Monday 24th August, 2009
The "Yorkshire Horse", part 2
In 1813 the first steam locomotive in Lancashire began operating on Clarke's “wagon road” which ran between mining operations in Winstanley and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal at Crooke.
It was designed by an Orrell engineer named Robert Daglish, and was affectionately known as “The Yorkshire Horse” as it was built on a similar design to Blenkinsopp's locomotives which operated between Middleton and Leeds in Yorkshire.
Robert Daglish's great, great, great, grandson, Richard recently contacted me and sent the following song from “The Songs of Wigan", as sung by The Peelers Folk Band and recorded by them in 1985. One of the songs, "The Yorkshire Horse" , was written by David Stott.
The Yorkshire Horse
You may think of Stevenson’s Rocket, of the Flying Royal Scot,
They were names of locomotives, we’ve heard of quite a lot.
But there’s one locomotive that is not well known,
It was Lancashire’s first steam loco, o’er a hundred years ago.
Chorus...
The Yorkshire Horse, The Yorkshire Horse pulled ninety tons of coal,
The Yorkshire Horse, The Yorkshire Horse saved menfolk from the dole.
It was built by Robert Daglish, from a Yorkshireman’s design,
At the nearby works, Haigh Foundry, and it rolled on cogged rail lines
That were laid on stone cold sleepers, from Winstanley to Crooke
And such a brand new engine was worth a second look.
Chorus...
Known fondly by the locals as the little Yorkshire Horse
It could go five miles an hour and always stay on course.
It could pull all thirty wagons, fully laden up with coal
Across the Pingot valley, a good three miles or more.
Chorus...
It ran for thirty years, along the railway line,
Took the place of fourteen horses, always got to Crooke on time.
And no-one thought to save it, when Clarke’s pit closed down
But don’t forget the Yorkshire Horse was built in our home town.
Chorus...
I am grateful to Richard for sending me this song.
In total three such locomotives were in use on Clarke's wagon road. After 36 years they were decommissioned.
It seems that the “Yorkshire Horse”, or at least its engine part, spent its latter years in the colliery stables cutting hay and mixing provender. It was finally demolished in the early 1920s.