Derwent at 175
Stockton & Darlington ‘Tory’ 0-6-0 Derwent celebrates its 175th birthday.
A significant birthday for the Stockton & Darlington 0-6-0
On display together almost continuously since the end of the 19th Century, both surviving Stockton & Darlington Railway locomotives can be seen at Head of Steam – Darlington Railway Museum, fittingly on the route of their original owner, in the 1842 S&DR Darlington North Road station. One is Locomotion, built by Robert Stephenson & Co in 1825. The other is the last survivor of a distinctive heavy goods design: No. 25 Derwent, built to Timothy Hackworth’s ‘Tory’ class design 175 years ago in November 1845, at Alfred Kitching’s Hopetown foundry, just yards from where it is now displayed.
Derwent is the oldest surviving locomotive built in Darlington, and a magnificent complete survivor of Hackworth’s double tender locomotives. An earlier example, Samson, built by Hackworth in 1838, is preserved in Canada, and the water tender from Derwent’s classmate Etherley survives at Locomotion, Shildon.
Conservative class
Derwent’s design dates to Hackworth’s 0-6-0 Royal George of 1827, which had vertical cylinders driving the rear wheels, and a return-flue boiler giving greater heating area than straight-flue Stephenson engines.
The design was improved in later locomotives; the ‘Director’ class of 1831, also known as the ‘Wilberforce’ class, had a large single flue or ‘fire tube’ from the fire at the leading end to the rear of the boiler, and a large chamber with multi-tubes running back to the front.
Although this theoretically improved their steaming qualities, they were hampered by S&DR mineral trains being restricted to six miles per hour to reduce wear and tear on the locomotive, chaldron waggons and the rails. This, as well as a tendency for the small tubes to get clogged by soot, meant the S&DR found it more economical to acquire further engines of the ‘Enterprise’ class, seemingly a retrograde step with single-flue boilers and completely or partially unsprung; on vertical cylinder locomotives, it was not possible to fit springs to the axle driven directly by the cylinder.
While the ‘Enterprise’ class was entering service, it was realised that fully sprung locomotives would cause less wear and tear on the rails, and heavier duty track was also being laid.
With the limit for mineral trains thus increased to ten miles per hour, Hackworth, the S&DR’s locomotive superintendent, was able to design the ‘Tory’ class, named after the lead engine, No. 15 Tory, completed at Hackworth’s Soho Works at Shildon in November 1838. It had cylinders mounted obliquely instead of vertically, allowing all six wheels to be sprung.
Twenty were built, including all four ‘Enterprises’ which were rebuilt into ‘Torys’. They were the penultimate class of double-tender heavy goods locomotives, followed by the six-strong ‘Miner’ class under William Bouch who succeeded Hackworth as locomotive superintendent in 1840.
Bouch then designed more conventional-looking (to modern eyes) locomotives, starting with No. 35 Commerce, leading to the development of the ‘Long Boiler’ 0-6-0 which served the S&DR and North Eastern Railway well for many years.
By the time Derwent was built, its design was therefore obsolete – but eminently suitable for the heavy S&DR mineral trains, where haulage capacity rather than speed was important. Seven ‘Torys’ were built by Kitching’s from 1839 to 1848, and Derwent was among these, ordered as Kitching’s works number 12 as a replacement for No. 25 Enterprise of 1835, and given the same running number as its predecessor.
Kitching’s cost book for Derwent makes unusual reading – it first appears in May 1842, but after that there is nothing until June 1845, going up to December 1845 (covering work needed after delivery that November) with the last mention being for two wooden seats, presumably those on the water tender. The gap may be explained by Enterprise being rebuilt into a ‘Tory’ in 1842, which may have meant Derwent was not needed until a replacement was required.
Family business
Kitching’s was the first steam locomotive manufacturer in Darlington, starting a tradition that continues to this day with the building of new ‘P2’ Prince of Wales at Hopetown, close to the Kitching works. The company was started as an ironmongers in Darlington by William Kitching (Senior) in 1790, opening a foundry on Tubwell Row in 1796. His sons William and Alfred continued his success after he died in 1819. They soon outgrew their Tubwell Row premises, setting up a larger foundry at Hopetown alongside the S&DR, their work now including waggons and carriages.
The brothers were keen to build locomotives, being two of the four contractors allowed to run locomotives for goods traffic on the S&DR, together with Hackworth and Lister, and the Kitchings’ contract included the clause that ‘should the Railway Company require new engines, William and Alfred Kitching be allowed to make one at contract price’. Their chance came when S&DR No. 2 Hope crashed in 1834 and was rebuilt in 1835 as No. 25 Enterprise, Kitching’s first locomotive.
Alfred bought out William in early 1845, making Derwent the first locomotive built by A. Kitching rather than W&A Kitching’s. The Hopetown foundry was sold to the S&DR in 1862 for £12,100, the new owners using it for rolling stock repairs until it closed in March 1886, with the work transferred to the workshops at Bank Top.
What’s in a name?
Kitching’s cost book mentions ‘tube’ for the boiler, with no mention of smaller tubes, so it seems Derwent was built with a single return flue boiler. Little is known about its working life, but its name may provide a clue as to where it initially worked; in 1845, under the aegis of the Wear & Derwent Railway, the S&DR took over the western half of the Stanhope & Tyne Rail-Road from the Derwent Iron Company, which, in 1840, had started the ironworks at Consett. The name Derwent may refer to the railway, the ironworks or the nearby river.
Derwent’s crew were, typically for the era, exposed to the elements – the firebox door being surrounded by the projecting saddle-shaped smokebox must have made firing very awkward, and communication with the driver would have been extremely difficult when on the move.
The driver was responsible for water, which was fed from the riveted iron tender tank behind him into the boiler by two large pumps driven off eccentrics on the middle axle.
The S&DR’s depreciation book mentions that Derwent had its ‘tube improved’ in June 1850, with no mention of smaller tubes, but a valuation in June
1851 mentions 92 ‘iron tubes’ at a cost of £69 and a ‘new flue’ at a cost of £62 (as well as four tyres), so Derwent’s current single flue, multi-tube return boiler likely dates from 1851.
Ten miles per hour was still the maximum speed for chaldron waggons, full or empty. The slow speed helped in stopping the heavy trains too, as the ‘Tory’ class were limited in braking power, evidenced by Derwent’s screw handbrake on the water tender only.
It was common on the S&DR for mineral trains to run without a brake van, the guard – if there was one – sitting on the rear vehicle, walking along them pinning down the brakes as needed. If there wasn’t a guard, the fireman would do this, and it was common practice for both the driver and fireman to walk back along the train.
A metal basket of burning coal hung on the rear of trains (safely separated from the wooden vehicles by a metal bracket) to serve as a lamp – although at some point Derwent acquired lamp brackets on both tenders.
Into preservation
By the 1850s, Derwent was certainly working on the former Stanhope & Tyne route. The Locomotive Magazine and Railway Carriage and Wagon Review
No. 272 of April 1915 mentions that “Derwent is known to have been employed between Hownes Gill and Carr House in 1852” and it was one of 12 ‘Torys’ and a single ‘Miner’ based at Waskerley in 1856.
As the junction of the S&DR with the Stanhope & Tyne, this isolated community on the moors between Stanhope and Consett grew to have two locomotive sheds, a wagon repair shop, goods shed and housing, complete with school and chapel.
It is possible that Derwent had a role in the construction of one of the North East’s most impressive railway structures, Hownes Gill Viaduct, replacing the double incline which previously allowed the railway to cross the ravine. A photograph of the viaduct when completed in 1858 shows a ‘Tory’ class, but it is not possible to say whether it is Derwent or a sister engine.
Derwent was sold in 1869 to Joseph Pease & Partners, a large colliery owner in the west of County Durham, who were also S&DR shareholders. It followed in the footsteps of Locomotion, which had worked at Pease’s West Colliery on loan from the S&DR as a pumping engine.
Following an advertisement for engines in April 1870, Derwent was loaned to the Consett
Waterworks Company, which was constructing Smiddy Shaw Reservoir on Waskerley Moor near its former stamping ground. It returned to Pease’s in 1872, and in later correspondence regarding its preservation, it was said to have done no work after 1874.
Its first roles as a historical exhibit appear to have been at the George Stephenson Centenary Exhibition of 1881 in Newcastle, and Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations in 1887. At this time, it had the script ‘This locomotive engine was built by Alfred Kitching, Darlington, in 1839, for the Stockton and Darlington Railway Company’ painted on the wooden boiler cleading. The origin of the incorrect date is unknown, but may be owing to confusion with the first ‘Tory’ built by Kitching's, No. 6 Whig, delivered in 1839. On its return, Derwent was laid up at Pease’s West.
Sir Joseph Pease, director of the NER, received a letter from his son in early 1898, which began a period of further misinformation about Derwent's age: “We have at Pease’s West, an engine (loco) that was bought
By the time Derwent was built, its design was obsolete – but eminently suitable for the heavy S&DR mineral trains
in 1837 from Kitching’s. It worked on the pit. It probably is the oldest engine, not taken care of in the world, it should be placed in a position where it can be appreciated.”
But – like the Hetton Lyon featured in SR509 – that misinformation led to Derwent’s preservation, for the NER agreed to display it at Darlington Bank Top station alongside Locomotion.
While this was being organised, Alfred Kitching, son of the locomotive manufacturer, wrote to the NER on September 23 1898 after seeing Derwent while in the Crook area during the summer, far from his home in Kingstonon-Thames. Kitching asked (the original letter states ‘beg’) “most earnestly to have this engine removed without delay. It has deteriorated to a serious extent in consequence of it being exposed to the weather, if it stands where it is this winter it will be ruined.” He also pressed the NER for a change in the inscription on the engine’s plaque, to mention that it was built by Kitching’s in 1837.
Conflicting reports
Derwent was put on a pedestal at the south end of Bank Top station on Sunday April 23 1899. All, no doubt, seemed well until a letter was printed in the North Star newspaper on July 4 1899, sent by John Kitching, another of Alfred Kitching’s three sons and brother of the Alfred Kitching mentioned above, who had noticed that the plaque stated 1847.
This sparked several letters between John Kitching, Cudworth (chief engineer of the NER’s Southern Division), Joseph
Pease and the NER. Replying to Pease on August 25 1899, the NER explained: “…it was originally intended to give the date as 1837, but on the occasion of the visit of the directors to the Darlington Works on 3rd March last, the party in passing through one of the yards saw the Engine and Mr. Graham [divisional superintendent in the Locomotive Department at Darlington, who worked on the S&DR] then stated that the date should be given as 1847 and I understand that he subsequently shewed to Mr. Cudworth evidence of this opinion of his.”
With John Kitching refusing to supply information unless “approached by the NER’s Secretary or Board of Directors”, it is not known how the correct date was confirmed – but it now appears on all three plaques which remain with the locomotive, backed up by archives.
Moment of glory
Derwent spent much of the next 76 years at Bank Top, notably leaving its pedestal for the S&DR centenary celebrations in 1925.
It was reported in February 1925 that Derwent was in Darlington Works for its boiler to be retubed and to be put back into working order for the cavalcade, achieving a speed of 12mph on a test run from Darlington to Shildon. Derwent had a prominent position in the cavalcade on July 2 1925, second after the Hetton colliery locomotive. It was the oldest locomotive there in steam, as the Hetton engine, then believed to date from 1822, has since been shown to be younger.
In 1941, the LNER decided that Derwent and Locomotion, as well as exhibits from York museum, should be dispersed owing to the risk from enemy bombing. Derwent, Locomotion and S&DR carriage No. 31 were moved to the disused locomotive shed at Stanhope for five years until the locomotives were returned to Darlington, and the coach to its previous location of Stockton station.
Although under cover at Bank Top, the constant passing of steam locomotives took their toll on the condition of both engines, so on March 19 1961 they were hauled by ‘J94’ 0-6-0ST No. 68060 to North Road Works. Here they were cosmetically overhauled. Both returned to Bank Top until September 1975 and placed in North Road station, which had been restored as a museum that year.
As a survivor of Timothy Hackworth’s distinctive double-tender locomotives for the S&DR, and with an interesting history in its working life and preservation, Derwent is a national treasure with a rightful place in the National Collection.
Like the Hetton Lyon, misinformation led to Derwent’s preservation