Bury's 'Comet' locomotive
Model steam locomotive, scale 1:12, Bury locomotive "Comet" of 1846 on track.
This contemporary model of a Bury 2-2-2 locomotive was built by W Eaves of Derby in 1846 and is to a scale of one inch to the foot (1:12). The prototype cannot be identified as there is no record of a Bury engine named Comet. When the model was given to the Science Museum in 1905 it was suggested that it might be based on a locomotive built for the Midland Counties Railway around 1840 and subsequently converted from 2-2-0 to 2-2-2 wheel arrangement to improve its riding.
The model features details that would not have been present on early L&BR engines, for example the standpipe on the side of the firebox to carry the water gauge, and in particular the simplified form of gab gear fitted in 1840. These could have been fitted subsequently, especially had the locomotive been stripped down for conversion to a 2-2-2, but in the absence of any known prototype it is likely that the model represents a typical, rather than specific, Bury passenger engine as running in the early 1840s.
- Object Number:
- 1905-8/1
- type:
- model locomotive
