Furness Railway No. 3

Furness Railway "Coppernob" No. 3 is a preserved English steam locomotive. It is a "cobbernob" because of its dome-shaped "haystack" copper firebox.

It was built in 1846 by Bury, Curtis, and Kennedy of Liverpool, [cite book|author=Lowe, James W.|title=British Steam Locomotive Builders|publisher=Goose and Son|location=Cambridge|year=1975|isbn=0-900404-21-3] a company with which the F.R.'s first locomotive superintendent, James Ramsden, had been an apprentice. It is a four-coupled version of Edward Bury's popular design of the period, with iron bar frames and inside cylinders, and is historically significant as the only survivor in the United Kingdom of this type. It is also one of the few items of rolling stock surviving from the Furness Railway whose Indian red livery it carries.

It shared with three other similar engines all traffic on the F.R. for around six years. Latterly it was used for shunting around the docks at Barrow-in-Furness and on local duties, being withdrawn in 1900. [cite book|author=Rush, R. W.|title=The Furness Railway, 1843-1923|publisher=Oakwood Press|year=1973|isbn=0-85361-117-3] [cite journal|author=Fancey, W. F.|title=An old locomotive|journal=Railway Magazine|volume=4|pages=217–18|date=1899]

It is now housed in the National Railway Museum, York. It has shrapnel wounds from German bombs, acquired during World War II when it was displayed in a glass pavilion at Barrow-in-Furness railway station.

In February 2007, No. 3 had one of its shedplates stolen at York. It hasn't been seen since.

References

ee also

* Steam locomotives of the Furness Railway