Middleton Railway - Introduction of Steam

Introduction of Steam

In 1812 the Middleton Steam Railway became the first commercial railway to successfully use steam locomotives. John Blenkinsop, the colliery's viewer, or manager, had decided that an engine light enough not to break the cast iron track would not have sufficient adhesion, bearing in mind the heavy load of coal wagons and the steep track gradient. Accordingly he relaid the track on one side with a toothed rail, which he patented in 1811 (the first rack railway), and approached Matthew Murray of Fenton, Murray and Wood, in Holbeck, to design a locomotive with a pinion which would mesh with it. Murray's design was based on Richard Trevithick's Catch me who can, adapted to use Blenkinsop's rack and pinion system, and was called Salamanca. This 1812 locomotive was the first to use two cylinders. These drove the pinions through cranks which were at right angles, so that the engine would start wherever it came to rest.

In 1812, Salamanca was the first commercial steam locomotive to operate successfully, and along with three other locomotives built for the Middleton colliery, remained in use for twenty years. A number of other firsts can be claimed by the railway. Being the first line to regularly use steam locomotives on freight trains it was naturally the first line to employ a train driver. The worlds first professional train driver was a former pit surface labourer named James Hewitt who had been trained by Fenton, Murray & Wood's test driver. The first member of the public to be killed by a locomotive is almost certainly a 13 year old boy named John Bruce killed in February 1813 whilst running along the tracks. Leeds Mercury reported that this would "operate as a warning to others" though 200 years later sadly similar accidents still happen on our railways.

Though it was considered a marvel at the time, a child who witnessed it was less impressed. The child, David Joy, became a successful engineer.

Living in Hunslet Lane, on the London Road, the old coal railway from the Middleton Pits into Leeds, ran behind our house a few fields off, and we used to see the steam from the engines rise above the trees. Once I remember going with my nurse, who held my hand (I had to stretch it up to hers, I was so little) while we stood to watch the engine with its train of coal-wagons pass. We were told it would come up like a flash of lightning, but it only came lumbering on like a cart.