One of oldest steam nameplates to go under auction hammer
ONE of the oldest steam locomotive nameplates ever to appear at auction will be going under the hammer at a Great Northern Railwayana sale on October 1.
It is from LNWR Newton class 2-4-0 No. 1488 Murdock, which was built at Crewe in May 1866 (works No. 928) to the design of locomotive superintendent John Ramsbottom and withdrawn in November 1888.
Built between 1866-73 for express passenger work on the challenging Lancaster-Carlisle section of the WCML, these locomotives had 6ft 9in driving wheels, a tractive effort of 10,190lb-ft, and weighed just under 29 tons. The first 76 of the 96-strong class were constructed without cabs, although these were subsequently added.
Tax rules
IN LNWR parlance, the Newton class engines were ‘renewed’ or rebuilt from 1887, but this was a paper exercise and in fact were replaced by new engines that utilised very few parts of the original engines. This was down to tax rules that classed a rebuild as a repair and therefore allowed the full cost to be offset against tax, whereas a new locomotive was capital expenditure, of which only part could be offset.
This led to the new locomotives, which were designed by
Ramsbottom’s successor Francis Webb, being given the same numbers and names as the replaced Newton class engines, although they were classified the Improved Precedent class, which earned the nickname ‘Jumbos.’
Thus the new No. 1488 – Crewe Work’s No. 3052 built in November 1888 – was also named Murdock, and was fitted with the original’s nameplates dating from 1866.
On Grouping it became LMS
No. 5014 and was withdrawn in April 1932, a year before the class became extinct, with the exception of No. 790 (LMS No. 5031) Hardwicke, now part of the National Collection.
Great Northern’s Dave Robinson said: “This is an exciting plate and an astonishing survivor. To my knowledge it has never previously come up for auction, and as one of the oldest to ever come onto the market I genuinely feel honoured to sell it. It is also notable for having been carried by two different express locomotives.”
The two engines were named after William Murdoch, who was born in Old Cumnock, Ayrshire, in August 1754, the third of seven children.
In 1777, aged 23, he walked the 300 miles to Birmingham to seek a job with a fellow Scot, the legendary steam engineer James Watt, who ran a manufacturing business in partnership with Englishman Matthew Boulton.
Innovator
William’s pilgrimage was successful, and he was offered work in the company’s foundry, making patterns for the casting of machine parts.
Having settled in England, he anglicised his surname to Murdock, and made such an impression on his employers that he progressed to fitting and erecting steam engines. In this role he often worked away from the foundry, and from 1782 to 1798 he lived in the Cornish town of Redruth, erecting, maintaining and repairing Boulton & Watt steam engines used in pumping water out of tin mines.
Murdock had a fertile and innovative mind, and in 1784 he demonstrated in his living room in Redruth one of his own inventions, a 1ft high working model of a three-wheeled road steam carriage incorporating an engine and a boiler – complete with safety valve – mounted between two large rear wheels with a tiller at the front steering a small wheel.
This was the first recorded public demonstration in Britain of steam locomotion in action but he failed to progress the invention, although it is thought he may have built a full-size version. He also invented the oscillating cylinder steam engine, and is credited with inventing gas lighting; in 1792 his home in Redruth became the first domestic residence in the world to be lit by gas.
In 1798 Murdock returned to Birmingham, where he had a large house built, and in 1810 was made a partner in Boulton & Watt. He retired in 1830 and died in Handsworth, Birmingham, in November 1839, at the age of 85.
➜ See Geoff Courtney’s railwayana column on pages 70-71 for a preview of the auction at Poynton Leisure Centre, near Stockport, on October 1.