Robert Whitelegg

Beyer, Peacock and Company was an English railway Locomotive manufacturer with a factory in Gorton, Manchester. Founded by Charles Beyer, Richard Peacock and Henry Robertson, it traded from 1854 until 1966. It received limited liability in 1902, becoming Beyer, Peacock and Company Limited.

In 1854, the German born Charles Beyer resigned as head engineer at Atlas works (Sharp Roberts and Co). It was Beyer that was responsible for success of locomotive production at Atlas. He had trained under the guidance of the prolific inventor of cotton mill machinery, Richard Roberts.

Richard Peacock resigned from his position as chief engineer of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway's locomotive works in Gorton in 1854. Confident in his ability to secure orders to build locomotives, Beyer’s resignation presented Peacock with a partnership opportunity. However, this was not a limited company and all partners were liable for debts should the business fail; in a mid-Victorian economic climate of boom and bust, it was a risky venture. Beyer could raise £9,524 (nearly £900,000 in 2015) and Peacock £5,500 but still required a loan from Charles Geach (founder of the Midland Bank, and first treasurer to the Institution of Mechanical Engineers). Beyer and Peacock were founder members of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Unfortunately, Geach died, the loan was recalled and the whole project nearly died. To the rescue came Thomas Brassey who persuaded Henry Robertson to provide a £4,000 loan in return for being the third (sleeping) partner.^[1]

Beyer appointed and worked closely with Hermann Ludwig Lange (1837–92), in 1861. A native of his home town, Plauen, Saxony (now Germany), Langer trained as an engineer in Germany, became chief draughtsman in 1865, and chief engineer after Beyer`s death. Langer was heavily involved in the development of the world's first successful condensing locomotives for the Metropolitan Railway, This 4-4-0 tank engine can, therefore be considered as the pioneer motive power on London's Underground London's first underground railway^[8]. These locomotives proved to be extremely successful and 148 were built between 1864 and 1886 for various railways including the District Railway, London, in 1871, most still running until electrification in 1905.

Beyer-Peacock exported locomotives and machine tools to service them all over the world

Important designs were the Garratt articulated locomotives widely used in Africa, notably on South and East African Railways, and Australia and the 4-4-0 tank locomotives used on the Metropolitan and District Railways in London from 1864 until electrification in 1905. They also built 2-4-0 tank locomotives for 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) lines in Norway and the famous Manx Peacock design for the 3 ft (914 mm) gauge Isle of Man Railway

The first Garratt locomotive constructed was TGR K class for the Tasmanian Government Railways on the western Tasmanian North East Dundas Tramway; K1 is now preserved on the Welsh Highland Railway together with the last Garratt Beyer Peacock built SAR NGG 16 Class No.143. Four New South Wales Government Railways AD60 Class Beyer-Garratt Patent locomotives are preserved being the most powerful steam locomotives in the southern hemisphere when introduced.

Gorton Foundry was on the opposite (south) side of the railway line to the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway works at Gorton. Between 1855 and 1966, the company built nearly 8,000 railway locomotives. Several of their 1874-built steam locomotives for the Isle of Man Railway remain in daily use. A Gorton-built South African Railways GL class Beyer-Garratt locomotive is on display in the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester.

In addition to building steam locomotives, Beyer, Peacock & Co. also built the 10 British Rail Class 82, 25 kV AC electric locomotives to a Metropolitan-Vickers design, the 101 BR Class 35 diesel hydraulic locomotives, and, the last of all built, BR Class 25/3 diesel-electrics. They also collaborated with Metropolitan Vickers in building the Western Australia Government Railways X class, diesel electric locomotives, and the New South Wales 46 class, 1500 V DC electric locomotives at Bowesfield Works, Stockton-on-Tees.

The foundry was at Openshaw near Manchester, England, and was built in 1854 and designed mainly by Beyer. The site was chosen because land was cheaper than in the city and had good water supply from a local reservoir (It should not be confused with the Gorton locomotive works of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway, locally known as Gorton Tank which was on the north side of the railway line, which had been built by Richard Peacock, when he was chief engineer, before he resigned and joined forces with Beyer to form Beyer-Peacock.). Beyer had designed the works so it always allowed room for expansion. In its 112-year history no buildings needed to be demolished as the works developed.

In 2012 the former boiler-shop remains in use, as the Hammerstone Road Depot of Manchester City Council.

Steam

Conventional

Beyer-Peacock Madras Railway 0-4-2, 1860

WAGR G Class 4-6-0 in the 1940s

• 1864–1885 Metropolitan Railway 4-4-0T – see Metropolitan Railway A Class
• 1871–1886 District Railway 4-4-0T
• 1873–1926 Isle of Man Railway 2-4-0T – see Isle of Man Railway locomotives
• 1898 Tobu Railway B1 class 4-4-0 (12 locos)
• 1911 WAGR G Class 4-6-0
• 1931 GWR 5700 Class (25 off)
• 1952 Western Australian Government Railways "W" class 4-8-2 (sixty off)

Beyer-Garratts

• 1909 TGR K class
• 1910 DHR D Class
• 1925 LNER Class U1
• 1926 Victorian Railways G class
• 1927 LMS Garratt
• 1928 NZR G class
• 1928 SAR GL Class
• 1939 South African Class NG G16
• 1951 South Australian Railways 400 class (under licence by Societe Franco-Belge)
• 1952 New South Wales AD60 class locomotive of the NSWGR
• 1955 EAR 59 class of the EAR
• 1956 South African Railways GMA/M Class

Steam turbine

Beyer-Ljungstrom Turbine Locomotive The Beyer-Ljungstrom Turbine Locomotive

Diesel

Beyer-Peacock Hymec built Gorton foundry c.1960

Locomotive in Mar del Plata, Argentina

• 1954–56 Western Australian Government Railways X class, built at Bowesfield Works, Stockton-on-Tees.
• 1961–63 British Rail Class 35
• 1962 British Rail Class 25
• 1964 British Rail Class 17

Electric

• 1956–58 New South Wales 46 class, built at Bowesfield Works, Stockton-on-Tees.
• 1960–62 British Rail Class 82

Steam locomotives

Diesel and electric locomotives