Is Shannon unique?

[Audens Pledge]

Apologies if this has been asked before, but one of my favourite locomotives is Shannon, of Wantage Tramway fame.

 

I know she was built by George England in 1857 for the Sandy & Potton Railway, but was she specifically designed for that line? Or was she built to a standard George England design? If she was designed specially, did George England ever build more afterwards?

[Wickham Green too]

The concept of standardisation was rather in its infancy in 1857.

[Jeremy Cumberland]

There is an excellent online resource for George England here: https://www.maybrey.co.uk/heritage/archives/tag=george england/

 

Shannon is covered in the page Locomotives built by George England Part 2. It is the only 0-4-0WT listed on the Maybrey website, but the entry after Shannon is for an 0-4-0T of similar size. This passed through Boulton's Siding, where it was named Portsmouth. There might be more information in The Chronicles of Boulton's Siding, AR Bennett (1927), although I expect most of it was copied onto the Maybrey website.

 

England built a number of 2-2-2WTs with 9"x12" cylinders (the same size as Shannon's) in 1849-1850, but these look nothing like Shannon. There's a photograph of Dwarf here: https://www.alamy.com/locomotive-dwarf-built-by-george-england-co-hatcham-iron-works-new-cross-surrey-image397121099.html. There's nothing else I can see that looks remotely similar.

[Audens Pledge]

I've just had a quick look for the book about Boulton's Siding on Amazon, and my lord, is it expensive. I heard about the siding quite some time ago, and it's certainly a fascinating topic. Someone should really put together a more modern book, I think it could be quite popular.

 

Anyone know of any photos of Portsmouth?

[Mol_PMB]

I have a copy of the booklet 'George England and the Hatcham Iron Works' which includes a list of locos built, but probably adds little to the information on the Maybrey website. Locos illustrated in some form include Shannon, Little England, Bluebottle, the Fairlie steam carriage, and various well-known Ffestiniog examples.

[mclong]

1 hour ago, Audens Pledge said:

I've just had a quick look for the book about Boulton's Siding on Amazon, and my lord, is it expensive. I heard about the siding quite some time ago, and it's certainly a fascinating topic. Someone should really put together a more modern book, I think it could be quite popular.

 

Anyone know of any photos of Portsmouth?

Chronicles of Boulton's Siding available on Oxfam website for £13.59.  

[Barclay]

Yes don't go for the original from 1927 unless you are an avid collector. There was a re-print by David and Charles in the 70's and it's well worth having.

[Audens Pledge]

In regards to the Sandy & Potton itself, was Shannon ever joined by any other locos?

 

What do we know about wagons, coaches and liveries?

 

I don't really plan to do anything with the info, but I am curious about this, as there isn't much I can find online.

[chris p bacon]

5 hours ago, Audens Pledge said:

In regards to the Sandy & Potton itself, was Shannon ever joined by any other locos?

 

What do we know about wagons, coaches and liveries?

 

I don't really plan to do anything with the info, but I am curious about this, as there isn't much I can find online.

Coaching stock was hired from the GNR, probably 2 4 wheelers at most, the S&P didn't own any wagons ( that I know of) as they were transferred on/off the GN at Sandy.  The GN was happy to accomodate the S&P as it gained a lot of extra traffic from the Potton area, so much so that it just about paid its build cost back in the couple of years it was running. 

 

A 4mm Shannon

 

A 7mm Shannon

 

Anda GE 2-2-2

 

I haven't done the 4 wheel stock yet but it is on the 'to do' list.

[Rich Uncle Skeleton]

I imagine there wasn’t much to go by as standard at the time.

[Audens Pledge]

On 08/10/2024 at 21:12, chris p bacon said:

Coaching stock was hired from the GNR, probably 2 4 wheelers at most, the S&P didn't own any wagons ( that I know of) as they were transferred on/off the GN at Sandy.  The GN was happy to accomodate the S&P as it gained a lot of extra traffic from the Potton area, so much so that it just about paid its build cost back in the couple of years it was running. 

 

A 4mm Shannon

 

A 7mm Shannon

 

Anda GE 2-2-2

 

I haven't done the 4 wheel stock yet but it is on the 'to do' list.

Those models of Shannon are just drop dead gorgeous- unsurprising, given the prototype.

 

I am curious about that 2-2-2. Was that a frequent visitor to the Sandy & Potton from the Great Northern?

[chris p bacon]

33 minutes ago, Audens Pledge said:

I am curious about that 2-2-2. Was that a frequent visitor to the Sandy & Potton from the Great Northern?

 

A GE 2-2-2 was used on the line and became the contractors locomotive for the Bedford and Cambridge. I'll dig out some info and post it this evening  when I get back from work.

[Artless Bodger]

On 03/10/2024 at 13:47, mclong said:

Chronicles of Boulton's Siding available on Oxfam website for £13.59.  

Many thanks for that heads up, I'm now the happy owner of a copy of the D&C reprint, excellent reading!