View source for John Blenkinsop

{{short description|British mining engineer and an inventor of steam locomotives (1783–1831)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2017}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = John Blenkinsop
| image              = 
| caption            = 
| birth_date         = 1783
| birth_place        = 
| birth_name         = 
| death_date         = 22 January 1831 (aged 47)
| death_place        = 
| nationality        = English
| education          = 
| occupation         = [[Engineer]], [[inventor]]
| relatives          = Thomas Barnes (cousin)
}}
[[File:Blenkinsop's rack locomotive, 1812 (British Railway Locomotives 1803-1853).jpg|thumb|Blenkinsop's rack locomotive]]
'''John Blenkinsop''' (1783 &ndash; 22 January 1831) was an English mining engineer and an [[inventor]] of [[steam locomotive]]s, who designed the first practical railway locomotive.<ref>[http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9001800 Encyclopædia Britannica ''John Blenkinsop'']</ref>

He was born in [[Felling, Tyne and Wear|Felling]], County Durham, the son of a stonemason and was apprenticed to his cousin, Thomas Barnes, a Northumberland [[coal viewer]]. From 1808 he became agent to [[Brandling of Newcastle|Charles John Brandling]], who owned collieries on his [[Middleton, West Yorkshire|Middleton]] estate near [[Leeds]] and whose family came from Felling. From then until his death, Blenkinsop lived at Middleton Hall on Town Street, Middleton, built in the 17th century as the Brandling family's Middleton home (they used the far more modern Middleton Lodge when visiting from their Tyneside homes).

== Blenkinsop and the Middleton Railway ==
In 1758 the Brandlings had built a wooden [[wagonway]] to carry coal into Leeds, using [[horse-drawn vehicle]]s, now known as the [[Middleton Railway]]. Not all the land traversed by the wagonway belonged to Brandling, and it was the first railway to be authorised by [[Act of Parliament]], since this would give him power to obtain [[Right-of-way (railroad)|wayleave]].

[[History of infrastructure|In the early nineteenth century]], attempts were being made to employ steam power for [[Logistics|haulage]]. [[Richard Trevithick]] had experimented with various models of steam locomotive, and in 1805 his work had culminated in an engine for the [[Wylam]] Colliery. The cast-iron plated wood rails were unable to take the engine's heavy weight, however, and the initial attempt to convert to steam locomotion at Wylam was abandoned. Work on the development of locomotive power continued nonetheless. A shortage of horses and fodder brought about by the [[Napoleonic Wars]] had made steam traction a more attractive proposition and encouraged further development. Moreover, [[edge rail (edgeways)|edge rail]]s, made entirely of iron, laid at [[Middleton Railway#Introduction of steam|Middleton Railway]] from around 1799, were stronger.

While many people, such as [[William Hedley]], felt that adhesion should be adequate with a locomotive weighing around five tons, Blenkinsop was less sanguine. In 1811 he patented (No 3431), a [[rack and pinion]] system for a locomotive which would be designed and built by [[Matthew Murray]] of [[Fenton, Murray and Wood]] in [[Holbeck]].

The general opinion of the time was that a locomotive would draw up to four times its weight by adhesion alone (assuming good conditions), but Blenkinsop wanted more, and his engine, weighing five tons, regularly hauled a payload of ninety tons. The first locomotive probably was ''[[Salamanca_(locomotive)|Salamanca]]'', built in early 1812. Three other locomotives followed, one later in 1812, one around 1813, and the last one in 1815. One of these three was named ''Lord Wellington'', and the other two allegedly were named ''Prince Regent'' and ''Marquis Wellington'', though there is no contemporary mention of those names. Similar locomotives were built for collieries at Orrell near [[Wigan]] by [[Robert Daglish]] under licence from Blenkinsop,<ref>{{cite book |last=Anderson |first=Donald |title=The Orrell Coalfield, Lancashire 1740-1850 |year=1975 |publisher=Moorland Publishing Company |isbn=0-903485-23-0 |page=111}}</ref> and at least one other was built by [[Matthew Murray]] for the Kenton and Coxlodge Collieries at [[Newcastle-upon-Tyne]]. What should have been Blenkinsop's third locomotive had already been sent to the [[Kenton and Coxlodge Waggonway]] at his request. There, it seems to have acquired the name ''Willington''.

Two locomotives of this pattern were also made by the Royal Iron Foundry in [[Berlin]]. Though they worked well when tested at the Foundry, neither could be made to work properly at their intended workplaces, and both ended their days as stationary engines. The Murray/Blenkinsop locomotives had the first double-acting cylinders and, unlike the [[Trevithick]] pattern, no flywheel. The cylinders drove a geared wheel which engaged with the [[rack railway|rack]] beside one rail. One of the geared locomotives was described as having two 8"x20" cylinders, driving the wheels through cranks. The piston crossheads worked in guides, rather than being controlled by parallel motion like the majority of early locomotives. Between them, the engines saw more than twenty years of service.<ref name=Early >{{cite web
  | url = http://www.catskillarchive.com/rrextra/odcuri.Html
  | publisher = Catskill
  | title = Curiosities of Locomotive Design
  | accessdate = 2008-03-22
}}</ref>

The design was superseded when [[Wrought iron|rolled iron]] rail, which could bear the heavier adhesion locomotives, was introduced in 1820. This was quickly adopted by [[George Stephenson]] and others.<ref >{{cite book
  | last =Morgan
  | first =Bryan
  | title =Railways: Civil Engineering
  | publisher =Longmans
  | year =1971
  | location =London
  | pages =
  | isbn = 
}}</ref>

{{quote box
| title=Gravestone: upper inscription
| width=30em
| bgcolor=#c6dbf7
| align=right
| halign=center
| quote=Sacred<br>to the memory of<br>Mr. John Blenkinsop,<br>upwards of twenty three years<br>Steward to the ''Middleton Estate''<br>who departed this life, January<br>22nd 1831,<ref group="note" >The gravestone may appear to be carved 1851 in this photograph. This is due to the light and the style of the 3 employed by the mason.</ref> aged 47 years.<br>Sincerely regretted by all who knew him.}}{{quote box
| title=Gravestone: lower inscription
| width=30em
| bgcolor=#c6dbf7
| align=right
| halign=center
| quote=The centenary observed - 25th Jan. 1931.<br><br>John Blenkinsop invented the rack railway in 1811<br>and on a line he built between Leeds and Middleton,<br>4 Matthew Murray locomotives ran from 1812 to 1835.<br>His system was adopted at Newcastle-on-Tyne in 1813<br>and Wigan in 1814. These railways were the first<br>on which steam locomotion was a commercial success.}}

In addition to managing the Middleton Collieries, in the 1820s John Blenkinsop was the consulting engineer for Sir John Lister Kaye of Denby Grange, owner of [[Caphouse Colliery]]. Also, as a qualified "Viewer", he was hired by various other colliery owners to examine their collieries and report on such vital matters as the expected future production of a pit, as well as to make suggestions as to how its operation and production could be improved. Blenkinsop died in Leeds in 1831, and is buried at [[Rothwell, West Yorkshire|Rothwell]] Parish Church.<ref>{{NHLE|desc=Gravestone of John Blenkinsopp approximately two meters north of tower of Church of the Holy Trinity|num=1184672|access-date=19 August 2024}}</ref>

<gallery>
File:John Blenkinsops grave - geograph.org.uk - 1294547.jpg|Blenkinsop's grave
File:Gravestone detail of John Blenkinsop - geograph.org.uk - 1294565.jpg|Inscription, upper
File:Gravestone centenary detail of John Blenkinsop - geograph.org.uk - 1294569.jpg|Inscription, lower
</gallery>

==See also==
{{Commons category|John Blenkinsop}}
* [[Rack railway]]

==Notes and references==
{{Reflist|group=note|liststyle=lower-roman}}

{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* Chrimes, Mike (2002) ''Blenkinsop, John'' in ''[[A Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers]]'', p 62.
* {{cite DNBSupp|wstitle=Blenkinsop, John|first=Thomas|last=Seccombe}}
* Lowe, J.W., (1989) ''British Steam Locomotive Builders,'' Guild Publishing
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20090308112029/http://www.cottontimes.co.uk/blenko.htm ''John Blenkinsop and the cogwheel railway''] Cotton Times Understanding the Industrial Revolution

{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blenkinsop, John}}
[[Category:1783 births]]
[[Category:1831 deaths]]
[[Category:Locomotive builders and designers]]
[[Category:People from Rothwell, West Yorkshire]]
[[Category:English railway mechanical engineers]]
[[Category:Rack railways in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:British steam engine engineers]]
[[Category:Engineers from Yorkshire]]