01/07/2017
180 years ago today, on 1 July 1837, the ‘Thunderer’ locomotive was ordered by Brunel, and accepted by the Great Western Railway from Messrs R & W Hawthorn of Newcastle on 6 March 1838. The four 6ft diameter driving wheels were geared up in the ratio of 27:10. The engine and its 16” x 20” cylinders were separated from the boiler which was on a following six-wheeled vehicle. The driver was on the first ‘engine’ vehicle, the fireman on the second ‘boiler’ vehicle linked to the engine with ball and socket jointed pipes, and the third vehicle was the tender! This model of the locomotive, in 7mm : 1ft scale, is displayed in the Museum and Archive at Didcot Railway Centre. With little evidence to go on, the model maker has placed the driver on the footplate rather than the engine vehicle, where there doesn't appear to be much room to stand among the connecting rods and gear wheels.
The articulated locomotive described by some as more ‘like a procession’ was a complete failure and it ran for just 9,882 miles before being dismantled at the end of 1839. The boiler was re-used as a stationary engine and other parts were sold off. In some ways the concept anticipates the Beyer-Garratt locomotives which were built from the beginning of the 20th century onwards.
