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EARLYRITIOISING certain ternaries 1 . with the Tabflee D^nfiton. Mr. T. W. Dodds, lately Engweer tendent on the North Staffordshire Railway, and formerly of the Hoi:w„Ac Rot M-hhrh. write in the Sh Mfl Daffy Telegraph of TuesdT r_ ind Darlington wits riot the fifst line of railway, rieitl ________________________on that the first Ioppmotive was brought into use. C he Stockton and. Darlington was the first railway constrji thick’s engine, and that Killingworth) madeat Rillingworth, introduced two cylinders. An engine was made in ^8^4, by orders (who was the chief viewer for th Grand Allies, and under whomjkfr. Nicnmaf VVop pupil), and a patent was taken out on the p8jth February, j8*5» by Ralph Dodds and Stephenson, for * Improvements in locomotive engines.’ Apd b WF pe here stajtpcl tfcft top ‘ Locomotiye No. 1,’ on the Stockton and Dariitagton, was made m accordance with chatLocomotive No. 1,Whence qnes pn of using the locomotive ngine fin tip Stockton #nd p0rlw#onp Mr,* igworth and see wfcM th§ locomotive engine was papule ofyears pefore the Stockton and Darlington line was completed thefactonly at Ki|ling\yprth, Sppngweljf,% and who, op. the death w .lhng), made anengmeolin Hill, completed his time under Mr. Tlipmas Dodds at the F some time before 1814, to work op a jack-rail.”A partial sketch of the career of Mr. T. W. Dodds, by fdr. J. Gpest, is appended to tbi§ pptp,The writer says:—“ The first locomot e engine used on the SKejflield and Rotherham Railway was made by Mr. T. Dodds, and although thought little of at the tipie, did excellent service; and afterwards, in otherhands, the ‘ Old Cutler,’ as she was called, did 4II that could be expected, without ever having antyfr;%apd a self-acting reversing and expansive pipf mi vitli tRe te heat* without deranging the machinery by distorting its ery general. Here was made the first experiments pf wrought-position; this plan is now becoming very general r_.......... .....n on girders, and strange as it may appear, wlien afterwards Mr. Dodds1 - as permitted by Mr. JoseplI a nl » a 4 X\ I A A A P A A Tl f P/M 1 fT H r % •arl ^ a w a a A Mr _ u i. 1 *11 . fl. . j 1 • t •Imission of Messrs. Stephenson and IJrassey ip jerect an atjpeduct and viaduct at the Beattock sum-mit on the Caledonian Railway, the sam,e objection was made, but was allowed to be put down oil Mr. Dodds offering to test it, the aqueduct being filled with water, and the road over it being covered with weight much heavier than it could ever have to bear, and there it remains to this day; this was oply 74 feet span, but it was years beibre the Menai Tube was brought out, apd was guided by the same reasons, as to the safety of wrought iron for bridge structures. Mr. JDodds was the first pupil of the late George Stephenson, but prior to that was in his uncle Mr. Ralph Dodd’s office, at Killingworth, then intending to be a colliery viewer. He succeded Mr. Nicholas Wood, anc lias frequently, when a boy, paid George Stephc son’s wages when he wore his working dress, and is believed to be the only one living, who, with Nicholas Wood, William and John. Moody, Wales* and Summersides, the viewers and overmen, and others, amounting to seventeen in number, accompanied “ George ” to the bl°wer, down the Killingworth pit, to try the first safetylamp, in November, 1815, Mr. Dpdds, when a boy, left his uncle and became a pupil to Stephenson, preferring mechanics, and from that date, with a slight exception, was always interested in every improvement, and consulted by Mr. Stephenson in matters connected with locomotive and railway works, especially the mechanical. From 1832 to 1836 Mr. Dodds was the engineer for the Horseley Coal and Iron Company, |n Staffordshire, then a firm of great repute, and here lie took up the question with Stephenson, Locke, Rastrick, and others as to making heavier locomotive engines than were at that time used, and raking railway lines to. be worked by locomotive engines much steeper, whereby much expense might be saved 111 cutting, c.; in this he was opposed by one and all, and only after having had a consultation with Mr. Charles Vignoles, then the engineer op the St. Hlt; in’s and Runcorn Gap Railway, where they were working with two distinct locomotive establishments, one at the top and the other at the bottom of the incline plane which crossed over the Liverpool and Manchester Railway; this incline was worked by fixed engine and rope. Mr. Dodds proposed to make a locomotive engine and to take a larger load than the fixed engine. Mr. Vignoles persuaded the directors to give the order; and, to his credit, aided the carrying out o Mr. Dodds’1 iews, which have become all but universal; the engipc was made, and did the work prescribed well, an the fixed epgine was taken away. Since that day heavy inclines, which before it was thought could not be worked by locomotive engipes pro now so worked, and some of many miles in length. Mr. Dodds, in the first instance/fought tips battle sipgle-hapded, hut found ip Mr. Vignoles or who rps always ready to listep to improvements, and was consulted by lum in the drawing up pf the specification for the locomotive engines for the Dublin and Kingston Railway, and for him Mr. i odds made a sketch, that each locomotive should be a perfect duplicate of the thei and eact detailed part of said engine should also be a duplicate of any other engine, o that the whole family shppld be exactly the same size, weight, and JcLd, and thus a very small stock of detached parts need be kept in the stores.”
Newspaper Details
Iron
London, Middlesex, GB
Sat, Oct 09, 1875
Page 22
Full Page
Clipped by
Albrico D.
PT 14 Dec 2022
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