Yorkshire Engine Company - The Early Years

The Early Years

The idea of a locomotive builder based near Sheffield was first suggested in 1864 by W. G. Eden, who later became the fourth Baron Auckland. At the time, Eden was Chairman of the South Yorkshire Railway, and a director of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MSLR), posts which he had taken up after retiring as a diplomat. He invited Archibald Sturrock, who was employed by the Great Northern Railway as its locomotive engineer, to be the Chairman of the new company. Alfred Sacré would be the Managing Director, and his older brother, Charles, then the Engineer and Locomotive Superintendent for the MSLR, was also part of the team. By April 1865, investors had promised £120,000 towards the estimated cost of £200,000 for setting up the company. Although Sturrock joined the board in May 1866, he did not become chairman until January 1867. A 22 acres (8.9 ha) site near Blackburn Meadows was chosen for the works. Construction and the procurement of machinery began in mid-1865, and Meadowhall Works was virtually complete in May 1867, by which time all of the 2,000 shares had been taken up.

The first order received was for three 2-2-2 locomotives for the Great Northern Railway. The specification was changed and they were supplied with a 2-4-0 wheel arrangement. They were delivered two months late, the last in February 1867, and the company made a loss on them, largely because the works was not yet complete. An order for ten more followed, which were also delivered late. The first was two month late, but the final one was eight months overdue by the time it was delivered in March 1869. Next came orders for fifty 0-6-0 locomotives for two Indian railways, but then demand tailed off. In order to keep the workforce together, other work was undertaken, including armour plated shields, lamp posts for the Chief Constable of Sheffield, and 10,000 safes. Orders from three Russian railways kept the works busy, but difficulties in obtaining payment resulted in cash-flow problems. The original directors all resigned in 1871. Locomotives were supplied to Argentina, Australia and Japan, and a number of small 0-4-0 saddle tanks were supplied to local collieries. The company continued to take on general engineering work to supplement the building of locomotives for most of its existence.

A modest profit was made in 1871, following serious losses in the previous two years. The building of locomotives to Robert Fairlie's patent started at the end of that year. Between 1872 and 1883, thirteen were supplied to the Mexican Railway in three batches. They were 0-6-6-0 double ended machines, and the middle batch had Walschaerts valve gear, believed to be the first time that this design was built in Britain. The Mexican locomotives were capable of burning coal or wood as a fuel, while two supplied to Sweden burnt peat. The peat burners were not a success and were rebuilt at four 2-4-0 saddle tanks. An order for ten Fairlies received in 1873 for nitrate railways in Peru were built, but were not shipped because payment was not received. Four went to the Trancaucasian Railway near the Black Sea, and six were eventually shipped to a new Nitrate Railway Company in 1882. They had a 2-6-6-2 wheel arrangement, and at 85 tons each, Engineering reported that they were the heaviest locomotives in the world in 1885.

An attempt to build marine engines and traction engines to patents by Loftus Perkins was less successful. When purchasers pulled out, Perkins sued the company, which lost £34,532 on the venture. A joint venture with Perkins for the construction of tramway engines was also a failure. When there was insufficient work, the company built 0-4-0 saddle tanks for stock, which enabled collieries and engineering works to buy locomotives off the shelf. This practice continued throughout the life of the company. By 1880, the company was in serious financial difficulties. The Russian debts were never paid, and a dubious method was used to write off the loss made on the marine engines. Despite a successful call to shareholders for more money, the company chose voluntary liquidation as the best option in July 1880. Liquidators ran the business for three and a half years, during which time turnover increased and profits of £9,419 were made. In September 1883, the second Yorkshire Engine Company was launched, by issuing 2,400 shares valued at £25, giving a capital of £60,000. Few locomotive manufacturers were profitable at the time.

Early YEC locomotives produced for the UK market consisted mainly of 0-4-0STs and 0-6-0STs. The style of these was typical of small locomotives of the time with the so-call ‘ogee’ tanks and very little protection for the driver. That did not stop early locomotives surviving with industrial users until the 1950s. Not surprisingly, the collieries and steelworks of Yorkshire were regular customers, but UK sales were not limited to such a narrow area with five narrow gauge locomotives going to the Chattenden and Upnor Railway, a military railway in Kent.

The 1890s saw YEC building locomotives to much further a field and the start of long term relationships with railways in Chile, Peru and India. They also built a single electric locomotive for the British War Office.