The Orrell Coal Field
In 1813 the Orrell coalfield witnessed the operation of one of the world's first successful steam driven locomotives. It was nick-named the "Yorkshire Horse" as the first engine of this design was used in Yorkshire on a railway between Middleton and Leeds.
Orrell lies about 2-3 miles west of Wigan town centre. The mining of cannel was important here in the 18th and early 19th centuries. The Douglas Navigation, and later, the Leeds Liverpool Canal, linked the Orrell coal field to the expanding Liverpool industrial market so providing an outlet for the high grade cannel coal.
The next transportation problem was the efficient transference of coal from the mines to the piers on the canal.
In the early 1800s coal was usually transported along wooden railways using horses as the motive force. In 1812, Robert Daglish, manager of Clarke's collieries, converted the wagon way to iron rails and stone sleepers and commissioned the Haigh foundry to construct a locomotive of the Blenkinsop design. This began operation early in 1813.
"The Yorkshire Horse" must have provided a spectacular sight for the inhabitants of the Orrell area, as it clanked its noisy, smoky way towards the canal many years before Stevenson designed his "Rocket".
The speed was not spectacular, allegedly only three to four miles per hour, but each one of the locomotives was said to have done the work of fourteen horses, thus offsetting the rapidly rising cost of horse fodder during the early part of the 19th century.
The Blenkinsop Design
The picture on the right shows a model of a Blenkinsop design engine in the Science museum, Kensington. Note the central wheel with the pinions, which engaged the racked rail.
John Blenkinsop was born in Walker on Tyneside. In 1801 he was appointed viewer at J.C. Brandling's collieries at Middleton, near Leeds. Building on the work of engineers such as Trevithick, he constructed, in 1811, an efficient locomotive to run on a specially designed track which stretched three or four miles between Middleton to Leeds.
Blenkinsop's innovative design utilised a pinion wheel, which was driven by the locomotive, engaging a central rack-rail. This enabled the hauling of heavy loads by a relatively light engine. Daglish modified the design, using toothed driving wheels which engaged cogged rails.