Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-10-13
CENTENARY OF FAMOUS LOCO.
MOTIVE.
putting Billy" Famous Old English
Engine, Built Hundred Years Ago,
Is Still in Existence.

1t may not be generally known that
100 years ago a practical locomotive
engine was built in England ran sue
cessfully for many years, and is still
IN existence. This locomotive was nam
ed Putting Billy
To get al it's history we must go back
to the year 1872, when Christopher
Blackett, proprietor of the Wylam
Colliery. near Newcastle-on- Tyne. who
had been searching since 1904 for some
means Of haulage better than animal
power made some experiments with a
frame mounted on four smooth wheels
driven by annual power working cranks
connected with spur wheels. The OBJ
iect of this experimental carriage was
to ascertain if Il locomotive engine hay
ing smooth wheels, running on smooth
rails, could pull anything of 81 load !:
sor mp To that time all locomotives had
toethed wheels running on rack rails
1t is true that Trevitkick's engines
had smooth wheels, but they failed for
other reasons, The result of these tri-
ais, which We're carried on under the
supervision of William Hedley, Black
etts coal viewer" were so encourage
ing that early in the year 1913 the
frame and wheels We're fitted with
cast iron boiler and single steam cyl
inder six inches in diameter. which
drove the wheels through intermediate
gearing. After repeated trials with
this experimental engine the construc-
ton of a new one was decided upon,
chiefly because of the defective steam
ing capacity of the boiler No time
was lost. and in the same year Black
EFT ordered Hedley to rebuild the en-
CINE with a new boiler and cylinders.
This was done with the assistance IF
Timothy Hackworth, who was foreman
smith at Wylam. and clever nechan-
ic In fact, at that period hacksmiths
were the only mechanics who worked
in iron, and practically all the early
locomotives Were made by them. Hack
worth was Stephenson's great rival,
and therc-is no doubt that the father
Of railways spent his Sundays at Wy
lam making notes and sketches of
Putting Billy" and other engines there
which We're built and partly invented
by Hackworth. For this reason Hack
worth deserves more prominent place
in locomotive history than has general
ly been assigned to him.
Putting Billy" was finished in May,
1873. and put to work hauling Wagons
or the five miles of track connecting
Wlyam Colliery with the wharves on
the Tyne. The engine appears to have
been successful from the start. and it
attracted much attention. mingled With
opposition from those who We're inter-
estea in hersefesh. II has two vertical
steam jaelSeted cylinders. inches di-
ameter by 35 inches stroke, which by
srasshopper beams transmit the power
downward by connecting rods to a
shaft is journaled in the frames, wn1eh
are If wood, and carries spur wheel,
which, by four other spur Wheels, trans
mits the power to the four driving
wheels, each 80 inches in diameter.
Steam was distributed by short ID slide
valves worked by tappet motion. The
working steam pressure was 80 pounds
per square inch. The boiler is of
wrought iron Jagged with wood. 1t las
a return fIue. SO that the furnace Is at
the same end ef the chimney, where
the fireman attended To his duties,
standing in the tender. The engine dfiv-
er was stationed al the other end OF
the BOILER, where he had the levers and
working parts within easy reach. The
tender consists of a wooden frame sup
ported on four wheels and carrying a
SQUARE water tank and coal box. Ine
combined weight of the engine and
tender is about 10, tons. and its usual
performance was to haul 80 long tons
at SIX miles per hour. The exhaust
steam from the cylinders was dischais-
ed directly into the chimney. ana the
noise thus caused aroused so much OPP
position that legal opinion was taken
on the subject, but the nuisance was
subsequently abated by passing the ex-
haust steam into an upright tank fixed
on the top of the boiler. From this tank
the steam escaped into the chimney.
This was probably the first 'muflier
ever built
In those days the rails We're tram
plates" of cast iron, which We're of only
four square inch cross section, anu
weighed sc pounds per yard. Putting
Billy, was thus too heavy for the TRACK
and it was necessary to carry haii
dozen spare tram-plates on the engine 10
replace those which might break during
the journey. Therefore, In 1913 Heaiey
decided to rebuild the engine as an eight
wheeler and placed each group OF -FOUR
wheels in truck-frame, thus distribat-
ing the weight and enabling the engine
to round curves with greater ease.
About 1880 the Wylamroad was relaid
with cast iron edge rails of the double
Hanged fish-bellied type, with half lap
Joints supported in chairs spiked to cross
sleepers. The gauge was five feet; each
rail was four feet long and weighed ~
pounds per yard. The engine was then
restored to its original form, the muther
rebuilt with four wheels and restored
to it's original form, the muller practicai-
" being removed. 1t thus worked continu-
ously for about SO years, and 1t was the
first successful locomotive in the world
blance to the modern Locomotive.
The Putting Billy" bears little resem-
blance to the modern locomotive. The
creations of Necomen and Watt long
antedated the designs of Trevithick,
Blenkinsopp, Hedley and Stephenson, SO
A;tyas- hiIt q