George England

George England and Co. was an early English manufacturer of steam locomotives. The company operated from the Hatcham Iron Works in New Cross, Surrey, and began building locomotives in 1857. It supplied locomotives to the Ffestiniog Railway, the Wantage Tramway, the Caledonian Railway, the London & Blackwall Railway and the Great Western Railway amongst others.

Locomotive types

0-4-0

The four locomotives supplied by England in 1863/64 to the Ffestiniog Railway were the first truly successful narrow gauge RailGauge|23.5 engines built and remarkably 3 survive, much rebuilt, two still in full working order. Two more similar 0-4-0 engines to an improved design were built in 1867, one of which, "Welsh Pony", survives.

Fairlie

In 1869 England built the famous "Little Wonder" Fairlie patent articulated locomotive, also for the Ffestiniog Railway. George England's daughter Eliza Anne had earlier eloped with Robert Francis Fairlie, the inventor of the Fairlie locomotive. On George England's early retirement in 1869, Fairlie took over the company in partnership with England's son George England junior renaming it the Fairlie Engine and Steam Carriage Company, but following the untimely death of George England jnr just a few months later the works were sold.

Preservation

* Wantage Tramway, "Shannon", 0-4-0WT, preserved at Didcot Railway Centre
* Ffestiniog Railway, see: Ffestiniog Railway rolling stock

External links

* [http://www.postmaster.co.uk/~kenavon/150241/page_4.html Photo on Wantage Tramway No.5]