George Forrester and Company
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George Forrester and Company was a British locomotive manufacturer at Vauxhall Foundry in Liverpool.
The company had opened in 1827 as iron founders and commenced building locomotives in 1834.
The first to be produced were three 2-2-0 locomotives named Kingstown, Dublin and Vauxhall for the Dublin and Kingstown Railway. Some others were produced for the London and Greenwich Railway. In 1835 the Dublin and Kingstown ordered two tank locomotives, Victoria and Comet, being the first tank locomotives to be used in public service
They were groundbreaking in that for the first time horizontal cylinders were mounted at the front of the locomotive outside the frame. Also Forrester used four fixed eccentrics rather than two loose ones. A single linkage operated the whole arrangement at once, rather than having four for the driver to operate ,and the handles no longer rocked to and fro while the locomotive was in motion.
Forrester's engines were extremely successful for their time, but the outside cylinders and cranks caused the locomotives to sway so much that they were referred to as "Boxers." From 1834 an extra trailing axle was added for some for the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. The largest order was for fifteen 2-4-0s in 1847 for the South Eastern Railway. These were of the Stephenson "long boiler" pattern.
The works manager was Alexander Allen until 1840 when he left to take charge of the workshops of the Grand Junction Railway at Edge Hill.
Locomotive building finished around 1847, and the company closed in 1890
[edit] References
- Lowe, J.W., (1989) British Steam Locomotive Builders, Guild Publishing
