William Hedley
Marshall states that William Hedley was born in Newburn-on-Tyne on 13 July 1779 and died at Burnhopeside Hall near Lanchester in County Durham on 9 January 1843. He was appointed viewer at Walbottle Colliery in 1800, but was "head-hunted" by Christopher Blackett and moved to Wylam Colliery where he developed locomotives with Timothy Hackworth. In 1813 he built in the colliery workshops the Wylam Dilly. Intended for his plateway, it had four flangeless wheels. The two vertical cylinders drove a central crankshaft through connecting rods, and this crankshaft actuated the driving wheels by spur gears. This locomotive and its sisters proved successful for slow haulage. A feature was the fitting of a silencer. through which the steam passed before exhausting to atmosphere. The boiler was of the Trevithick type, so well-made that it assured the success of the return flue idea. Hedley's second machine (1813) was the famous Puffing Billy first of the so-called 'grasshopper' type. In 1836 Hedley irked by George Stephenson being acknowledged by Dionysius Lardner as "the father of the locomotive" was prompted to publish in all the Newcastle newspapers claims to his own involvement in locotive innovation: this is reproduced in full, with comment, by Dendy Marshall. Rutherford's Heroes, villains and ordinary men. BackTrack 9, 528. covers the significance of Hedley's contribution.
See: Transactions of the Newcomen Society, Vol. XXVIII; C. F. Dendy Marshall, History of the Railway Locomotive down to the end of the Year 1831 (1953).
Carpenter, George W. revision of biography by W.A.J. Archbold
Oxford Dictionary of National
Biography
Crompton, John
The Hedley mysteries. Early Rlys 2, 149-64.
Author from National Museums of Scotland where Hedley's Wylam
Dilly is a prime exhibit in the Royal Museum, Edinburgh. Sifts through
existing information about William Hedley, his sons and the locomotives Lady
Mary, Puffing Billy and Wylam Dilly. Includes a detailed
examination of the boilers of the last two mentioned lcomotives, and the
routes by which they were preserved..
Marshall notes that Christopher Blackett was born in 1751 and died in 1829. He was squire of Wylam between 1800 and 1829 and thus owned Wylam Colliery where the steam locomotive evolved under Hedley, Stephenson and several others. Marshall noted several sources on the history of the colliery. See also Rly Arch., 2007 (16), 4 where Norman Hill notes that Blackett owned the Globe, a London newspaper. In true arty fashion the ODNB records two of Christopher's illustrious predecesors who seemed to do very little, but omit this great influence upon industrial history..
Marshall states that "Forster" was born in South Tyne Valley in 1775 and died in Wylam in 1860. C.F. Dendy Marshall spells the name as "Foster". Early Railways 2 appears to have settled on "Forster". In 1809 was enginewright at Wylam Colliery and assisted Hackworth and Hedley in construction of first locomotive at Wylam. See also Rly Arch.., 2007 (16), 4..
According to Lowe builder of the second Tyneside "Trevithick" locomotive in 1811, or more probably 1813. John Whinfield, according to Lowe, had been builder of first Tyneside "Trevithick" locomotive but this had been rejected by Christopher Blackett. There is doubt as to whether this locomotive was built at Wylam or at Gateshead, but there are reports on its conveyance from Gateshead to Wylam in 1813. Lowe cites Young (with reservations). See also Rly Arch., 2007 (16), 4.
2008-11-30