Locomotive Buller photographed at Stockton Gas works on Thompson St. (This information was kindly provided by Graeme Cook) 
Picture Stockton Archive
A Pictorial History of Stockton-on-Tees
Locomotive Buller photographed at Stockton Gas works on Thompson St. (This information was kindly provided by Graeme Cook)
Picture Stockton Archive 
This locomotive was used on the Bamford and Derwent railway which was built to carry stone for the construction of the Howden and Derwent dams.
LikeLike
Buller’s original owners, the Derwent Valley Water Board, used the locomotive to ferry stone from quarries near Grindleford to the construction sites of the Derwent Valley dams. It also served the temporary village at Birchinlee, built to house the navvies and their families and known as ‘Tin Town’. The railway enabled the residents of Tin Town to visit the nearby town of Bamford.
The story of Birchinlee, with a mention of the locomotive, can be found on the BBC website.
LikeLike
Acquired from Derwent Valley Water Board in Dec 1913 the above was the second engine to shunt Stockton Corporation Gas Works. It was named BULLER after Sir Redvers Buller VC of Zulu, Sudan and Boer War fame. General Buller was a national hero with the public in 1901, but less so with sections of the press and his political masters, who finally sacked him in Oct 1901. The locomotive was built by the Peckett Company of Bristol as works number 904 of 1901 and withdrawn from use in 1956. BULLER joined EVELYN JEANIE the first engine ordered to shunt Stockton Gas Works. Alternative end spellings for this locomotive JEANNIE or JENNIE can be found in Stockton Council records. The Manning Wardle Company at its Boyne Engine Works in Leeds built EVELYN JEANIE as works number 539 of 16 September 1875, the makers standard Class H design, an 0-4-0 saddle tank with two 12 x 18 inch outside cylinders. This data was taken from a Manning Wardle product list. I could not find any order or specification for this engine in the bound council records shelved at Stockton Library, as they presently do not go back to 1875. Further technical details averaged from other Class H sources suggest a 3 ft wheel diameter, 5 ft 4 inch wheelbase, around 500 gallons water capacity, 8 cwt coal capacity, 18 to 20 ft length, 7.5 to 8 ft width, 10.5 ft height, 17 tons (empty) to 20 tons (loaded) weight to the nearest ton, about 3 ft boiler diameter, 8 to 9 ft boiler length, 150 psi steam pressure, about 10, 500 pounds tractive effort. Transco plc (on national A2A archives network) hold a Manning Wardle sales and technical quotation for another Class H locomotive offered to Keighley Gas Works in 1877, which may give some indication as to the original cost of the 1875 Stockton engine. EVELYN JEANIE was retired worn out from Stockton Gas Works in 1930 and offered for disposal. Its sale to the highest bidder Mr. Hay, offering 48 pounds, fell through in Oct 1930, but it was successfully sold to the next highest bidder in Dec 1930 and scrapped in 1934 (according to Industrial Railway Society records). For views of what this Stockton mechanical beast probably looked like check out Leicester County Council print store images of Manning Wardle, Class H, LIVERPOOL, number 1518 of 1901 (on net, also as a model), or better still colour images of a preserved Class H, works number 1781 of 1911, at the Powerhouse Museum, Castle Hill, Sydney, Australia, (www.australiansteam.com/mw1781.htm and ditto/1021.htm). The latter shows a later enclosed cab example, works number 1896 of 1916, that survives at the New South Wales Transport Museum. Manning Wardle Class H engines were popular industrial engines, successful at shunting gas and water works, both in the UK and the Empire.
LikeLike
BULLER was the second locomotive bought to shunt Stockton Thompson Street Gas Works. The Peckett Company of Bristol built BULLER in 1901 as works number 904. No doubt BULLER was named after General Redvers Buller VC who returned from South Africa still a national hero in late 1900 after some military setbacks. The Gas Committee accounts of 12 Dec 1913 show that BULLER was purchased for 450 pounds from the Derwent Valley Water Board. A commission of 30 pounds was paid to agents Bentley and Jubb to facilitate the sale. Even though the gas works now had two locomotives wage rates for 9 Feb 1914 show only a single locomotive driver on 34 to 35 shillings a week, and a single fireman on 29 to 30 shillings a week were employed. The range of earnings for weekly paid staff is illustrated by eighteen gas works stokers earning 41 shillings and one-half pence to 41 shillings and three pence a week, and nine gas works labourers earning 27 shillings to 27 shillings and 6 pence per week. A new outdoor foreman, a Mr. William Brown of 11 Dundas Street, was appointed on a wage of 5 pounds a week in April 1920, but got a 7 shillings and 6 pence a week rise in November 1920. Stockton Gas Works accounts show that 52 pounds and 15 shillings was spent on repairing a locomotive in 1915 compared with expenditure of less than five pounds in 1916, the same in 1917, and no spending most years. BULLER was given a new injector in 1917 acquired from Pecketts”s for just over 3 pounds. The engine was re-tubed and overhauled in early 1922 when the boiler was tested and found to be in good condition. BULLER returned to daily use allowing repairs on EVELYN JENNIE (sometimes in Stockton records denoted EVELYN JEANNIE) to commence. EVELYN was an ageing Manning-Wardle tank, built in Leeds around 1875, the oldest and first locomotive working at Stockton Gas Works. Worn out EVELYN was sold to Mr. M. Hay of Stockton for 48 pounds on 30 Oct 1930, but this deal fell through and the engine was sold to the next highest bidder on 2 Dec 1930. Four tenders had been received for the disposal of this locomotive. A second-hand locomotive, later named WILLIAM BROWN after a prominent town councillor and not the mentioned outdoor foreman, replaced EVELYN. BULLER was disposed of during 1956.
LikeLike
Locomotive Buller photographed at Stockton Gas works on Thompson St.
LikeLike
This looks like the type of loco that would have been used in iron foundries such as Brittania works in Middlesbrough. Thye would be used to pull/push tubs of molten iron and molten slag away from a blast furnace. Later versions were diesels.
LikeLike
Picture t2376; ref, Industrial Locos of Durham, ed, Tonks E., Birmingham Loco Club, book L , 1962, pages L85 and L43. Loco pictured is BULLER, Peckett 0-4-0 OC built Atlas Works, Bristol, works no.904 in 1901. Not new to Thompson Street Gas Works, Stockton; previous owner is listed as Derwent Valley Water Board, Howden 1913. In 1953, Stockton Gas Co, now Northern Gas Board, acquired a brand new Peckett 0-4-0 at Thompson St Works, no 2142 built 1953, numbered N0.1, and BULLER was possibily slowly retired as it was scrapped or sold by circa 1956. In 1953, Robert Sephenson and Hawthorns built 0-4-0 ST, works no 7304 of 1946 arrived, ex-Hawthorn Limestone Co, Seaham Habour. A picture of it shunting appears in the Stockton Gas Works section of Picture Stockton.
LikeLike