'Puffing Billy' Locomotive
Locomotive 'Puffing Billy'.
- Measurements:
-
overall: 4572 mm x 2159 mm x 6782 mm, 8000 kg
- Materials:
- wood (unidentified) , iron and steel (metal)
- Object Number:
- 1862-2/1
- type:
- steam locomotive
Locomotive 'Puffing Billy' with tender, 10 fish-bellied rails, 12 chairs, 6 sleepers, shovel, 3 firing irons. Driving wheel diameter 3 feet 3 inches; cylinders 9 inches x 36 inches; working pressure 50lb; weight approximately 8 tons, exclusive of tender.
Puffing Billy is the world’s oldest surviving steam locomotive.
Dating to 1813-1814, it was built by William Hedley, Jonathan Forster, and Timothy Hackworth, for use at the Wylam Colliery near Newcastle-Upon-Tyne.
Built to replace the horses used on the tramway, Puffing Billy was one of three engines built by Hedley, the resident engineer at the colliery. It remained in service at the colliery until 1862, when it was lent to the Patent Office Museum in South Kensington, which became the Science Museum. The Museum later bought the locomotive.
It has been suggested that the colloquialisms “puffing like Billy-o” and “running like Billy-o” came from the locomotive’s name.
Locomotive 'Puffing Billy'.
Wooden track or cladding for 'Puffing Billy' locomotive. Numerous sections contained within a long wooden crate.
Iron collar fastened with two nuts-and-bolts. Part for 'Puffing Billy' locomotive.
Short iron bar with holes along its length. Part for 'Puffing Billy' locomotive.
Rope harness, part of 'Puffing Billy' locomotive.
Spare parts for 'Puffing Billy' locomotive, comprising two small chunky washers or nuts, and a curved strip of metal.
Metal pole, part of 'Puffing Billy' locomotive, long metal, cylindrical pole, hollow in the centre with circular sheet at base with two notches in the sides.
Metal coil and four metal hoops attached by blue string, parts from 'Puffing Billy' locomotive.
Key for front padlock of toolbox for ‘Puffing Billy’ locomotive.