Rail Album - Early Locomotives for North America Built by Robert Stephenson

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Early Locomotives for North America
Built by Robert Stephenson

by Greg Martin

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Robert Stephenson had built his locomotives in various places, usually on his customer's premises. But things changed in 1823 when he established the first locomotive factory in the world. This was the Robert Stephenson & Company's works in Forth Street, Newcastle-on-Tyne. The partners in the business were Robert Stephenson, George Stephenson (Robert's father), Edward Pease and Michael Longridge.

The company's first loco was "Locomotion", a standard gauge 0-4-0 built for the Stockton & Darlington Railway in 1825.

Many of the company's locomotives were exported to other countries. The first loco for the USA was "Pride of Newcastle, a 4'3" gauge 0-4-0 built for the Delaware & Hudson Railroad in 1828. Whilst the first for Canada was "Dorchester", a 5'6" gauge 0-4-0 built for the Champlain & St Lawrence in 1836.

The first loco for Russia was "Prowornoi", a 2-2-2 built for the 6'0" gauge Petersburg & Pavlovsky Railway in 1836. "Adler" was the first of the company's locomotives built for Germany. This was a 4'10" gauge 2-2-2 built for the Nuremberg & Fürth in 1835.

Most famous of the locomotives built by Robert Stephenson & Company was "Rocket", a standard gauge 0-2-2 built in 1835 for the Rainhill Trials on the Liverpool & Manchester Railway (who subsequently bought the loco).

The following table lists the early Robert Stephenson & Company locos built for customers in the USA. The information was taken from the company's records, so please forgive any strange spellings:-

No.	Year	Gauge	Type	Customer	Name
12	1828	4'3"	0-4-0	Delaware & Hudson	Pride of Newcastle
17	1829	-	0-6-0	Boston & Providence	America [loco lost at sea]
-	1831	Std	0-4-0	Mowhawk & Hudson	Robert Fulton
25	1831	4'9¼"	0-4-0	Camden & Amboy	John Bull
23	1831	Std	2-2-0	Newcastle & Frenchtown	Delaware
17	1831	-	2-2-0	Locks & Canals Co	Whistler
7	1831	-	0-4-0	Baltimore & Susquehanna	Herald
8	1831	-	0-4-0	Locks & Canals Co	Stephenson
5	1832	Std	2-2-0	Philadelphia Germanstown & Morristown	Pennsylvania
27	1832	-	2-2-0	Boston & Worcester	Boston or Meteor
28	1832	Std	0-4-0	Newcastle & Frenchtown	Maryland
32	1833	Std	2-2-0	Newcastle & Frenchtown	2 Pennsylvania
42	1833	-	4-2-0	Saratoga & Schenectady	Firefly
52	1833	Std	2-2-0	Newcastle & Frenchtown	Virginia
54	1833	5'0"	0-4-0	Charlestown & Colombia	Edgefield
60	1834	4'9"	4-2-0	Mowhawk & Hudson	Brother Jonathan
61	1834	4'9"	4-2-0	Mowhawk & Hudson	Robert Fulton
75	1834	Std	4-2-0	Saratoga & Schenectady	Davy Crockett
87	1834	5'0"	0-4-0	Charlestown & Colombia	William Aikin
99	1834	5'0"	2-2-0	Charlestown & Colombia	Elias Horry
103	1834	-	4-2-0	Richmond, Frederickburg & Potomac	Richmond
104	1834	-	4-2-0	Philadelphia & Colombia	Pennsylvania
105	1834	-	4-2-0	Philadelphia & Colombia	Philadelphia
106	1835	-	4-2-0	Philadelphia & Colombia	H Schultz
110	1835	-	2-2-0	Philadelphia & Colombia	Kentucky
112	1835	-	2-2-0	Philadelphia & Colombia	John Bull
113	1835	-	2-2-0	Philadelphia & Colombia	Atlantic
114	1835	5'0"	4-2-0	South Carolina	Sumpter
115	1835	5'0"	4-2-0	South Carolina	Marion
116	1835	5'0"	4-2-0	South Carolina	Ohio
117	1835	-	0-4-0	Philadelphia & Colombia	Albion
120	1835	-	0-4-0	Boston & Worcester	Mercury
121	1835	-	0-4-0	Boston & Worcester	Jupiter
129	1836	-	2-2-0	Lexington & Ohio	Nottoway
139	1836	-	2-2-0	Philadelphia & Colombia	Elkhorn
143	1836	-	0-4-0	Boston & Worcester	Comet
144	1836	-	0-4-0	Boston & Worcester	Rocket
146	1836	-	2-2-2	Wrightsville York & Harrisburg	Harrisburg
147	1836	-	2-2-2	Wrightsville York & Harrisburg	Wrightsville
151	1837	-	2-4-0	Baltimore & Susquehanna	Baltimore
152	1837	-	2-4-0	Baltimore & Susquehanna	Susquehanna

Notes:

Robert Stephenson kept more than one works list. Some early works numbers were used more than once and some locos have no works number in the surviving documentation.
The five Portsmouth & Roanoake locos are not mentioned in the surviving records.
A few of the locos in the above list were later renamed by their owners. Some were subsequently rebuilt with different wheel configurations.

Early Robert Stephenson & Company locos built for customers in Canada were:-

No.	Year	Gauge	Type	Customer	Name
127	1836	5'6"	0-4-0	Chaplain & St Lawrence	Dorchester
763	1850	5'6"	0-4-0	Quebec & St Andrews	Pioneer
989	1856	5'6"	2-4-0	Grand Trunk, Canada	83 Ariel
990	1856	5'6"	2-4-0	Grand Trunk, Canada	84 Oberon
991	1856	5'6"	2-4-0	Grand Trunk, Canada	85 Prospero
992	1856	5'6"	2-4-0	Grand Trunk, Canada	86 Erebus
993	1856	5'6"	2-4-0	Grand Trunk, Canada	87 Cyclops
994	1856	5'6"	2-4-0	Grand Trunk, Canada	88 Ixion