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The Locomotive Builders Andrew Neale Avonside Engine Company The origins of the Avonside Engine Company of Bristol go back far further than any locomotive builder so far considered in this series. In 1837 one Henry Stothert established an engineering works in Bristol and four years later he not only took on a business partner but built his first four locomotives, these being some broad seven-foot gauge locomotives for the Great Western Railway. Stothert’s new partner was Edward Slaughter and the firm now traded as Stothert & Slaughter. It became primarily a locomotive builder supplying engines to among others the London Brighton & South Coast Railway and the Monmouthshire Railway & Canal Company. In 1844 the works were named the ‘Avonside Ironworks’, although this did not affect the actual company title at this stage. By 1856 the firm had built around 350 locomotives but the two partners decided to divide the business, Henry Stothert concentrating on marine engineering while Edward Slaughter retained the locomotive works, taking on a new partner in a Mr. Grunning. The firm now traded as Slaughter, Grunning & Co of the Avonside Ironworks and from now on there was a marked increase in locomotives exported. In 1871 Avonside began building locomotives of the Fairlie type. Over the next decade it built more of this type than any other concern and a lot of these were of narrow gauge. The first was Avonside 862/3 (two works numbers were allocated to these double-ended locomotives), a 0-6-6-0 Fairlie of 3ft 6in gauge for the Toronto, Grey & Bruce Railway in Canada immediately followed by an identical locomotive for the neighbouring Toronto & Nipissing Railway. Three more narrow gauge Canadian Fairlies followed in 1872, this time of the 0-4-4-0 type for the three-foot gauge Glasgow & Cape Breton Railway in Novia Scotia. Then came Avonside’s best known Fairlie locomotive. This was works number 929-30, the second double-Fairlie for the Festiniog Railway. It was a development of the pioneer Little Wonder of 1869, which had proved so successful. The new locomotive was designed by G.P.Spooner, the Festiniog’s engineer, and named James Spoonerafter his father who had preceded him in the post. It had cylinders of 8.5in diameter by 14 in stroke, 2ft 8ins diameter wheels and weighed 22 tons in working order. The locomotive proved to be a very useful machine and with various rebuilds lasted until 1933 when it was dismantled, although various parts were reused to keep its younger sisters going. Although Sezela No. 3 , typical of the many Avonside side tanks supplied to the sugar cane tramways of Natal. It is now preserved on the Sandstone Steam Railroad, where it was photographed in April 2003. ‘Sezela’ is Zulu for ‘smell out’ and relates to the tale of a notorious crocodile with an uncanny ability to smell his victims! (Errol Ashwell) 18■NARROW GAUGE WORLD – N0 52
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Avonside built double Fairlie James Spooner pauses at Minfordd with the 9.30am from Duffws on 14 August, 1913. (K.A.C.R. Nunn) Avonside built no more locomotives for the Festiniog, two very similar but slightly larger Fairlies, Merddin Emrys and Livingston Thompson, were built in the Boston Lodge shops in 1879 and 1886 respectively, and both of these are still with us today. James Spoonerwas followed by a generally similar locomotive, but of 2ft 6 in gauge, for the Matanzas Railway in Cuba. Further Avonside Fairlies of 3ft 6in gauge for New Zealand and South Africa were built in the next few years. Finally in 1879 came Avonside’s largest Fairlie order: no less than twenty-five 0-4-4-0s for a projected military line of metre gauge in connection with operations in the Bolan Pass in the Third Afghan War. In the event this line was never built but as by then the builder had completed most of the order the seventeen finished locomotives were accepted into normal Indian Railway stock. One was lost at sea en route but the others had a varied career in India and Burma, including four used on the construction and initial services on the famous Nilgiri Mountain Railway, which still operates steam to this day. Another very interesting order came in 1875 with the supply of four special 0-4-2Ts of 3ft 6in gauge for the Rimutaka Pass line in New Zealand where they banked trains up the three miles of 1 in 15 grade. They were constructed on the Fell system with two inside cylinders of 12in by 14 in driving four horizontal wheels for braking on the centre third rail. The driving cylinders were of 24in by 16in and their axle loading of 16 tons was the heaviest ever used in New Zealand. They were a great success and remained in service until the incline was replaced by a new line in 1955 (see NGW-41 ‘Smoke and Fury on the Fell’). Decades of bitter emnity Despite this activity things were not going well for Avonside and following Edward Slaughter’s death the company was in financial trouble by 1880, primarily because most of its British main line customers were either now building themselves or using larger suppliers such as Beyer Peacock. Bristol’s other locomotive builder, Fox Walker & Co, also failed in 1880 and their Edwin Walker now joined Avonside. The initial attempt to revitalise the firm failed but Walker then formed a new company, retaining the existing Avonside Engine Co name. In the meantime Fox Walker’s old Atlas works had been purchased by Thomas Peckett, who revived the company under his own name. Edwin Walker now intended to concentrate on industrial, not main line, locomotives and these would be broadly similar to those built by his old firm. The stage was thus set for decades of bitter enmity between the two firms building very similar locomotives. However, given its previous history it is not surprising that Avonside should produce a far wider range of locomotive types than its rival, which as previously described in the article in NGW-43 pursued an intensely conservative design philosophy throughout its existence. Avonside continued to build some locomotives for the smaller main line companies who had no works of their own. It also evolved a series of standard industrial locomotives as well as various individual designs for industry and export. Among those exported at this time were its only compound types, three 2-6-4 side tanks for the 2ft 6in gauge Junin Railway in Chile. But possibly the most unusual narrow gauge one-off was turned out in 1882. Works number 1337 was a fourcoupled 22-inch gauge machine and was in fact the first locomotive designed by Samuel Geoghegan for the internal narrow gauge system at the Guinness Dublin Brewery. In order to pass over the exceptionally sharp curves on the brewery railway the two cylinders were mounted horizontally on top of the marine-type boiler and drove the wheels via a dummy crankshaft and vertical rods. These were linked to the side rods connecting the wheels. The locomotive was a complete success and a further eighteen were built up to 1921 but all these were constructed locally by William Spence & Sons in Dublin. James Spoonerwas to remain the only locomotive Avonside built for a public British narrow gauge line but in among the range of standard gauge 0-4-0 and 0-6-0 saddle tanks a number of narrow gauge industrial steam were also constructed. Many of these were side rather than saddle tanks, all with outside cylinders. An early example was Ascension No. 1, Avonside 1480 of 1904, a 0-4-0T with 8.5in by 12in cylinders and inside valve gear that was built for the 2ft 6 in gauge line operated by the Admiralty on Hoo Ness Island in the Thames estuary. Constant problems with the very poor, salty water meant the locomotive led an unhappy life but its basic design was reworked with outside Walschaerts valve gear and two-foot gauge a decade later for Sezela Sugar estates in Natal. The two-foot gauge sugar cane tramways of Natal and elsewhere were to become an important market for Avonside, who produced a range of standard side tank designs in 0-4-0, 0-4-2 and 0-6-0 sizes. The Natal market was particularly significant and lasted throughout the company’s life. Many of the sales were made through the agency of Francis Theakston, who had left the famous family brewery to join Arthur Koppel in its London office and duringWorld War 1 had set up his own light railway business with a works at Crewe. Like his larger rivals Robert Hudson he only built rolling stock and trackwork, buying in locomotives, which as far as steam was concerned came primarily from Avonside, although later some steam was sourced from overseas builders. Having got the business back on to a sound footing the company relocated to a new site in Bristol at Fishponds in 1905. Apart from its range of standard side tanks it also produced other narrow gauge steam locomotives such as two quaint little 0-4-0STs for the 750mm gauge internal railway at East Greenwich gasworks in London. There was also works number 1547 of 1908, the chunky three-foot gauge 0-6-0T Nancy. This spent all its industrial life on the Leicestershire ironstone tramways and now after many years in storage is being rebuilt for further service in Ireland by Alan Keef Ltd at Ross on Wye. Although James Spooner was the only complete locomotive Avonside built for a British public narrow gauge line, it did get involved in sundry interesting repair jobs such as reboilering the Lynton & Barnstaple’s Baldwin 2-4-2T Lyn. It also NARROW GAUGE WORLD – N0 52 ■19

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The Locomotive Builders

Andrew Neale Avonside Engine Company

The origins of the Avonside Engine Company of Bristol go back far further than any locomotive builder so far considered in this series. In 1837 one Henry Stothert established an engineering works in Bristol and four years later he not only took on a business partner but built his first four locomotives, these being some broad seven-foot gauge locomotives for the Great Western Railway. Stothert’s new partner was Edward Slaughter and the firm now traded as Stothert & Slaughter. It became primarily a locomotive builder supplying engines to among others the London Brighton & South Coast Railway and the Monmouthshire Railway & Canal Company. In 1844 the works were named the ‘Avonside Ironworks’, although this did not affect the actual company title at this stage. By 1856 the firm had built around 350 locomotives but the two partners decided to divide the business, Henry Stothert concentrating on marine engineering while

Edward Slaughter retained the locomotive works, taking on a new partner in a Mr. Grunning. The firm now traded as Slaughter, Grunning & Co of the Avonside Ironworks and from now on there was a marked increase in locomotives exported. In 1871 Avonside began building locomotives of the Fairlie type. Over the next decade it built more of this type than any other concern and a lot of these were of narrow gauge. The first was Avonside 862/3 (two works numbers were allocated to these double-ended locomotives), a 0-6-6-0 Fairlie of 3ft 6in gauge for the Toronto, Grey & Bruce Railway in Canada immediately followed by an identical locomotive for the neighbouring Toronto & Nipissing Railway. Three more narrow gauge Canadian Fairlies followed in 1872, this time of the 0-4-4-0 type for the three-foot gauge Glasgow & Cape Breton Railway in Novia Scotia. Then came Avonside’s best known Fairlie locomotive. This was works number 929-30, the second double-Fairlie for the

Festiniog Railway. It was a development of the pioneer Little Wonder of 1869, which had proved so successful. The new locomotive was designed by G.P.Spooner, the Festiniog’s engineer, and named James Spoonerafter his father who had preceded him in the post. It had cylinders of 8.5in diameter by 14 in stroke, 2ft 8ins diameter wheels and weighed 22 tons in working order. The locomotive proved to be a very useful machine and with various rebuilds lasted until 1933 when it was dismantled, although various parts were reused to keep its younger sisters going. Although

Sezela No. 3 , typical of the many Avonside side tanks supplied to the sugar cane tramways of Natal. It is now preserved on the Sandstone Steam Railroad, where it was photographed in April 2003. ‘Sezela’ is Zulu for ‘smell out’ and relates to the tale of a notorious crocodile with an uncanny ability to smell his victims! (Errol Ashwell)

18■NARROW GAUGE WORLD – N0 52

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