Bury, Curtis and Kennedy: Liverpool

1848. Crampton Engine for the London and North Western Railway.

Note: This is a sub-section of Bury, Curtis and Kennedy.

The large eight-wheeled engine Liverpool for the London and North Western Railway (Southern Division) was built by Bury, Curtis and Kennedy in 1848, and shown in the 1851 Exhibition. It also had mixed framing, both inside and outside plates extending throughout from front to back buffer beams. The two front carrying axles had one inverted spring on each side, as in Gooch's 8ft engines, but all the carrying axle springs were underhung. Unlike the Eastern Counties Railway "Cramptons" which had Gooch's gear, the Liverpool had Stephenson's link motion. In the early "Cramptons" the eccentrics were of small size and fixed on return cranks, but in the 'Liverpool' huge eccentrics, the sheaves of which were about 2ft, 9in. in diameter, were fixed to the driving wheel bosses, with the object of avoiding overhung return cranks. This form of eccentric was patented by Crampton in June, 1847, and was first used on the Cornwall and Velocipede, built at Crewe, but was soon abandoned owing to the enormous friction and consequent heating.

The driving wheels were 8ft. diameter and the cylinders 18in. by 24in. The total (rigid) wheel base was 18ft. 6in. The boiler, the centre of which was only 5ft. 3in. above rail level was oval and contained 292 2 3/16 in. tubes, the heating surface 2290 sq feet; grate area, 21.5 sq feet; pressure 120 lb; weight in working order, about 35 tons.

The Liverpool worked heavy trains between London and Wolverton, but can hardly be considered otherwise than as a daring freak. It damaged the road badly, perhaps less on account of its weight than of its long rigid wheel base.

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