Fletcher, Jennings & Co.

Talyllyn at the Talyllyn Railway.

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

Overview

Fletcher Jennings locomotive Captain Baxter at Sheffield Park Station 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.

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 1864 42 Preserved on the Talyllyn Railway in mid Wales
Dolgoch 0-4-0WT 1866 63 Preserved on the Talyllyn Railway in mid Wales.
Sten Sture 2 ft 9 in (838 mm) 0-6-0ST 1873 119 Rebuilt to Side Tank form. Located in Sweden.
Captain Baxter 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) 0-4-0T 1877 158 Preserved on the Bluebell Railway in Sussex
Townsend Hook 3 ft 2 1⁄4 in (972 mm) 0-4-0T 1880 172L Preserved at Amberley Museum & Heritage Centre in Sussex.
William Finlay 0-4-0T 1880 173L Bought by the Narrow Gauge Railway Museum in Tywyn, Gwynedd in 2016 for display.
Hariette 3 ft (914 mm) 0-4-2T 1883 190 Located in Mauritius
Regina 0-4-2T 1889 204 Located in Mauritius
- 0-4-2T 1890 207 Located in Mauritius

Other locomotives

Other locomotives manufactured by the company include:

In fiction

Skarloey and Rheneas, locomotives from The Railway Series and Thomas and Friends, revealed they were built by Fletcher,Jennings & Co. in Very Old Engines, with their twins Talyllyn and Dolgoch. Captain Baxter also made an appearance in the famous railway stories.

Sources


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