for the railway. Salamanca was destroyed six years later, when its boiler exploded. According to George Stephenson, giving evidence to a committee of Parliament, the driver had tampered with the boiler's safety valve.[5]
Salamanca is probably the locomotive referred to in the September 1814 edition of
A model of the locomotive, built by Murray in 1811, is part of the collection held at Leeds Industrial Museum. It is the world's oldest model locomotive.[7]
References
- ^ Hamilton Ellis (1968). The Pictorial Encyclopedia of Railways. The Hamlyn Publishing Group. p. 20.
- ^ "Letter from Leighton Dalrymple, Lieutenant Colonel. Account of his visit to Wakefield and Leeds, including a description and sketch of John Blenkinsop's Steam Locomotive 'Salamanca' | Science Museum Group Collection". collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
- ^ "Curiosities of Locomotive Design". Catskill. Retrieved 22 March 2008.
- ISBN 0-9554699-3-7.
- ISBN 0-7100-7391-7.
- ^ Thomson, Thomas, ed. (1814). Annals of Philosophy. Vol. IV. Robert Baldwin. p. 232. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
- ^ "Last stop for Leeds antique super model as Salamanca comes home". Leeds City Council News. Retrieved 8 September 2023.