Fletcher, Jennings & Co.

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The Talyllyn locomotive, used on the Talyllyn Railway line.
The Talyllyn locomotive, used on the Talyllyn Railway line.

Fletcher, Jennings & Co. was an engineering company at Lowca near Whitehaven, Cumbria, England.

Contents

[edit] Overview

Fletcher Jennings locomotive Baxter at Sheffield Park Station platform on the Bluebell Railway
Fletcher Jennings locomotive Baxter at Sheffield Park Station platform on the Bluebell Railway

Fletcher and Jennings took over the business of Tulk and Ley in 1857. From then, until 1884, the company concentrated on four and six-coupled industrial tank locomotives, although other goods such as bridge girders, and blast-furnace shells for the burgeoning local iron industry, were also produced. By then nearly two hundred locomotives had been built and the company acquired limited liability as Lowca Engineering Company Ltd. It might be thought that "Lowca" is a play on the word "loco" but, in fact, it refers to the village where the factory was established in 1800.

In 1905, the name changed again to the New Lowca Engineering Company Ltd. but it was short-lived. Orders had fallen and, after a disastrous fire in 1912 all production ceased, the company being finally wound up in 1927.

[edit] Surviving locomotives

Preserved locomotives manufactured by the company include:

Name Gauge Type Date Works number Notes
Talyllyn 2 ft 3 in (686 mm) 0-4-2ST Preserved on the Talyllyn Railway in mid Wales
Dolgoch 0-4-0WT Preserved on the Talyllyn Railway in mid Wales.
Captain Baxter 4 ft 8½ in (1,435 mm) 0-4-0T Preserved on the Bluebell Railway in Sussex
Townsend Hook 3 ft 2¼ in 0-4-0T Preserved at the Amberley Working Museum in Sussex.

[edit] Other locomotives

Other locomotives manufactured by the company include:

[edit] Sources

  • Linked Wikipedia articles
  • Kyle, Ian "Steam from Lowca" (1974)
  • Wear, Russell "Some further notes on the Lowca Works", Cumbrian Railways, Feb 2002