Hetton Colliery 0-4-0 No. 'Lyon'
Shildon, Durham, UK 		Location: Locomotion Museum
Status: Display
Related Notes
Photo Copyright © Steve Frost
Here are the notes for Hetton Colliery No. 'Lyon', a 0-4-0 located in Shildon, Durham. If you have additional information about this locomotive, and would like to share it, click the Add Note button.
Posted: Jun 1, 2019 @ 11:06:59 by Steve Frost
Further to my earlier note, an archaeological investigation of the loco is taking place at Locomotion, Shildon by Dr Michael Bailey and Dr Peter Davison, two highly respected researchers into the provenance of early locomotives. Using photographs, measurements and careful dismantling of parts, it is hoped to solve the riddle of the origins this loco.
Posted: Dec 18, 2006 @ 08:12:07 by Steve Frost
The Hetton Colliery Engine was hailed as 'The Oldest Engine in the World' in the early 1900s. The stated building date of 1822 would, if correct, let it out of this accolade anyway as the two Hedley locos 'Puffing Billy' and 'Wylam Dilly' (both preserved) were earlier by several years.

There is some doubt about the construction date, anyway. It seems certain that some locos, possibly five in number, were at Hetton Colliery by 1825, and some were supplied by Stephenson in 1821-2, and there is evidence of these old locos working up to the 1850's. However there are records of individuals who claim to have seen this loco under construction in either 1848 or 1851-2. Certainly the boiler and smokebox arrangement look much later than 1822, although the vertical cylinders carried atop and set into the boiler would have been an old fashioned feature by the late 1840's.

Local colliery engineers did often build things to older designs, or rebuild locos and partially modernise them. They even would cannibalise two or more elderly locos to produce one reasonably reliable engine.

It seems more than likely, then, that this one was built in the late 1840's, but could incorporate parts of older locos, or even be a rebuild of one of them. A good work on this topic (and so much more), with excellent research is 'The Private Railways of County Durham' by Colin E Mountford, published by the Industrial Railway Society. (www.irsociety.co.uk)