In South Wales during the first decades of the nineteenth century, iron and coal masters were confronted by an increasingly acute problem. Transport capacity, or more accurately, undercapacity! Moving the burgeoning output of the Heads of the Valleys ironworks to the Severnside docks by packhorse along mountain tracks was clearly inadequate.
To ease the situation, the canal system and associated local horse-drawn tramroads had been expanding since the last years of the eighteenth century. But more was required.
Cutting edge technology….
In 1804, with the support of ironmaster Samuel Homfray, Richard Trevithick had demonstrated the possibilities of steam traction at the Penydarren tramroad near Merthyr (see this excellent article by Michael Lewis). Although unrecorded, it is probable that his 8 year old son Samuel Homfray jnr witnessed the events and was possibly even given a ride on the locomotive.
Another crucial figure in this story, Thomas Ellis jnr was just a few months old when Trevithick ran his locomotive. His father, however, was employed as an engineer at Penydarren and fully aware of the development.
Replica of Trevithick’s 1804 locomotive by Amgueddfa Cymru/National Museum of Wales
(Copyright: Amgueddfa Cymru)
By 1828 the now adult Homfray jnr had moved to Tredegar Ironworks and taken his father’s place as manager of the company. Using horses as the means of traction, a tramroad to the docks at Newport had been opened around 1805. Having been alert, however, to the possibilities of steam locomotion from an early age, Homfray was aware of developments in other parts of Britain, especially the north-east of England. He was clearly prepared to invest in this new technology.
The Homfrays were not the only ones who made the move from Merthyr to Tredegar. The Ellis family were also there, with the extremely capable Ellis jnr holding the position of Chief Engineer.
A visit to Robert Stephenson
In his book, Steam on the Sirhowy Tramroad and its Neighbours, Michael Lewis concludes that:
“…manager and engineer must have debated the possibilities of steam. In December 1828, hearing it is said, of the ‘wonderful travelling engines at Newcastle [upon Tyne] which were reducing the cost of haulage by 50 per cent,’ Homfray sent Ellis and his mining agent Theophilus Jones to see for themselves and inquire about a locomotive for the Sirhowy.”
Lewis (2020, p.61)
Travelling for six days, Ellis and Jones met with George and Robert Stephenson at Killingworth Colliery and resulted in a fruitful exchange of ideas. One outcome was that a letter was given to the Tredegar visitors by Stephenson introducing them to Thomas Gooch who was requested to show them aspects of work on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway.
Thomas’ father John was later employed at the Tredegar ironworks as cashier while his brother, future GWR Chief Mechanical Engineer Daniel Gooch, was to serve an engineering apprenticeship under Ellis. The main goal of the journey to Newcastle was achieved since:
“…the locomotive for Tredegar, Stephenson’s ‘No. 15 Travelling engine’ or ‘Humphrey’s engine’, soon to be called Britannia, was ordered in late December 1828, a few weeks after the 3ft-gauge ‘No. 14’ or ‘Forman’s engine’ which…was destined for Bute Ironworks. Both left Newcastle on 18 July 1829 and were shipped together to Pillgwenlly [Newport] at a joint freight of £30.”
Lewis(2020, p.62)
What did Stephenson deliver?
(Published in The Locomotive Magazine, 1915)
In 1915 The locomotive Magazine published an outline drawing of the locomotive (shown left). Unsurprisingly, a number of features of Britannia are common to other Stephenson locomotives of the time including the famous Rocket.
In an arrangement recently used on Stephenson’s Lancashire Witch for the Bolton & Leigh Railway, the cylinders were highly inclined . Moreover, with a diameter of 10½ inches and a stroke of 20in they were situated at the firebox end of the engine and drove the leading pair of wheels. There were two valve chests per cylinder; the upper being for the entry of live steam into the cylinder and the lower one for the exhaust.
The return-flue boiler measured 4ft 4in by 9ft and the engine weighed in at about 8 to 9 tons full. The Locomotive Magazine article provided the following details about the wheels and axles:
“The six coupled cast iron wheels, which were flangeless, to adapt themselves to the tram plates then laid down on the Sirhowy line, were 3-ft. 6-in. in diameter, the axles being 3 3/4-in in diameter. The wheel base was 7-ft. 4-in., equally divided, and the connecting rods were 3-ft. 10-in. between centres.”
The Locomotive Magazine (1915)
As J.G.H Warren (1923) describes, around 1828 to 1829 Stephenson’s locomotive drawings were allocated reference letters A, B, C or D, each of which were variants of the Lancashire Witch (though this had 4 wheels rather than Britannia‘s 6). The Tredegar engine was referred to as ‘Humphrey’s Engine’, Wales B. Spelling the purchaser’s name as Humphrey rather than Homfray is presumably a simple error.
Shipped from Newcastle in disassembled form, the locomotive arrived at Tredegar in July 1829 via the docks at Pillgwenlly near Newport. Following delivery, however, there is no record of the locomotive making any lengthy journey for some months. Barring a delay resulting from some difficulty during assembly, it is reasonable to assume that the engine was thoroughly tested and ‘shaken down’ on the internal tracks at the ironworks. This may be a result of the Stephensons having no test track of their own at this point!
The maiden voyage of steam locomotive ‘Britannia’
Finally, at the time of the prestigious cattle show held on 17th December 1829 at Court y Bella near Newport, Britannia was ready to make its maiden voyage along the Sirhowy Tramroad from Tredegar.
The importance of the event was not lost on Samuel Homfray and he was keen that the journey should go smoothly. As the locomotive had to travel over the track of the Monmouthshire Canal Company (MCC) track for the last few miles before arriving at Newport he informed them of his plan. This included a clear run free of any hazards, which was not quite achieved on the day!
Local paper, the Monmouthshire Merlin was there on the day to cover the proceedings. The report appeared in the edition published on the 26th December and included the following section:
The engine did, however, start from the Works early in the morning, but, unfortunately, at one of the crossings in the tramroad, which was not long enough for the steamcarriage, the wheels got out of the tram-plates, which caused a detention of some hours; and on coming through Tredegar Park the chimney was carried away by the branch of a tree hanging over the tram-road. In consequence of these accidents, it did not arrive in Newport till the evening.
Monmouthshire Merlin, 26th December 1829
The paper also provided some details of the performance of Britannia:
‘The engine is about eight horsepower, and brought 53 tons of iron, besides its own weight, making altogether 80 tons at the rate of six miles an hour, with much ease, and without forcing the engine’
Monmouthshire Merlin, 26th December 1829
Many years later, Thomas Ellis’s grandson. C. W. Ellis, claimed that the speed of Britannia was twice as fast as the tram horses could go and with double the amount they could take (quoted in Shore, 2017. p18).
Britannia in service
Britannia had been in service for about six months when it appears to have suffered another, more serious mishap. The Sirhowy Tramroad joined the Monmouthshire Canal Company metals at Nine Mile Point, so named for the distance of the junction from Newport on the original line. Close to this location, the boiler of an engine apparently exploded with fatal consequences. This was not an uncommon occurrence on early locomotives, especially as drivers sometimes tied down the safety valve to gain more pressure.
The Monmouthshire Merlin reported on the incident which took place on 30th June 1830:
The boiler of one of the steam engines on the railroad between the Tredegar Works and Newport unfortunately bursted on Wednesday last, about nine miles from the latter place, by which accident, we lament to say, one man was killed.
Monmouthshire Merlin, 3rd July 1830
An inquest was held into the death during which a verdict of accidental death was recorded on an unknown boy. It is not absolutely certain that Britannia was the culprit. Following the introduction of the Stephenson locomotive, Thomas Ellis started designing the first of a series of locomotives built at Tredegar. The first of these, ‘St David,’ may just have become operational at this point.
One piece of circumstantial evidence is that after the accident, ‘Britannia’ is reported to have mysteriously gained weight, rising to about 11 tons from the initial 8 or 9 tons. This could be explained by it being fitted with a replacement boiler.
It is not known how long Britannia remained in service. Lewis suggests that it may have been around ten years:
Britannia was probably withdrawn around 1840: perhaps in 1839 when John Stephens [Britannia’s original driver] became driver of Fanny [a later Tredegar built locomotive].
Lewis (2020, p.65)
The basic design of steam locomotive Britannia was good and provided a model for a succession of 0-6-0 locomotives designed by Thomas Ellis and built at the Tredegar ironworks.
References
Lewis, M (2020). Steam on the Sirhowy Tramroad and its Neighbours Railway and Canal Historical Society
Locomotive Magazine. 15th January 1915
Monmouthshire Merlin. 26th December 1829
Monmouthshire Merlin, 3rd July 1830
Shore, L.M. (2017). The Tredegar Company: One of the South Wales Big Three Lightmoor Publishing
Warren, J.G.H (2014). A Century of Locomotive Building: Robert Stephenson & Co 1823-1923 David and Charles